Previous Sussex Sports Awards winners
See a list of all of our previous Sussex Sports Awards winners here.
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See all of our Sussex Sports Awards winners over the years.
With uncertainty around Covid-19, Active Sussex made the decision to host the Sussex Sports Awards on a more intimate scale in 2021. It was a wonderful opportunity to put the hard work of organisations, groups and individuals across Sussex in the spotlight.
Read the story about the Sussex Sports Awards 2021 here.
You can see each of the 2021 winners below.
Defiant Sports provide sports for all, regardless of ability or disabilities. They are fully community focused in what they do, always asking the question – “what would you like to do?”.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic they had approximately 50 regular attendees, however in the past year they have doubled this figure, now reaching a regular 100 attendees. This was achieved by a strong online presence over lockdowns, providing weekly YouTube sessions and Zoom socials.
Defiant Sports also carry out polls across their social media channels, getting the community to vote on which sessions they should offer next. This has received an overwhelming response across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, with people voting and then commenting to suggest other sports or interacting with other players. Community engagement is at the core, consistently asking for their feedback and direction, and creating a community within which attendees and participants can engage with each other.
In October Defiant Sports organised the first ever pan-disability LTA tennis tournament. This saw people with learning disabilities, visual impairments, wheelchair users, and cerebral palsy all play against one another at a fair level. It will now be an annual event, after being requested by many across the nation, and being enjoyed by all who attended.
Despite a challenging year, Crawley Eagles Cricket Club set up the first women’s cricket team in Crawley, which is a diverse group but mostly made up of south Asian ladies. They have gone from strength to strength, entering a county wide women’s cricket league and taking part in a women’s cricket tournament at Lords Cricket Ground.
In the summer Crawley Eagles hosted a women’s cricket festival in Crawley in partnership with Sussex Cricket Foundation. Driven by Ish Jalal, Crawley Eagles have helped to remove barriers for the women in their community to take part in cricket.
In addition, they have trained up several ladies to become Level 1 cricket coaches, helping to address the imbalance of male to female coaches and inspire more women to become coaches.
Dan has worked tirelessly with disaffected young people across East and West Sussex. He has turned many young people’s lives around, reengaging young people with a positive and active lifestyle by helping them find meaning and direction in their lives.
The young people Dan has worked with often come from the care sector and during their time with Up-Grade and with Dan, have re-entered school, reengaged with their communities and have won awards with their local authorities. Many of those young people now work alongside Dan as youth mentors and are pursuing careers in sport and coaching.
Dan truly goes above and beyond for each and every child in his care. Dan works seven days a week with children’s homes, county councils and special schools to ensure the best possible provision for those young people who so desperately need it the most.
Katie-George has lived and trained in Crawley throughout the whole of her Paralympic cycling career. She is visually impaired and this year she not only competed in the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, she won two gold medals and a silver medal.
Since returning from Tokyo Katie-George has visited many schools and organisations to inspire the youth of Sussex and encourage children to get involved. This champion is exceptional in her field and a true Sussex sports personality.
Semeena is a run coach for Crawley Run Crew and a key community activator that has helped deliver several successful Tackling Inequalities Funding projects for Active Sussex. In addition to this, she has become a Sussex This Girl Can Champion helping to inspire more women and girls to be physically active.
Semeena works tirelessly to encourage people from the South Asian community in Crawley to be more active. Despite having a full-time job, she leads running groups for Crawley Run Crew, coordinates its Couch to 5k programme and leads her own ladies-only boot camp.
Semeena helped to establish the Sudhan Welfare Society (SWS) and has led the recruitment of participants for 3 projects: walking elders in the Pakistani community with Crawley Run Crew, a men’s volleyball project and swimming lessons for South Asian women. She has helped to engage 73 South Asian participants through these projects.
Defiant Sports provide sports for all, regardless of ability or disabilities. They are fully community focused in what they do, always asking the question – “what would you like to do?”.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic they had approximately 50 regular attendees, however in the past year they have doubled this figure, now reaching a regular 100 attendees. This was achieved by a strong online presence over lockdowns, providing weekly YouTube sessions and Zoom socials.
Defiant Sports also carry out polls across their social media channels, getting the community to vote on which sessions they should offer next. This has received an overwhelming response across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, with people voting and then commenting to suggest other sports or interacting with other players. Community engagement is at the core, consistently asking for their feedback and direction, and creating a community within which attendees and participants can engage with each other.
In October Defiant Sports organised the first ever pan-disability LTA tennis tournament. This saw people with learning disabilities, visual impairments, wheelchair users, and cerebral palsy all play against one another at a fair level. It will now be an annual event, after being requested by many across the nation, and being enjoyed by all who attended.
Despite a challenging year, Crawley Eagles Cricket Club set up the first women’s cricket team in Crawley, which is a diverse group but mostly made up of south Asian ladies. They have gone from strength to strength, entering a county wide women’s cricket league and taking part in a women’s cricket tournament at Lords Cricket Ground.
In the summer Crawley Eagles hosted a women’s cricket festival in Crawley in partnership with Sussex Cricket Foundation. Driven by Ish Jalal, Crawley Eagles have helped to remove barriers for the women in their community to take part in cricket.
In addition, they have trained up several ladies to become Level 1 cricket coaches, helping to address the imbalance of male to female coaches and inspire more women to become coaches.
Dan has worked tirelessly with disaffected young people across East and West Sussex. He has turned many young people’s lives around, reengaging young people with a positive and active lifestyle by helping them find meaning and direction in their lives.
The young people Dan has worked with often come from the care sector and during their time with Up-Grade and with Dan, have re-entered school, reengaged with their communities and have won awards with their local authorities. Many of those young people now work alongside Dan as youth mentors and are pursuing careers in sport and coaching.
Dan truly goes above and beyond for each and every child in his care. Dan works seven days a week with children’s homes, county councils and special schools to ensure the best possible provision for those young people who so desperately need it the most.
Katie-George has lived and trained in Crawley throughout the whole of her Paralympic cycling career. She is visually impaired and this year she not only competed in the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, she won two gold medals and a silver medal.
Since returning from Tokyo Katie-George has visited many schools and organisations to inspire the youth of Sussex and encourage children to get involved. This champion is exceptional in her field and a true Sussex sports personality.
Semeena is a run coach for Crawley Run Crew and a key community activator that has helped deliver several successful Tackling Inequalities Funding projects for Active Sussex. In addition to this, she has become a Sussex This Girl Can Champion helping to inspire more women and girls to be physically active.
Semeena works tirelessly to encourage people from the South Asian community in Crawley to be more active. Despite having a full-time job, she leads running groups for Crawley Run Crew, coordinates its Couch to 5k programme and leads her own ladies-only boot camp.
Semeena helped to establish the Sudhan Welfare Society (SWS) and has led the recruitment of participants for 3 projects: walking elders in the Pakistani community with Crawley Run Crew, a men’s volleyball project and swimming lessons for South Asian women. She has helped to engage 73 South Asian participants through these projects.
See a list of all of our previous Sussex Sports Awards winners here.
Sussex Sports Awards winners
Ed supports Sport England's targeted investment into facilities in the region, linking national strategy to local priorities and delivery. Ed also delivers the Sussex School Games programme, and events including the Sussex Sports Awards, Parallel Youth Games, and the Active Sussex Conference and Network.
Email: ebartram@activesussex.org