Rebecca Hancock is Hills Shire Times’ Junior Sports Star, Ethan Princena-White Inspiration Award winner
The Hills Shire Times’ 2019 Junior Sports Stars and Inspirational Award winners have been revealed at a gala dinner in Sydney.
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Sports star Rebecca Hancock is already on top of the world and she’s still at school.
This talented young sailor and skipper Will Cooley were one of the best teamings on the water in 2019.
Hancock, the world Nacra 15 champion, is the Hills Shire Times’ Sports Star.
PHOTO GALLERY: LOCAL SPORTS STAR WINNERS
The Local Sports Stars awards, sponsored by Featherdale Wildlife Park and Bankstown Sports Club, were held on Wednesday night with the rising stars of NSW sport mingling with big names, including rugby league’s Jamie Soward and netball gun Tayla Fraser.
Hancock and Cooley were so dominant at the world championships in Poland that they actually clinched the world title with a race in hand.
The crew, who were named Australian Youth Sailors of the Year last week, outsailed a world-class fleet of 60 sailors to snare the top prize in their class over five tough days of competition.
“I’m pretty stoked, it’s really cool to be recognised for the hard work,” 18-year-old Rebecca said.
“I’ve been sailing since I was 10 and I’ve always kind of been in the state team and there’s just been so much hard work for the past two or three years to try and get the youth worlds spot and this year we finally cracked it and actually managed to win so it’s incredible.
“I’m hoping to get to the Olympics for Australia one day.”
The other finalists from the Hills Shire Times were Tahlia Geelan and Hugo Hornshaw.
Even after ongoing injuries forced Ethan Princena-White to leave a successful gymnastics career behind, he never gave up on his dream to represent Australia.
It took just two years for the 17-year-old to bring his dreams to fruition when he claimed gold in pole vault at this year’s Oceania championships.
Princena-White is the Hills Shire Times’ Inspirational Award winner.
“I’m very happy, I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Ethan said.
“I really enjoy the challenge of pole vault and the fact that you need to consistently improve. “My advice to other kids is to try new things, give it your best go and train hard.”
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The Inspirational Award finalists for the award were Darcy Feltham (rugby league) and Daniel Chalabov (gymnastics).
Steve Wickham (cricket) was a finalist in the Service to Sport Award.
The overall Service to Sport winner was Chung Dang (Canterbury-Bankstown Express).
Each of our Junior Sport publication winners and Inspiration Award winners received $300 and a medal.
Joshua O’Connell (Inner West Courier) was crowned overall Junior Sports Star winner on the night after breaking the world 800m record for 11-year-old’s in April.
Swimmer John Dimech-O’Connell (Macarthur Chronicle) won the overall Inspiration Award and the under 14s Gosford City Rebels girls basketball team (Central Coast Express Advocate) the overall team award.
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