Young Sporting Stars Honoured

Young Sporting Stars Honoured

Auckland teenager Terenzo Bozzone has hit the headlines again today when he won the multisport category in the national SPARC Future Champion Awards.

The SPARC Future Champion Awards recognise New Zealand's most promising secondary school athletes from around New Zealand.

Bozonne won the world junior triathlon champs in Mexico earlier this month to make him a double world champion. In October he successfully defended the world duathlon title he won in Italy last year.

Dale Eagar, Advisor, SPARC said the "standard of nominations was phenomenal. There are some amazing young athletes out there. New Zealand has some outstanding talent that is already achieving on the junior world stage. These athletes are definitely the ones to watch in the future."

Former Silver Fern Debbie Matoe was one of the judges and said "it was a really difficult process to select the champions. I was greatly impressed by the number of athletes who had been successful on the international stage at such a young age."

Matoe believed all the SPARC Future Champions should be congratulated. "It is recognition of the effort, discipline and commitment required to be competitive. It is also an opportunity to pay tribute to their support base - their families, schools, coaches and communities that have helped them achieve their goals" she said.

There are athletes from 75 sports were named SPARC Future Champions - from the traditional rugby, cricket and netball to sports as diverse as in-line hockey, boardsailing and Billiards.

One outstanding recipient is Wellington's Sarah-Jane Jones who at just 16 was recently placed 3rd in the compulsory short programme in the World Championships in Germany. She is the New Zealand champion and scooped two gold and one silver medals at the Oceania Championships.

Past recipients of the SPARC Future Champions award include Sam Hunt, who has received the golf award again in 2002, recent Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Valerie Adams and cricketer Daniel Vettori. .

The SPARC judging panel drew from their vast experience in rating the awards. Jude Ellis, former trans-atlantic rower, Dallas Seymour, recently retired rugby international, Debbie Matoe, retired Silver Fern and Dale Eagar, programme manager.

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