THE sporting elite in Kwinana were honoured at the Kwinana Sports Person of the Year Awards at Medina Hall.
Fremantle footballer Michael Walters and Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams presented three local sportspeople with awards in recognition of their contribution to sport in 2017 and 2018.
The awards were also hosted by Mark Reading, with about 80 members of the Kwinana sporting community attending.
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READ NOWMitchell Pianto won Junior Sports Person of the Year, Alicia Kelly won Club Person of the Year and Sydney Fricker won Sports Person of the Year.
“These awards are about promoting the role of sporting clubs within the City of Kwinana and supporting our local sporting community,” Cr Adams said.
“This year we saw nominations for community members who have succeeded in a range of sports – from a local level all the way up to national representation.”
Junior Sports Person of the Year 2018 – Mitchell Pianto for BMX
Mitchell has been BMX racing since he was four years old. In September 2017 he won the Junior Elite Championship at the WA State Championships. He is currently ranked number 1 in WA.
In March he raced in the National Australian Championships where he was ranked sixth in Australia.
Club Person of the Year Award 2018 – Alicia Kelly for Women’s Ice Hockey
Kelly contributes in a variety of ways to the development and competition of women’s teams in ice hockey in WA.
She is the team manager for the Australian national women’s team. Kelly was one of only two people selected to represent Australia at the IIHF high performance international camp in Finland.
Kelly is a selfless mentor who put her own hockey career on the backburner to support other women in their career development.
Sports Person of the Year Award 2018 – Sydney Fricker for Women’s Ice Hockey
Fricker was named assistant coach of the Western Australian Phil Ginsberg Team 13 and under in August 2017. She played for WA as goalie and took part in the Australian Tier 2 Women’s Ice Hockey League, with her team winning the competition to become the 2017 champions.
Fricker also organised the IIHF World Girls Ice Hockey Weekend and the IIHF Global Girls Game.
She coached the division 3 Redhawks to a Premiership Cup in 2017 with a perfect season, winning 22 of 22 games. Fricker represented Australia in the 2017 Land of Smiles Ice Hockey Classic Tournament in Thailand, placing third in the Women’s Open Division.
Fricker also organised her own hockey league and played for the Perth Inferno, Perth’s semi-professional women’s ice hockey team in the Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League.