SPORT AWARDS 2021

Chris, a member of Bynea Cycling Club, is a time trial racer, racing against the clock over distances from 10 -100 miles.  

In May 2021, Chris was hospitalised with a serious head injury after being in a road traffic accident when out training. After a long road to recovery Chris achieved some remarkable results, winning the Welsh championships at 10, 50 and 100 miles. It’s no surprise that after achieving these results Chris won the Welsh Cycling Association Best All-Round time trial rider competition.  

Above all this Chris still finds time to support other Bynea club members and even organises one race a year open to all riders across Wales.

Lewis, a member of Carmarthen Harriers Athletics, is a very successful sprinter and discus thrower. He suffered from ill health which eventually required a kidney transplant. After undergoing a kidney transplant procedure in 2017, he continued his Athletics journey and became a member of the GB Transplant Athletics Team.

During 2019, he competed at the World Transplant and Dialysis Championships winning gold in 100m, 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relays.  

Born and bred in Pontyberem, Jonny Clayton also known as ‘The Ferret’ is a household name in Carmarthenshire has taken the darts world by storm in 2020 and 2021.

In November 2020, Jonny with his teammate Gerwyn Price, won the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Cup in Austria which lead him to qualify for the 2021 Premier League Darts Competition.

In January 2021, Jonny won his first individual major televised title at the Ladbrokes Masters, and then later that year in May, Jonny was the champion of the 2021 Premier League Darts.

Frank Morgan, a 16-year-old athlete with Carmarthen Harriers has excelled in Athletics over the last 2 years. 

Some of Frank’s main achievements include 1st in the 2019 Under 15s British Championship, 1st in the 2021 Under 17s British Championship and 3rd in the British Milers Club Gold Standard Race which placed him 10th in Europe. He is ranked Number one in Wales and 2nd in Britain in the 3,000m. 

In addition to this Frank has been selected to run in the UK School Games and has captained the Under 17s Track and Field School Team.

Leo Weston, a student at Dafen Primary school, plays for Llanelli Tennis club. An incredibly talented young player who is ranked 1st for the County Cup Team Championship, Welsh Championships, and the British Championships. After suffering an arm injury that required surgery Leo was more ambitious than ever to get back on the Court.  

At 8 years of age, he has exhausted all the competition in the UK at his own age group and now the LTA allows him play up two age groups. Where he wins many high-profile competitions at this age group.

Tomos Phillips, a current member of Sanshirokwai Dojo is just 15 years old.  

In 2019 Tomos won a silver medal in the Welsh Judo Championships and 1st in the British Judo School Championships in 2020. Alongside this, Tomos has also represented Wales in the Commonwealth Judo Championships.  

Tomos is a young person with huge ambitions and a credit to the community.

Emily Mitchell is 17 years old and has excelled in Cross Fit & Weightlifting. One of Emily’s main achievements is becoming British Champion in the British Teen Cross Fit Championship earlier this year. As well as this, Emily is also the Welsh Colleges Female Champion after competing at the Colleges Wales Weightlifting virtual competition. 

Emily has achieved all of this while juggling her education.

Emily Shawyer, 19, is an outstanding individual who competes in Target Shooting.

Emily was selected by the Welsh Target Shooting Federation to represent Wales in December 2019 where she won gold whilst competing in the mixed Pairs 10 metre Air Pistol.

As well as this, Emily has became the Junior Women’s Target Sprint Champion in July of 2021 and again in the Welsh Target Sprint Championship.

Freya is an incredibly talented Artistic Gymnast who attends Llanelli Gymnastic Club. Freya is 15 years old and has already showcased her talent on a national platform. During COVID Freya became an all-round Welsh Champion on two occasions beating off stiff competition from various clubs in Wales. She also became the apparatus champion, taking home numerous medals.

Freya has maintained her place in the Elite West Area squad and has also been selected for the Welsh Regional Squad.

Bethan is a dedicated volunteer at Dimax Gymnastics as a young coach.

After school and college, she gives up her spare time and inspires young gymnasts with her energy and enthusiasm.

During the lockdown period Bethan juggled her GCSEs and her support to the club to ensure members stayed active with outdoor activities such as beach walks, canoeing and horse riding.

Now studying childcare in 6th form her dedication remains, supporting competitions and liaising with parents. Bethan truly is a fantastic asset to her club.

Josh has been a key part of Carmarthen Town AFC for many years. When Josh was 16 years of age, he started a walking football group for over 50s in the area creating more opportunity for people to get involved.

Throughout the pandemic Josh has ensured all risk assessments and procedures are in place for the team to continue training with confidence and become socially active again, safely. Josh has also taken the role of Wales development squad manager and coach for age group males.

Savannah, at only 20 years of age is the Principal of Inspire Arts Academy, where she began her first classes in April 2019 and continues to do so with a huge emphasis on keeping children busy and off the streets.

During Covid restrictions, Savannah continued with her classes and adapted her sessions using the outdoors and  Zoom.

Whilst Savanah has dedicated the last 10 years to dance she has also achieved Welsh and British records in power lifting.

Savannah is an inspiration to those around her doing everything possible to inspire and support her pupils.

Alan started with Ammanford Football club as Secretary & Safeguarding officer, then smoothly transitioned as the clubs Treasurer. This meant keeping 50 Volunteers and team managers in check to achieve the West Wales Platinum Accreditation award. He ensured the clubs financial future was maintained by raising funds for the club during challenging times to ensure the club could support over 350 members by doing sponsored runs, food bank collections and many more.

Alan is a very dedicated and passionate member of the team; without him the club would struggle.

Manon has been with Carmarthen Rowing club for several years as a high-level club rower and volunteering at least 8 hours a week.

During Covid she went the extra mile to ensure Rowing could continue, when possible, and even managed to recruit over 40 new members over the year.

Manon will turn her hand to any role within the club from running sessions to her role the events and Inclusivity officer for the club.

Geraint is vice chair & team manager of Saron Football club. Geraint has coached the children for the past 8 years from U6s to U14s. During Covid, Geraint organised zoom fitness sessions for players to learn new skills and techniques to prepare them for when Football started up again.

Geraint secured sponsorship from local businesses for the players to have new kit, so no one was left out during the tough times. He does not just volunteer for Saron Football club but also the U14 Carmarthenshire schools football squad. Geraint is the first on the pitch and the last one to leave each week.

Rob is a pivotal member of Llanelli Athletics club where he has several roles. During Covid when races and activities were curtailed, Rob organised activities and challenges to keep members motivated from strength and conditioning work outs to a 140 mile "Iron-Man" Challenge and a mile a day January Challenge!

As well as this Rob encouraged his couch to 5k runners to stay active during covid and have now become fully affiliated members of the club.

Geraint is a committed coach who motivates and inspires players at Saron u14s Football club. Geraint’s dedication to the club is continual week in week out. He is approachable and enthusiastic and believes in these young players, which in turn allows them to believe in themselves.

He has helped many players to reach their playing potential. There are now Saron players playing for Carmarthenshire Schools under 14s and Carmarthen Town Academy under 14s.

As a coach, David’s devotion to gymnastics is exemplary.

He encourages young children to be more active, goes above and beyond as a community coach and mentor and during Covid, he has kept the gymnasts and their families spirits high. During this time David provided online training sessions 3 days a week which encouraged the children to keep up their fitness and self-esteem.

He organised outdoor activities in the local community which encouraged positive mental health and wellbeing and also provided inclusive activities, welcoming all children.

Carol is an endurance coach at Carmarthen Harriers Athletics club where she coaches track side several times a week. Carol has also been the Team manager and coach on several occasions for the Welsh Schools Team. Carol’s commitment to her athletes is profound, spending hours not only coaching, but traveling with the athletes to competitions and working on training programmes.

Her athletes have competed in many schools’ international championships and secured many podium places, with one athlete coming 1st in the Manchester Internal Meeting during August 2021.

Carol is the head coach at Llanelli Gymnastics Club and is 100% dedicated to the sport.

Carol holds a level 5 coaching qualification which means she is capable of coaching gymnasts to British, European and Commonwealth Games level.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Carol delivered sessions over Zoom and after returning to the gym for only a few months she prepared several gymnasts for competitions where every one of the 8 gained a place in either the West Wales elite squad or in the National Squad. 

David Thomas is a coach at Dimax Gymnastics club, based in Crosshands. He is a high-performance coach in both acrobatics and tumbling. In 2019, he had 11 members in the Welsh squad and 15 Welsh champion title holders in gymnastics.

In addition to this, David also had 4 gymnasts at elite British pathway level and is the only coach in Wales who has had local children whom he trains to be in the elite British pathway squad, for the last 7 consecutive years.

With 25 years of volunteering with Johnstown AFC under his belt, and a co-founding member, Dave is very much the backbone of the club.

Dave lives and breathes football and is always on hand to give advice and support. A UEFA B Licence coach, Dave currently coaches the U15’s section while also volunteering as the Club’s Coach Co-ordinator and Groundsman.

In addition, Dave has also coached in Carmarthenshire on behalf of both Cardiff City FC and Swansea City FC, and last season he took on the role of Head of Foundation Phase at Carmarthen Town FC. 

John started volunteering at Dafen Cricket Club in 1983, serving as Club Secretary between 1985-1992.  Moving to Felinfoel Cricket Club in 1993, John went on to volunteer in numerous roles.  John also sits on the South Wales Junior Cricket League Committee where he has served as Secretary since 2005, and Treasurer since 2017.

In addition, John has also been the club scorer since 1993, as well as scoring for Wales Over 50s, Wales Ladies, the MCC, and for Wales in the recent World Cup in South Africa in 2020.

Ralph has been coaching Javelin several times a week with Carmarthen Harriers Athletics Club for over 26 years.  He started coaching his daughter back in 1994, where she became the first of many of his athletes (over 32 to be precise!) to achieve international honours and Welsh Championship titles.

In 2021 alone Ralph coached five athletes to national titles, and at the aged of 77 can still be found regularly at the Carmarthen Athletics Track passing on his wealth of experience and helping young people of all ages to fall in love with the sport that he loves and has given so much to. 

Despite not having a full squad of players for games and training due to self-isolating through Covid, Carmarthen Wanderers Cricket Under 17s team were still able to fulfil all their fixtures. They finished the 2021 season unbeaten, becoming the South Wales Junior Cricket League under 17 Champions and South Wales Junior Cricket League winners of Zone A.

4 members of the squad represented Wales Under 18s team, the greatest representation from one club.

During games the team were complimented for their behaviour both on and off the field. The squad have been great ambassadors for the club and county.

The team comprises of several junior members who compete across different age groups on behalf of Carmarthen Harriers in a variety of events, such as cross county, track and field.

Due to COVID there was no competitive athletics between March 2020 and April 2021, but since then several athletes have competed in National Championships, such as the Welsh Schools and Welsh Junior Athletics Championships winning a number of individual medals.

Having not been able to train in large groups due to the pandemic, the Under 11s team at Dafen Cricket club set goals or nominated one and other for various tasks such as "the toilet roll challenge" or the "bat and ball challenge."

The team of boys and girls won the 2021 South Wales Junior Cricket league for their age group where they showed composure and determination against a very strong opponent. They are also winners of the 2021 South Wales Junior Cricket League of their zone.

The team are a pleasure to watch as they encourage, offer one and other support and most importantly have lots of fun.

The men’s hockey team at Carmarthen Athletic Hockey Club has worked hard over the last few years to grow, and even during COVID still managed to attract new members.

During 2019-2020, the team’s first season competing in the South Wales League, came second, which gained them promotion.

The team have been proactive throughout the pandemic ensuring everyone could get back on the pitch as soon as possible and also by setting club challenges and fundraising.

The Team have a great ethos that was reinforced when they were awarded the Hockey Wales Team of the Year in 2019.

Obtaining 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 bronze in the 2020 Welsh Championships is a result of Carmarthenshire Karate Team’s dedication and commitment. Their proactive attitude was proved throughout the pandemic by creating a whole new online dojo for members to stay in touch and continue their journey.

The Team also worked hard to create their own challenges and encouraged students to take part in grading examinations both online and outdoors. Carmarthenshire Karate Team is an excellent example of making their sport attractive to others.

Llangennech AFC Walking Football Team ensures walking football is accessible and enjoyable, and strive to maintain and grow interest.

Throughout the pandemic they have provided the opportunity to stay active and enjoy the sport of football.

The team are a shining light for other clubs in the way they have developed, and the positive impact they have on the wellbeing of people who may otherwise have stayed inactive is inspiring.

Ammanford AFC club, is platinum accredited, the highest accreditation awarded to clubs. They are an integral part of the community providing participation and volunteering opportunities for all, regardless of age, gender, or ability.

The club boasts several teams, for children and adults, which also includes a pan disability team. Coaches and volunteers are fully supported to have opportunities to develop their skills.

During COVID, the club created a Welsh FIFA Tournament during lockdown, bringing 128 clubs from all over Wales together, raising £2,000 for the NHS.

Johnstown Football club, a FAW Platinum accredited club, provides opportunities for players and volunteers from under 7s through to under 16s at junior level, and a senior team catering for both male and females.

The club made every effort to keep sessions running during the Covid through and ensured all guidelines were adhered to, As well as this they uploaded weekly fitness sessions to the team’s social media account along with monthly fun challenges to encourage players to keep active.

Llanelli Warriors, a mixed ability club, actively encourages players with disabilities and those who have little or no experience of playing rugby to become members who then gain confidence in the sport of rugby.

Coaches are recruited from the players, both with and without learning disabilities who can follow the WRU coaching pathway. The club encourage players and family members to volunteer and to get involved with various roles.

The club assisted the WRU in setting up a Virtual Clubhouse which connects the Welsh mixed ability rugby community with similar clubs across Europe.