Raglan Area School 2018 sports awards was an occasion for celebrating up-and-coming young sportspeople and paying tribute to a former sports star.
The Richard Keremeta Sports Ambassador Award was presented for the first time this year to Dayton Keremeta, 17 and Adi-Grace Mooar, 16.
Former Raglan Area School student Richard Keremeta died after jumping off the bridge and being struck by another bridge jumper in 2016.
Carved and donated by outgoing principal Malcolm Cox, the trophy is a testament to the Richard’s outstanding attitude and aptitude towards sports, senior teacher Joe Rao says.
“The award is for someone who displays a love of sport, is dedicated, hardworking and hard training. Not necessarily the best but the best team player, which really was what Richard was like. Richard was involved in every possible sport. He was a great ambassador for sports and he was loved by his friends and community.”
Richard’s younger brother Dayton says it was nice to receive the award and his family were very honoured by the significance of the award.
Dayton received Most Improved Player in basketball and soccer and only took up soccer for the first time this year in a player trade-off to get numbers for the team Dayton was asked by a friend to play and in return his friend joined the basketball team.
Adi-Grace was school sports captain this year and also received Most Valuable Player – soccer and the coaches award for basketball, she also represented Raglan at the Area Schools National Sports Tournament 2018.
Overall Sportsperson of the year went to Sasha Kirkwood, 16, who took out the under-16 girls’ athletics, swimming and cross-country champs and made the Area Schools’ North Island team.
Joe says there were many other outstanding players who received awards in front of a packed house reaffirming the school’s continued success in sport.
Janine Jackson
