Special season recognised at Sport Waikato Awards
Kaipaki have won Team of the Year at Sport Waikato’s Waipa District Awards. The awards evening, that was held at the impressive Avantidrome in Cambridge, was a fitting way for Kaipaki’s monumental season to be honoured, in front of Waipa’s best sportspeople.
5 teams were finalists for Team of the Year – which included an impressive Rowing Four from St Peter’s School, who won a national title at the recent Mardi Cup Regatta.
It was a vintage season for Kaipaki, winning all 3 titles on offer - Champions Trophy, Mike Cotter Cup and the 20/20 title in the Waikato Valley Cricket Association Premier Division. Fraser Kilgour, Carl Schwarz and Kent Currie took the stage to accept the award which was presented by former gold medallist Sarah Ulmer.
In his victory speech Currie acknowledged a special and unique culture that had been created by all the members at Kaipaki since it’s reestablishment as a club 3 years ago.
“We don’t treat cricket at Kaipaki like ‘just another day at cricket’, we try an create an event which people look forward to being part of. This is an attempt to inspire people to keep playing cricket and also inspire people to play cricket for Kaipaki” Currie said.
The awards were attended by about 500 people with 100 sports people nominated for awards in various categories. It was a fantastic night and Sport Waikato did a magnificent job organising such a prestigious event.
Eric Murray took out Sportsperson of the Year.
Kaipaki Junior Cricket
In other news, 40 kids have turned out to Kaipaki Oval in a bid to one day wear the treasured Baggy Green and Gold of Kaipaki. Creating Junior Cricket at Kaipaki is one of the major goals for the season and plenty of kids have turned up on their first night on the hallowed turf. The majority of the kids are from the local surrounding area with Ohaupo, Kaipaki, Ngahinapouri and Rukuhia Primary Schools represented.
Kaipaki Junior Cricket will take place every Tuesday night at Kaipaki Oval during the summer. It kicks off at 5.30pm.
Kind Regards
Kent Currie
Kaipaki Cricket Enthusiast