Young Toowoomba 'officials' feature in rising stars list

The Toowoomba Chronicle prepares to name its rising sports star list

IN CHARGE: Siblings Addison and Miah Hickman have been named in The Chronicle's inaugural 21 Rising Stars series. The young TACAPS students are keen players and officials. Picture: Kevin Farmer

MULTI-SPORT: Taking up "the whistle” can be a thankless, and at times, unpopular task.

The future of officialdom looks bright in Toowoomba though, as long as the likes of Addison and Miah Hickman are involved.

The teenage siblings both love the responsibility and challenge of running games.

Miah can be found around the region's netball courts umpiring anything from under-9 to State League matches while Addison looks after local and GPS rugby games.

The Hickman siblings are two of several referees in The Chronicle's inaugural 21 Rising Stars series - a list of the region's top young athletes and officials.

Defining a rising star is subjective so the aim of this list is to generate conversation.

The Chronicle's 21 Rising Stars is by no means a definitive list of athletes making their mark in local, national and international arenas.

Over the past weeks and months The Chronicle's sports team has discussed and identified the region's best and brightest.

Some may argue that the achievements of athletes who compete as individuals far outweigh those of any team based sporting endeavour and they could be right.

But the ability for any athlete to stand-out and lead their team to victory also deserves credit.

And we cannot forget our young referees and officials who ensure the playing field is fair.

Over the coming days The Chronicle will preview some of the athletes on the list ahead of an exclusive online roll-out for digital subscribers from Saturday.

Those online will be in print next week.

Let's start a conversation - email your thoughts to [e-mail].

Originally published as Young Toowoomba 'officials' feature in rising stars list