Winter athletes and coaches shine at the 2017 NSWIS Awards
Published Fri 17 Nov 2017
The annual New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Awards were presented on Thursday evening following an exceptional year that saw one of Australia’s most successful winter sports seasons ever.
Moguls Queen Britt Cox was named the Office of Sport Female Athlete of the Year following a stellar season that saw the 23-year-old win the Overall FIS Ladies Freestyle Skiing Crystal Globe in February.
Accepting the award, the two-time Winter Olympian said that since receiving her first NSWIS scholarship as a teenager she has been “so well supported, not just from my family but from NSWIS”.
“I was lucky enough that [after] being recruited as a 13-year-old, two years later I was at my first Olympic Games,” she said.
“I had so much support and I’d been taught by NSWIS [how] to go from an athlete to an elite athlete.”
Moguls coach Steve Desovich -- who was named alongside fellow coach Jerry Grossi as Southern Design Coach of the Year -- said that it all came down to the athletes “who we are fortunate enough to coach”.
“We are very pleased to have assembled such a high calibre group and look forward to the challenges for this upcoming season,” he said.
“Britt, Matt and Brodie were outstanding last season and it was quite a pleasure to see the hard work pay off with growth in both skills and competition performances.
“Winter sports in Australia has been able to achieve great outcomes over the years and sustain growth simultaneously.”
The level of camaraderie between the Australian mogul team members is well known, with Matt Graham being full of praise for Desovich and Grossi, who have been involved in his career since he was a teenager.
“Britt and myself believe they are the best coaches in the world and I think having that belief really makes a difference for us training,” he said.
“[It] gives us the confidence they will give us the right advice to make the difference moving forward and they just work really well together.
“They produce world class athletes and that’s been proven.”
Young gun Tess Coady, who just returned to Australia following the opening of the Big Air World Cup season in Milan, was named Mizuno Junior Athlete of the Year.
Coady’s mother, Kate Davie, was beaming with pride when her 17-year-old daughter’s name was announced as the winner.
“I feel thrilled for her and I feel that it’s recognition of a lot of hard work, lots of highs and lots of lows,” she said.
“[It’s] recognition really of the hard yards that goes into what she does every day when she goes out to train.”
Here's a full list of all the award winners:
Southern Design Coach of the Year
Steve Desovich/Jerry Grossi (Winter Sports)
Office of Sport Female Athlete of the Year
Britt Cox (Winter Sports – Mount Beauty)
Mizuno Junior Athlete of the Year
Tess Coady (Winter Sports – St Kilda)
University of Sydney Academic Excellence
Hannah Buckling (Water Polo – Mosman)
ClubsNSW Personal Excellence Award
Kaarle McCulloch (Cycling – Wilton)
Ian Thorpe OAM Outstanding Achievement presented by Ryde Toyota
Lachlan Hollis (Water Polo – Cabarita)
Sydney Olympic Park Authority Program of the Year
Rowing
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Arrowfield Stud Male Athlete of the Year
Jack Hargreaves, Josh Hicks, Spencer Turrin (Rowing)