18th November 2009,

2009 DSA Sports Awards Dinner

On Saturday November 14th DSA held its 2009 Sports Awards Dinner at the Beachcomber Café in St Kilda. The crowd in attendance was entertained by Beijing Olympic Rowers Sonia Heath and Cameron Mackenzie- McHarg and Medina Sumovic and deaf theatre performers before the highlight of the evening – the presentation of the 2009 DSA Sports Awards.

 

Early in the evening as the crowd settled in Olympic Rower and newly appointed DSA Board member Sonia Heath shared her story of growing up with a deaf sister and her rise through the sporting ranks to become a world champion and Olympian. Cameron then entertained the crowd with stories of silver medal winning performance in Beijing and desire to get one back on the Poms and win gold at London 2012! 

 

Later in the evening DSA President Brent Phillips took to the stage to present the 2009 Sports Awards with the assistance of Cameron and Sonia.

 

Melinda Vernon capped off a remarkable 12 months where she has remained undefeated in deaf sports competitions and won the prestigious City-2-Surf Fun Run and Sydney Half Marathon to claim the Female athlete of the year award. This marks back to back victories for Vernon who also claimed the honour in 2008.

 

Denver Magnusson won the male athlete of the year award on the back of his stunning victory in the 2008 World Deaf Golf Championships in Perth and subsequent strong performances throughout the year.

 

Deaf Netball Victoria was named the Organisation of the year which was a fitting reward for an outstanding year of achievements which featured sending 9 Victorian teams (4 women teams and 5 mixed teams) to compete at the 10th Margo Allen National Deaf Netball Club Championships and totally re-vamping the organizations website and communication materials.

 

The Volunteer of the Year Award went to the 50 volunteers who helped play a major role in the success of the 2008 World Deaf Golf Championships. Anyone who was lucky enough to attend this event would have witnessed the dedication of this group.

 

Closing off a big night for Golf in the awards Golf Australia Claimed the media award for its outstanding coverage of the 2008 World Deaf Golf Championships through its website and other communication mechanisms.

 

Closing off the evening Medina Sumovic and her deaf theatre group of Alex Straub, Baze Boskovic, David Hay and Frank Spadea had the crowd in stitches as they performed a series of impromptu sketches with a sporting theme. 

 

All in all it was a fantastic night and a great way to celebrate a fantastic year in deaf sport!

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