Two bronzes from the ITF Tae Kwon Do World Championships in April earned Calum Woodill Sportsperson of the Year at the Lincoln University Blues and Golds awards last night.
The awards, held on campus, recognise the sporting achievements of students (Blues), as well as their service to the community (Golds).
Sports Team of the Year went to the women’s 3X3 basketball side who have won the tertiary New Zealand title for the last three years, and again earned a trip to the FISU University World Cup in China on 31 October.
While the Blues reflect the efforts of a host of national and provincial sporting representatives, Golds award winners demonstrated a willingness to give back to the University and local community, as well as contributing internationally.
Lincoln Volunteer Fire Brigade member Ollie Rutland Sims was among the winners as was Ishakau Haruna, who has run a project in rural Nigeria since 2015 to improve the quality of education there.
Barbera Forster, current president of Thursdays in Black, a movement across tertiary campuses and society working towards a world without rape and violence, also won a Gold award, her work “opening up the conversation around sexual violence and taking action to lessen its incidence”.
She is also a lead facilitator in Respectfully Lincoln, a student programme analysing appropriate and inappropriate behaviours on campus and setting standards.
Fellow Gold award winners Megan Fitzgerald and Sam Blackmore were also pioneers of the Respectfully Lincoln programme, along with Lincoln University Student Association president Kristy Havill (who is no longer a student, and ineligible for an award).
Lincoln University Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bruce McKenzie, said the awards showed how capable and committed Lincoln students were.
Professor McKenzie also praised the coaches at Lincoln, and said the results they achieved on the sporting field were “remarkable”.
Silver Fern and Lincoln alumna, Jane Watson, joined community healthcare advocates, doctors Dame Sue and Phillip Bagshaw, as special guests on stage interviewed by Master of Ceremonies Hillary Muir from the Breeze radio station.
Jane was a member of the 2019 Netball World Cup winning New Zealand side, while Dame Sue established the 198 Youth Health Centre and her husband founded the Canterbury Charity Hospital.
Selwyn Mayor, Sam Broughton, also attended.
Picture: Calum Woodill, Sportsperson of the Year
Winners:
Lincoln University Golds Awards,
Sam Blackmore
Megan Fitzgerald
Barbera Forster
Ishaku Haruna
Ollie Rutland-Sims
Reuben Jeffery-Butler
Lincoln University Blues Awards
Kylie Lyders, aerobics
Connie Poletti , basketball
Ajiah Pepe, basketball
Rosalia Samia, basketball
Fraser Sheat, cricket
Natasha Ryan, netball
Kate Lloyd, netball
Ben Baynes, yachting
Calum Woodill, tae kwon do
Andrew Allan, athletics
Anna Hayward, athletics
Fletcher Newell, rugby
Luke Donaldson, rugby
Samuel Gilbert, rugby
Nicholas Souchon, rugby
Rameka Poihipi, rugby
Amy Rule, rugby
Georgia Ponsonby, rugby
Melanie Puckett, rugby, rugby sevens, touch rugby
Rebecca Davidson, rugby
Jessie Anderson, hockey
Millie Calder, hockey
Georgia Mackay-Stewart, hockey
Louis Beckert , hockey
Andrew Ross, hockey
Sports Person of the Year
Calum Woodill
Team of the Year
Lincoln University women’s 3x3 basketball team
(Lucy Brown, Rosalia Samia, Connie Poletti and Ajiah Pepe)