WELSH SPORT ISSUE FOUR. JANUARY 2016.
SPEED KING
INSIDE Fast and furious. Bruce Tasker The Big Interview. Brian Davies OBE Boxing world champion Lee Selby Sir Gareth Edwards, Dan Biggar and other heroes of Welsh Sport in 2015
WELSH SPORT WELSH SPORT
ISSUE ONE - OCTOBER 2014
WELSH SPORT
WELSHSPORT
WINTER WONDERS
NON IS BACK AND AIMING FOR RIO
ISSUE TWO - DECEMBER 2014
WALES ON THE SNOW AND ICE
INSIDE
Who will be the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year? EXCLUSIVE: NON STANFORD ON HER MASSIVE 2015
GERAINT THOMAS’ AMAZING YEAR
Wales at the Commonwealth Games - Five page special
JULY 2015
CYCLING SPECIAL
INSIDE EXCLUSIVE: OUR AMAZING 2014. SPORT WALES CHAIR LAURA MCALLISTER ATHLETICS EXCLUSIVE: PERFORMANCE COACH SCOTT SIMPSON LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
The Nation’s Finest. Welsh Sport Awards Six Page Special
TOUR DE FRANCE STAR LUKE ROWE COMMONWEALTH GAMES ACE JON MOULD WELSH CYCLING CEO ANNE ADAMS-KING
WELSH NETBALL - THE LAST INTERVIEW OF FORMER CEO ALUN DAVIES
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WELCOME
Editor Gary Baker
Contents
4&5. Bobsleigh. Bruce Tasker piece
6&7. Judo. Natalie Powell on the road to Rio. 8&9. Welsh Netball. Co-captain Suzi Drane 10&11. Boxing Special. Lee Selby and Fred Evans 13,14&15 - The Big Interview. Brian Davies MBE 15. Welsh Sport Awards. Dan Biggar Personality of the Year 16. Gareth Edwards Lifetime Achievement 17. Lowri Barker. Young Coach of the Year 18. Welsh Sport Award Unsung Heroes 20&21. Hockey. Focus on Cardiff Met 22&23. Badminton Wales. What does the future hold? 25. Squash round-up 26. Sailing. Bangor’s Daniel Whiteley 27.Weighlifting. Welsh Open 28. Athletics. Sprint queen Hannah Brier
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Welcome to Welsh Sport issue four and, from the outset, we are not trying to scare you but it is pretty amazing to think that in just seven months, sportsmen and women will gather in Rio de Janerio to celebrate the Olympic Games. Wow! It only seems like yesterday that our Welsh stars were going for medals in London and, like Jade Jones in Tae Kwon Do, winning gold and becoming instant household names. In this issue, we take a look at another woman who has every chance of winning a medal in Brazil - judo’s 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Natalie Powell. One athlete who has already been to the Olympics - the winter variety - is Tenby-born former sprint athlete Bruce Tasker. Tasker was at the Sochi Games in Russia as a pusher in the four-man bobsleigh for Great Britain and
has now switched to the pressurised role of driving. And here is another frightening thought. In just over two years, our Welsh stars will be heading to the Gold Coast for the next Commonwealth Games. Again, it only seems like a blink of an eye since Geraint Thomas was winning gold in Glasgow in 2014. We find out how Wales is preparing and what the future holds for sport here in our Big Interview with Sport Wales boss Brian Davies OBE. We also focus on the Welsh Sport Awards winners, plus hockey, badminton, netball and much more. Remember, Welsh Sport is the only magazine that focusses on all sport in Wales, from grassroots to elite. Hope you enjoy your read this month.
Gary Baker Editor
Editor - Gary Baker (www.walesandwestmedia.co.uk) Contributors: Hamish Stuart, Rebecca Jenkins; James King Pictures: © SportingWales; Wales and West Media Ltd; Matchtight Ltd; Irfon Bennett; British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association
TASKER IS IN THE DRIVING SEAT Team GB Winter Olympics bobsleigh star Bruce Tasker talks to Gary Baker BRUCE Tasker is a man in a hurry. He is in the box seat to spearhead a revolution that is putting British ice sliding on the global map. Tasker, from Tenby, has taken to bobsleigh like a fish to water after switching from a solid if unspectacular athletics career as a 200m and 400m runner. He found bobsleigh while studying at the University of Bath and it has already brought him an appearance in the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 where he was the only Welshman to take part and, along with partners Stuart Benson, Joel Fearon and John James Jackson, helped Team GB reach a brilliant fifth in the four-man event. Now he has switched from pushing the bobsleigh to driving it and is looking to improve even further by guiding Team GB to a big finish - possibly a podium - in February’s World Championships which are taking place in Innsbruck, Austria. Tasker’s previous role as a pusher meant he could blast the bob from the start gate and then jump in at the rear to enjoy the ride down the track. But being the man in control of everything brings significant responsibility. The 28-year-old said: “The start is so crucial not just to push but to jump in and take the first corner. If you take a tap on that first corner or are off course, it has a knock-on effect for the first three corners and can significantly affect the whole of your run. “This is my second year of driving and I’m looking to make good progress. Last year was about finding my feet on the slide but now I hope to prove myself a little bit more.” And he is happy with the pressure that accompanies the man in the front seat. “I do like it and I like the responsibility,” said the six feet four inch, 16 stones powerhouse. “It’s different being in the front seat instead of the back.” Tasker had a good pre-New Year month where he and Fearon finished in 22nd place at the World Cup two-man bob in Konigssee, Germany, on December 12 and then he drove the four-man bob to eighth place a day later. He also partnered former Olympic Games sprint relay gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis in two European Cup events where the two-man bob men finished eighth and ninth respectively at the German venues of Winterberg and Altenberg in November and December. So, with British sliders like Shelley Rudman, Lizzy Yarnold and Wales’ own Laura Deas putting the nation on the map in the Skeleton, Tasker and his colleagues are doing
Tenby-born athlete-turned-ice star Bruce Tasker is part of the sliding revolution that is giving Britain respect around the world
exactly the same for bobsleigh, which, in years gone by, used to be the reallm of British teams made up of Army soldiers based on the continent who used
it for training purposes only. And just like Britain used to be seen as nobodies in the world of cycling before now becoming the team to beat, the country are
fast achieving the same sort of reputation and status in bobsleigh. Tasker said: “We have lots of potential in our teams and we showed last year that we have a lot of talent in the squad. I put it down to the fact that we have a huge athletic team. We are probably the best athletes in the world in bobsleigh. “We are certainly rising up (in world status). Years ago, we were coming outside the top twenty. Now we are fast developing and we are not just one-hit wonders. We have repeated our successes and we have shown that we are starting fast and going well on the hill. “There is definitely an edge that we have where teams look at us now. People come and see what we are doing and they are going to try and copy us. They are wondering what we are up to.” But why are the great teams of years gone by like the Swiss, Germans, Russians and Latvians suddenly taking notice of a nation which has no bobsleigh complex and only a push-start course of a hundred metres or so at Tasker’s base at the Uni-
versity of Bath? The Welsh ace said: “I put it down to the success we have had in recent years.” And just like the philosophy of the British cycling squad, bobsleigh’s rapid growth on the world stage has been built slowly but surely via small successes. “We look at those one per cent wins. We look at the entry into the first corner to the angles we are pushing at the start. We have good physio and a good team behind us.” Those marginal gains will, hopes Tasker, lead to medal glory at the next Winter Olympics which take place in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018. “The aim for me is to be driving in the Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsleigh at least. There will be new targets each year and I will build up gradually until I am an accomplished driver.” And to drive the British team upwards at the front of a bob over the coming years, putting them near the top of the global ladder, would be an incredible achievement forTasker.
‘Bobsleigh Bruce’ Tasker (above) in action in the four-man team and (below) a publicity poster for the Sochi Olympic Games
JUD
MY OLYMPIC
DO
C AMBITION Natalie Powell (in white) on the way to winning her 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal. Pic: Sporting Wales
NATALIE POWELL ON THE TENSION OF RIO SELECTION
WELSH ace Natalie Powell faces a vital few months this new year as she looks towards a plane ticket to Rio with the Team GB Olympic squad. The reason for her hectic schedule is simply due to the selection process. Because even though the 25-year-old from Llanwrytd Wells is the highest ranked British competitor in the world, she is still not guaranteed a place at the Rio Olympic Games although it would be inconceivable that she would miss out on selection. But Powell, the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the under 78kg class, is taking nothing for granted and is putting in the hours of training at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff so that she will be able to rack up the qualification points to stay in the top eight in the world, where she currently is, and give the selectors no option but to pick her. Powell created history by becoming the first British finalist at the World Judo Masters, which took place in Rabat, Morocco, last May. She won a silver medal there, losing out to London 2012 Olympic champion Kayla Harrison from America in the final. But since then, Powell has added more glory with a victory in the Tashkent Grand Prix in Uzbekistan, while she came seventh in the Paris Grand Prix.
Now she is heading to Havana, Cuba this month for their Grand Prix which takes place between January 22 and 24 where more points will, hopes Powell, put her in the frame for the big prize. She said: “Last year was the second year of qualification for the Olympics and you needed five good results.” Powell has a real rival for an Olympic place, though, in the formidable shape of London Games silver medallist Gemma Gibbons, who is currently ranked 11th in the world. The Welsh wonder added: “Basically, Gemma and I are in a qualification position and if one of us is in the top eight, then one of us will go. “If we are both out of the top eight, then it is up to the selectors to pick and they can choose anyone.” It is crucial that Powell kick-starts her year successfully as there is little time to gain the results needed to keep her in the automatic top eight berth. The Third Dan, who also won the Astana Grand Prix gold during her Commonwealth Games-winning season, added: “I’m excited about the Olympics but I’m also anxious. The massive qualification thing means that until that is completed, there is no guarantee I am going. The selectors will pick on the last day of May and then I will find out. “But I am confident I am the best player (at -78kgs) and I feel I will go.”
NETB
LET’S INSPIRE MOR Welsh legend Suzy Drane’s call SOMETIMES sport presents a bigger picture than just the pursuit of medals and glory. That is certainly the case with netball and, in particular, getting women to enjoy a team activity such as that. The Welsh Netball squad have certainly proved that team spirit and comradeship can go a long way after building on a couple of years of success as they head into 2016. Wales finished eighth in the 2014 Commonwealth Games after a great Superleague season by the Celtic Dragons team in which they reached the final before going down to tough opponents Team Bath. And last year, they went to Sydney, Australia, for the World Cup and performed heroically to finish in a terrific seventh place. With the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games only two years away and a great momentum behind them, Wales Netball, with a new chief executive Sarah Jones now in place, and Trish Wilcox leading the girls on the court as National Head Coach, has put the jigsaw n place for the team to go forwards. However, joint national captain Suzy Drane says their success must trickle down to the Welsh public in general. It is, says Drane, one of the national team’s longest serving players, no good to simply enjoy the glory without any substance behind to back it up.
Welsh Netball co-captain Suzy Drane (above and right) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Pics: Sporting Wales
Drane said: “We were really pleased with the performance in Australia. There were great performances over there with some of the best results we have had in 26 years. “We are pleased as an organisation but even more pleased for the females of
our population and hopefully we can inspire some of the youngsters who are coming through and those who are not taking part in sport to come out and play. “We don’t just want to inspire those who are elite but those who are thinking of participating because wom-
en’s sport is massive.” And that inspiration is there in all its’ glory thanks to their World Cup exploits. “Australia was really fantastic. We had a really great squad. It is probably one of the best tournaments I have been involved in and I have been involved for ten years.
BALL
RE GIRLS TO PLAY
been involved for ten years. “That is pretty big. We had 17 women together for three-and-a-half weeks with no arguments - which is pretty unheard of,” laughed Drane, who co-captains with goalkeeper Kelly Morgan. Seriously, she added: “We were very supportive on and off the court and that showed in our performances.” The new Superleague season starts at the end of this month and that is a very important competition
for all Welsh elite netball players. Being involved, whether within the Celtic Dragons squad or from the outside, is still enthuses the co-captain. Drane, who lecturers in Sports Development and Performance Sport at Cardiff Met University, said she hopes high-ranking global sides will now have a look at Wales and invite them to take them on. “We are hoping that teams will come and have a look at us and give us opportunities in terms of play-
ing against them. That will help keep as much of the squad together as possible. We have got the Superleague coming up and that is exciting for us. “We will be setting targets for the Superleague and make sure that those players who want to play with Wales immediately are playing and those who want to take a bit of time out and consider where they are at are also kept linked in with Welsh Netball. “Then we have to take every opportunity that
comes our way. We have a new chief executive, who was announced in November, so it is an exciting time for Welsh Netball. “The team is being lead by Kelly and myself and it is a privilege to be part of the team and also in the roles we have.” And if they can inspire more young women to take up netball and become part of the game, and maybe the stars of the future, that will be another giant step forward for the fast-growing Welsh sport.
BOX
HISTORY IS O OLYMPIC ACE EVANS TURNS PRO
Fred Evans (second right) with (l-r) Billy Reynolds and Chris Sanigar (Sanigar Events) and long-time coach Tony
LONDON 2012 Olympic silver medallist Fred Evans has turned professional, signing a long term management deal with Chris Sanigar. Evans enjoyed a thrilling amateur career where he won gold for Wales at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Ankara and had previously won gold at the 2007 World Cadet Championships in Hungary. He became the first Welsh boxer to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Evans explains his decision to turn professional, saying: “I had a great amateur career and I want to thank all of the coaching staff
at Team GB especially Robert McCracken. “I think turning professional is the next move. I reached the top as an amateur and I’m looking forward to doing the same as a pro. Signing with Chris and training with Tony was always my first choice, seeing the success of Lee Selby and other Welsh boxers.” Evans will take on his first opponent in the paid ranks in the coming months, and longtime coach and now professional trainer Tony Borg reckons he could prosper. Borg said: “Fred Evans has been one of Wales most outstanding amateurs for years
alongside Andrew Selby. He has won European gold at both junior and senior level and he’s the only Welshman ever to reach an Olympic final. I look forward to his progression in the professional ranks and challenging for titles.” Sanigar is delighted to have signed the Olympian and expects big things for him in the near future. “Signing Fred Evans was something I have wanted to do for a long time. I’ve followed Fred throughout his amateur career and he has always stood out. He has a style that suits the pro game and I believe that he can go a long way.”
ON HORIZON . . . says world champion Lee Selby
LEE Selby has backed brother Andrew to become a pro world champion and, in doing so, put their family into the history books. Selby, who won the IBF Featherweight title last May and successfully defended it on points against Mexican veteran Fernando Montiel in Arizona, USA, last October, is hoping to unify his division this year and steps back into the ring next month (February) for a mandatory defence. The Barry star then fancies giving Josh Warrington, from Leeds, a shot at the title on the Yorkshireman’s home patch. But, as he gets ready for that defence next month, he reflected on a glorious 2015,
saying: “I won the world title which was a dream in itself. I came home to Barry and we went out on an open top bus tour. The whole town came out and applauded me and then I made a successful defence in America. “I boxed a former threeweight world champion (Montiel) and put on a good performance to win.” It is a long way from St Joseph’s Gym, the white building on the corner of Newport’s Pillgwenlly district, where he learnt his trade under legendary coach Tony Borg, and the big time fights he now enjoys. Borg’s is a stable that has brought fireworks to the Welsh boxing scene
over the years, and after 21 fights as a professional, Selby got his crack at the IBF world title. The fight saw him cut the eye of big Russian Evgeny Gradovich and it was stopped in the eighth round. Selby said holding a world belt in his hands was incredible. He said nobody in St Joseph’s believed he could do it. “I think I was the only one who did. When I was a kid, my main goal was to become world champion. I always believed in myself and when I turned pro with Tony Borg and Chris Sanigar (manager), they gave me more self-belief and helped make my dream possible.” Now he thinks Andrew
Lee Selby (right) spars with coach Tony Borg at St Joseph’s Gym, Newport
can emulate him and the Selbys will become one of the few families to have two world champion brothers simultaneously. Andrew, who turned pro also with the Sanigar stable last year, has had three flyweight wins so far, and his brother reckons it will not be long before he will be challenging for a title. Selby said: “He was Wales’ most successful fighter in the history of boxing as an amateur. They are hoping to fast-track him and have him boxing for a world title within months. “Hopefully we can break a record. We won’t just be from the same country or the same town, we are from the same house!”
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04/09/2014 15:20
THE BIG INTERVIEW
BRIAN DAVIES OBE Sport Wales Elite Performance Director
SUSTAINING OU
WALES has delivered on the highest of stages in the past two years and, with the Rio Olympic Games and Paralympics due this year and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games beginning to loom large in the sights, the work in relentless for Brian Davies and his team. Amazing performances over those years, from gymnast Frankie Jones, swimming’s Jazz Carlin, cycling’s Geraint Thomas when representing Wales and also individually, plus the national football and rugby sides glories have given the world a wake-up call that Wales is a buzzing
and vibrant sporting nation. Now it is up to the national governing bodies and Sport Wales to maintain that momentum and, in fact, increase it. Davies, who was awarded an OBE last year, is key to that development and co-ordination of those plans. He liaises with the NGBs and the Welsh Government and believes Wales is standing on the threshold of true greatness. Davies, who was honoured by the Queen for his services to sport, was appointed the Sport Wales Elite Performance Director in May last year and started work in the role on June 1.
Now, six months into the job, the man who oversaw Wales’ most successful Commonwealth Games ever as their Chef de Mission at Glasgow 2014 is driving the aims and ambitions of the national sport stars to reach their highest dreams once more. The work, he says, never stops. Davies reflected on 2015 and said: “In my time involved in Welsh sport, this was probably the most successful year. For me, it is rolled into one with Glasgow. “It is difficult to compare periods or generations but when you look at some of the results from Glasgow
up to now, to have a record-breaking medal haul at the Commonwealth Games, and prior to that to have a record-medal haul at the London Olympic Games and Paralympics, and, moving up to now with Wales in the world’s top ten in the football rankings, rugby in the top four or five in the world and other unheralded sports like boxing, producing world champions through the amateur ranks all the way through to the world championships and world titles, it is incredible.. “I think it has been a fantastic period and the good news is nobody is resting on their laurels. All the
Glasgow hero. Rhythmic gymnast Frankie Jones. Pic: Sporting Wales
UR SUCCESSES governing bodies in Welsh sport have bought into the aspirational mantra of doing better, being bigger and putting Wales on the world map.” What the NGBs are buying into is a plan to keep Wales moving and not standing still. Davies said: “Sport Wales launched an elite strategy at the back end of October which is building on the strategy for the last four year period which included London and Glasgow and all the Championships up to then. it focuses effort in particular areas and that is the multi-sport arena so that is Commonwealth Games, Olympics and Paralympics. “The challenge we have got going forward is that the Sport Wales board are keen - and the Welsh Government are really keen - to ensure we build a system of development and don’t just chase medals. That is difficult but it is achievable. “In terms of our role going forward, it is building on those successes but looking to actually make sure it is sustainable. “So if we have had success in gymnastics, artistic or rhythmic, then that process continues with plenty of athletes for us as an institute to work with.” Rhythmic gymnast Frankie Jones was the golden girl of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as she won a gold medal and five silvers in front of a crowds who were spellbound at times. Davies said: “Frankie is a great example. She retired after Glasgow and a glittering career but now we have Laura Halford who was with
Going for gold in Rio. Welsh swimming star Jazz Carlin. Pic: Sporting Wales
her in Glasgow at her first Games. “Laura will, hopefully, be the new Frankie, if you like, in the next cycle and we want that replicated in other sports. So the artistic girls came through and medalled for the first time but most of those have retired now so we have to find a couple more. “All of those sports who are in the multi-sport environment are our goal, to make sure we produce this conveyor belt, if you like.” Many Welsh stars will have their eyes on the Rio Olympics, with judo player Powell and Tour de France cyclist Thomas two athletes who are almost cast iron certainties for a place on the plane with Team GB and possible medals in Brazil. But every Welsh athlete who gets a place in the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio will have done so on their merits and beaten off
the challenges of other top, hungry stars from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Davies is only too aware of this but is confident the nation can have an excellent representation in those two massive global multi-sport tournaments. So how many athletes does he expect to be in the Team GB squads? “That is difficult as we are not the masters of our own destiny as we are with Welsh governing bodies and Welsh athletes,” he added. “Having said that, we had about ten per cent of the team in London so we will be looking at a little bit less than that because it is not a home Games and there are not so many home places. “But a seven per cent representation in Team GB from a five per cent proportion of the population would be pretty good. “We have some really good medal prospects as
well. Jazz Carlin has had fantastic milestone events in the lead-up to Rio. “She has delivered in everything she has done so fingers crossed for her. “Jade Jones in Tae Kwon Do, Chris Bartley and Vicky Thornley in rowing, who are competing in World Cups and World Championships, and then hopefully on the cycling scene, you have Becky James coming back into recognition and the likes of Owain Doull, Lewis Olivier and Sam Harrison. “The thing about that is you never know quite what you will be playing with until not too far from the Games because of the way they have to win places for it but we are full of hope and expectation.” Although the Rio Games will not be the main milestone that Welsh sport will be judged on this year, it is crucial for Davies and Sport Wales that the momentum keeps rolling now.
BIGGAR AND BETTER Welsh Sport Awards Personality of the Year
WELSH outside-half Dan Biggar would have voted for football star Gareth Bale if he had the chance to choose who was the outstanding sports person from Wales last year. But the rugby-crazy public thought the Ospreys ace, who guided Wales with his nerveless kicking through a Rugby World Cup group of death with Australia, England, Fiji and Uruguay in the Autumn, deserved the biggest prize of the year - and he was delighted with the accolade. On his current form, there is a chance that the 26-year-old from Morriston, Swansea, could be the first choice fly-half for the British and Irish Lions when they tackle the mighty New Zealand All Blacks next year. He will lead Wales through the Six Nations Championships, which kicks-off in a few weeks time, and then, if he stays clear of injury, Biggar will get a taste of what to expect against the All Blacks on that Lions trip when Wales tour there this summer. For now, though, he has been overwhelmed by being named Welsh Sport Awards Personality of the Year admitting: “It feels strange that my name is anywhere near it.” Biggar, capped 39 times for Wales, said: “It has been a good year. I am really thrilled to have received this award and very humble and very proud. These things are always nice but it is nice to pick up things like this with teams that have been halfway successful.”
Wales and Ospreys outside half Dan Biggar with the Welsh Sport Personality of the Year trophy. Pic: Sporting Wales
Sir Gareth Edwards (left) receives his Welsh Sport Awards Lifetime Achievement trophy from Shane Williams. Pic Sporting Wales
BE PATIENT, WALES
SIR Gareth Edwards has warned Welsh rugby fans not to expect miracles from the national team at this season’s RBS 6 Nations Championship following the exertions of the Rugby World Cup. Sir Gareth has not dismissed their chances of winning the title or even bigger prizes like the Triple Crown or Grand Slam, and hopes that they do just that. But, with the Six Nations coming just months after Warren Gatland’s men put in a mighty effort in the World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals where they went out to South Africa by just 23-19, it is a big ask.
National coach Gatland will be getting his squad together again in the coming week or so before the opening clash of the Championship against Ireland on February 7. Sir Gareth, who received the Welsh Sport Lifetime Achievement award last month, insists Wales have the squad to do well but wonders if it will be a step too far this season. He said: “First and foremost, the Six Nations will be a good test for these boys who can now gather their thoughts. It is not going to be easy. “When you have had the emotions, the adrenaline
rush and the physicality of the World Cup, it is not as easy as a lot of people think to just step into the Six Nations. They have certainly got the quality and the belief and they know they can beat anybody. “Beating England at Twickenham (in the World Cup) was a big, big hurdle to overcome so there is no reason why they cannot go into the Championship confident. “But I think we as spectators - expectant spectators - who only expect the very best may need to take a deep breath and say these boys might not be quite on their mettle, as we know
they can play. “It is not to say we will not do well but it has been a huge year and, of course, just around the corner - in case they want to take a breath now and fall asleep they have got New Zealand in three Test matches. “There is a long year ahead so maybe we should concentrate and think four years ahead and build for that (2019 World Cup).” Sir Gareth said he was ‘honoured’ to receive his award and ‘genuinely had no idea’ he would be the recipient. He was equally honoured that another legend, Shane Williams, presented him with his trophy.
AN INSPIRATION
Mold Netball Club coach Lowri Haf Barker receives her Young Coach of the Year trophy Pic: Sporting Wales
LOWRI Haf Barker decided to help out Chris Elson at Mold Netball Club when it was discovered her coach was suffering from cancer. She was just 16 at the time and an aspiring netball player in her own right but turned to coaching and, as a result, she has now been recognised for her achievements with the Welsh Sport Young Coach of the Year award. And Barker, now 21, says the surge up the world rankings of the national netball side has inspired her and her current players to
go for their goals. Barker took over coaching from her ‘absolute idol’ at Mold when in her mid teens and studying for her GCSEs. However, while Chris was unable to attend sessions, Barker kept the coach in the loop and spoke to her all the time about what was happening. Barker undertook her netball coaching qualifications and just a week after Chris passed away from her illness, Barker passed her level one coaching award.
Five years on and Mold Netball Club is thriving. Barker has coached two Under-15 teams to play in the Wales club finals in Cardiff and coached the most successful Under-13 club in the Deeside League. She has had league winners with younger age group teams and a number of players have gone on to selection at county and inter-county level. All of this while working at a physiotherapy practice and studying for a degree in complimentary medicine. The success last year of
Wales’ national side caught the imagination. She said; “I know a fair few of the girls who play for Welsh Netball because my sister used to play so it is nice to see them talking about their experiences and that gives me the inspiration to talk to my girls about going on to play in World Cups and European Championships.” Her honour has been dedicated to her mentor Chris. She added: “The award is definitely a tribute to Chris. I owe it to her to keep the club going strong. She was an incredible lady.”
LIVES BY THE POOL
Nerys Ellis and Jane Roberts (centre) with BBC TVs Jason Mohammad as they receive their Unsung Hero awards Pic: Sporting Wales
WHEN Nerys Ellis and Jane Roberts first took their daughters to Llanwrst Swimming Club, little could they have imagined that, a third of a century later, they would be winning the Welsh Sport Unsung Hero Award. Their long stint at the club has not been all plain sailing and, had it not been for a barbecue twenty years ago, there may not have been a club any longer. However, when a TV man ‘In a shirt because nobody ever wears shirts at a swimming pool’ came walking over to them during a club night last year, their long decades of dedication to helping the youngsters of North Wales was officially recognised. Ellis said: “It was a shock to win the award. We knew
we had been nominated and the cameras were coming to film at the pool but they said ‘come here’ and we were presented with the award.” The two ladies began their association with the club back in the early 1980s, and Ellis explained: “It was through our children. When they got to be five years old, and the swimming pool was recently built in Llanrwst, we took them there to be taught to swim. “We both had children of the same age. We were sitting on the sidelines - this is 35 years ago. We were going down every Thursday and they (the club) gradually asked ‘Would you like to help?’ “We were travelling to galas with them and it just
went from there. Every Thursday, for 35 years apart from the school holidays - we have been in Llanwrst Swimming Pool.” Ellis and Roberts began coaching the children and getting involved with parents of toddlers taking their first plunge into the water. “We are hands-on. We have coaches who do it now but, for years, we did it ourselves because we were really struggling. We couldn’t get anyone to come and help.” But when the club fell victim to financial changes in the way they were able to use the pool, it nearly folded. “We did a barbecue (to raise funds) and we saved the club. The changes meant they had to pay up
front for the hiring of the pool. That was about twenty years ago. They (the council) wanted us to pay for the pool up to Christmas and then up front after that but we just didn’t have the resources. “So we did the barbecue, raised cash (and awareness) and it has just grown. Now we have over a hundred (swimmers) on the books, with lots of children coming from the rural areas.” Instead of being plunged to the bottom, the club are now thriving, and the future is looking equally as bright as the ladies begin to hand over the reigns. Ellis added: “The swimming club is vital, especially where we live. We have enjoyed it and, for us, it is a way of life.”
HOCKEY FOCUS O
Cardiff & Met in action. Pic: Irfon Bennett
AIMING FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE CARDIFF & Met, Wales’ leading men’s team, have concluded the first half of National Hockey League season with the play-offs to reach the Premier Division tentatively in their sights. They rounded off their 2015 fixtures four points clear at the top of the table in the Conference West Division. Undefeated until their final match before the Christmas break, Cardiff & Met head coach Walid Abdo admits finishing on a 2-1 loss away to Guildford at the end of November was a frustrat-
ing end to their pre-Christmas campaign, but says the team are focused on the task ahead when league matches resume at the end of this month. Abdo said: “We were frustrated and annoyed to let our undefeated streak slip away. “After a few days, you understand that the reality is it would be very difficult to go the whole season unbeaten and, at some point, every good team has a setback. “It’s important after a punch in the gut that we
get back to winning ways as soon as possible. We are as, if not more, motivated than before and we will channel that feeling from the loss into our training and into our preparation for the second half assault.” Throughout the National Hockey League season, teams face each side in their division twice and Cardiff & Met have seven fixtures left to maintain their position at the top of the league if they hope to achieve their goal of winning the Conference West Division. This, if it happened,
would earn the team a place in the Premier Division play-offs at Queens Elizabeth Olympic Park in early April. “Our aim was to be in with a shout of the playoffs at the halfway point. Our form and subsequent results have given us a chance to kick on and give the second half a good go. I can honestly say we are pleased, but very wary of getting carried away. “We are, however, annoyed at the two draws and the loss, because I feel we could have and should have
ON CARDIFF & MET
Cardiff & Met head coach Walid Abdo talks to his squad. Pic: Irfon Bennett
won those games. The team have been together for a while now and they know that we have had a good start, but nothing else.” In their first fixture back on January 30, Cardiff & Met are away to the University of Birmingham, who currently sit third in the
Cardiff & Met’s remaining Men’s Conference West fixtures
league. In the first clash between the teams in September, Cardiff & Met stole a 2-1 win at home, but the side are not being complacent and know they post a big threat in their hunt to reach the play-offs. “The University of Birmingham are a fit, organised team with a lot of great
January 30. University of Birmingham (away) February 7. Team Bath Buccaneers (home)
individual talent. “It’s always been a tough fixture and they will post threats all over the pitch. However, it will be no different to any other fixture with them - tight with very few errors and very few goals.” Adbo added: “The most important thing is to win the league. We took our eye of
February 14. Indian Gymkhana (home) February 21. University of Exeter (away)
the ball in the last game of the season last year and it cost us the title. If we can achieve that, we can think about the possibility of play offs and promotion. “There is no doubt it would huge for us. It would also be a huge achievement for hockey in Wales,” he said.
February 28. Cheltenham (away) March 6. Isca (home) March 13. Fareham (away)
THE CHANGING FACE O
A WHOLE NE
Badminton Wales National Performance Director Matthew Hughes
OF BADMINTON WALES
EW OUTLOOK Badminton Wales National Performance Director MATTHEW HUGHES tells GARY BAKER why the sport must rediscover itself
B
ADMINTON in Wales is going through trying times but new National Performance Director Matthew Hughes hopes the sport can bounce back in the future. A legend of badminton in Wales, Kelly Morgan, has now returned to the court to help craft the talent around the Principality through her wealth of knowledge. Wales managed only one quarter-final place at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the biggest measure of the sport for the nation, when Daniel Font and Oliver Guillt lost to England’s Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis by 2-1 in the men’s doubles. Clarissa Turner reached the last 16 of both the women’s doubles, with Sarah Thomas, and the women’s singles before bowing out. Otherwise, Wales struggled in the individual contests and were also eliminated from the team competition at the pool stages. Now just Font and Turner remain from the senior squad that went to Glasgow and, with the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games only two years away, there is little time to build a squad which will be competitive in the Australian arena. Hughes, who was National Coach before moving to become National Performance Director at the end of last year, admits it is al-
most impossible to assemble a team of enough quality in time to be competitive on the Gold Coast. That is why he and Badminton Wales are looking to start afresh and ‘bring quality coaches’ like Morgan into the fold with the 2022 Games in Durban, South Africa, as a more realistic target than 2018. Hughes said: “Recently, I have made the advance to get Kelly Morgan back into the coaching team. She has agreed and she is going to be taking on an assistant role to the development group we have in Cardiff. “That is the one thing I have wanted to do which is to get quality. At the moment, players-wise, we are very much depleted. The focus is to be on 11 to 12 year olds and putting them on a pathway to see them go through the system and progress to the national team.” This process, believes Hughes, will take four to five years. He added: “You would like to think that they can make that transfer from junior to senior level at 16, really. “We have to start somewhere and, in three or four years time, when our 11 to 12 year olds are getting to 15 and 16, they we will be in a better position.” However, the way that current players in the mid-teenage age
bracket look at badminton as a sport in Wales, they will need expert off-court direction. “It is going to be difficult to change the mindset of some of the athletes of 16 and 17 years old at the moment but some will buy into our new approach. There will be no lack of trying. “We need to change the culture and that is not going to be done overnight.” But watching his beloved sport crumble over recent years from the highs of having Morgan, Richard Vaughan plus Hughes and his doubles colleague Martyn Lewis among the best in the world rankings, pains the National Performance Director. Hughes added: “It’s a tough one to take because there has been a lot of good work done over the years and I have been lucky enough to be at the business end of that where we have taken players to competitions and they have done well. “But a lot of those players have now either stopped or they have gone to work (employed careers) so we now have only two funded players in the squad in Dan and Clarissa.. “We are targeting the Gold Coast but that is still up in the air. We are trying to look at the best possible way to bring a programme together to give them the best chance to get qualified for the Gold Coast.” Badminton Wales’ other dilemma is some youngsters play but have not
been taught the basics from the start. “The focus has to be more on development. So, for the next four or five years, we are nurturing these young players . We have a pool of talent but it’s not as broad as we would like. The players coming through from 13 to 15 years old at the moment have not got the basic skills to progress through to the 17 to 19 age groups. “They need education. It’s not the players’ fault. We fall behind at 13 to 15 year old ages. We have players but we are losing them in that crucial time frame where the right mentality and skills are not being put through to them. “And you cannot catch those times up. It’s a crucial time in the development process. Some do pick up the skills but you cannot rely on that. We need to have a good solid group of well-coached and educated players with us to help us support those potential stars.” Funding and development pathways are still available but Hughes knows that the governing body need to demonstrate they are putting their house in order first. “We are not leaving it down to luck, which is what we were doing beforehand. You cannot guarantee the end product if you don’t put the right processes in place. What we had in the immediate past, which is a threadbare senior squad, is not acceptable.”
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SQUASH
Juniors cause a real racquet Welsh Junior Closed Championships
MORE than 70 young squash stars took part in the Welsh Junior Closed Championship, held at Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff, over two December days. Boys and girls came from the four corners of the Principality to compete in ten different age categories, displaying an excellent standard of squash and making every match a hard-fought and exciting contest. In the under-11 category, Joshua Davies produced an excellent performance to beat first seed, Ioan Sharpe, in their final by 11/7, 6/11, 11/7, 11/7. Jamie Silvester took bronze after defeating Jack Edwards 11/7, 11/7, 11/5. Alyx Kelleher secured top spot in the girls’ competition, winning all of her ties to finish top of the group ahead of Eve Griffiths in second. Rhys Evans beat Daniel Lewis to claim the boys’ under 13 title 11/7, 11/2, 11/3, as Thomas
Peate took bronze ahead of Lewys Audsley 11/4, 9/11, 11/4, 11/7. In the corresponding tournament, Jasmine Son overcame Phoebe Marshman in the girls’ final 11/9, 11/2, 11/6, with Lucy Jones proving too strong for Olivia Stephens in the third and fourth play-off 11/3, 11/8, 11/6. The boys’ under 15 trophy was won by Srikar Mummidi, who beat Lewis Poole in the final 11/6, 11/7, 11/5. In the girls’ draw, the winners of two pools met in the final, which Layna Beattie took as she triumphed over Katie Jones, 12/10, 11/3, 8/11, 11/1. Jordan Williams came out on top in the boys’ under 17 competition, defeating Kieran Hillman in the final 13/11, 11/8, 11/7. Aran Edwards took bronze after beating Huw Williams in the play-off 11/9, 11/4, 11/8. Ciara Richards topped the girls’ pool to take the trophy
Winners from the Welsh Junior Closed Championships
SAILING
WHITELEY BATTLES TO A BRONZE
BANGOR’S Daniel Whiteley (pictured) put the wind in the sails of his rivals and won bronze representing Great Britain at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Langkawi, Malaysia on January 3 in the Laser Radial class. In a nail-biting final race, Whiteley jumped from fifth to bronze medal position on the leaderboard at the Youth Sailing World Championships. Open to competitors aged 19 and under, the event is a proven talent indicator, with past notable
British winners including Olympic champions Ben Ainslie, Sarah Ayton and Iain Percy. Whiteley came storming out of the blocks on the final day, knowing that a medal was within his grasp. Rounding the first mark at the top end of the fleet, he could almost taste the medal and sailed to the front to win the race and take the bronze. Later, he said: “It started out really well, I began the day in fifth and ended it in third so I got a medal which is what I came
here to do. “I went out and won the race so I think that helped as everything fell into place so I’m really pleased with how the day went.” Whiteley has been battling it out with some of the top young Laser Radial sailors from around the world, an experience he has learned a lot from. The North Walian added: “Competition is really fierce. It’s the top sailors from all the nations and the leaderboard really shows it.”
WEIGHTLIFTING
RAISING THE BAR WELSH weightlifting legend Michaela Breeze MBE may have retired from competition but her influence on the next generation of athletes is huge. Her squad, who all train at her gym in Aberdare, were at the Welsh Weightlifting Championships in Cardiff last month. Breeze and her assistant Matt Addicott were proud of all of their athletes who competed at the Welsh Institute of Sport. That is because, for some, it was their first weightlifting competition and for others, an opportunity to stamp their mark on the Welsh scene. Day one of the two-day event saw six of Breeze’s lifters in the line-up, four girls and two boys. First on stage was Ebboney Lewis (13) who was in her first open (senior) competition and overcame her nerves to lift personal bests and take silver in her category with plenty more to come in the future. Also competing for the first time was Mya Scrivens (15). She gave an excellent account of herself by lifting personal bests throughout the contest. The bar was then raised considerably before the entry of Leah Timms (13) who went head-to-head against best friend and rival Taylor Addicott also 13. Both lifters are Welsh internationals, and, after the snatch phase, they were neck-and-neck on 47kg, although Addicott was ahead on body weight. The difference came in
Welsh weightlifting legend Michaela Breeze MBE
the very last lift in the clean and jerk with Taylor needing and getting a 60kg lift. Just one kilogram separated the two athletes in a fantastic performance that left coaches and spectators on the edge of their seats. Addicott finished first and Timms was second. Addicott is one of Breeze’s more experienced young lifters, smashing three Under-17 Welsh records with her lifts to add to her two British and Welsh titles. Breeze’s last two athletes where Garyn Bramwell and Kamran Jokarzadeh. Another athlete competing for the first time,
Bramwell (14) showed no nerves and came away with personal best lifts and experience of lifting on a big stage. He will be back in training and looking to return to the platform soon. Jokarzadeh (18) competed for the first time under the Breeze banner and was impressive to say the least, snatching 102kg and clean and jerking 135kg before narrowly missing a British record attempt. Three lifters represented Breeze on day two, kicking off with Ellie Pryor (14), who has had an amazing year representing Team Wales at the Commonwealth
Youth Games in Samoa where she was fourth. Pryor posted a total of 108kg in a brave performance. But 2016 will see her push for more honours including potentially lifting on European stages. Debbie Robbins and Courtney Howe made their competitive debuts and both overcame the nerves to put in solid performances. The next target for the youngsters is the Welsh and British Schools Championships where the bar will be raised even higher with lifters looking to qualify for senior Welsh and European competitions.
ATHLETICS
BRIER LOOKS AHEAD
ATHLETE Hannah Brier had no easier role model to follow than the man who was to become a global champion when he was at Swansea Harriers. Brier used to sit and watch Olympian Dai Greene train around the track as a young girl but now, as Greene’s career heads towards the finishing line, Brier is only just getting out of the starting blocks. The sprinter is heading towards a glittering career although the Olympic Games in Rio this year may be one step too far for the 17-year-old. But those in the know expect Brier to be representing Team GB in the future, and the athlete’s own focus is on going to the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018 having already had a taste of the Games when going to Glasgow for the 2014 event with Team Wales. She won the sprint double at the Welsh Senior Championships last year, recording 11.40secs over 100m and then adding the 200m in a time of 23.62secs at Leckwith Stadium in Cardiff. Brier beat Ireland’s Catherine McManus by half-a-second over the short sprint, and took over a second from Hannah Williams, in the runner-up spot, over the half-lap. Now she is getting a big year going at the Welsh Indoor Championships, and, for her efforts so far, she was given the Carwyn James Young Sportswoman of the Year trophy at the Welsh Sport Awards last month, with Cardiff tennis ace Matthew Story picking up the Young Sportsman of the Year trophy. Last year was a real eye-opener for Brier and she said: “After the Commonwealth Games, with no pressure on me, I did not know what to expect this year. “2015 has been an amazing year. I have represented Great Britain in my first international. The Gold Coast is now what I am aiming for. Coming off Glasgow, I said ‘that’s it and knuckle down now’. “It is, though, one step at a time as I have
Rising Welsh sprint star Hannah Brier
things before then. I have World Juniors during the year of which I have got to qualify and then see what happens.” Brier will be taking on the rest of Welsh sprinting at the Indoor Championships but the split-second event over 60m is a bit different from the shortest sprints outdoors. “I am only going over 60m which is a bit odd for me.” She recalled those days at Swansea Harriers, however, saying: “At my first training session there, I just run around for fun and I never realised it would get me so far so quickly. I had one year where it all clicked and I was in shock.”
And she said: “I remember watching Dai Greene there (at the track) and in Delhi at the Commonwealth Games and screaming and shouting.” Brier may be the reigning outdoor champion but women’s sprinting is really on the upward ladder. “Sprinting in Wales is really good now with people like Rachel Johncock, Shannon Malone and others. When one person does that, everyone wants to follow suit and it is a massive motivation at the moment.” Brier’s fine season can only get better and her bright career can take another big step forward in 2016.
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