Nelson Sports Awards winners shine bright

The supreme award for Nelson Sportsperson of the Year has been won by adventure racing legend Nathan Fa'avae.

He was announced as the winner of the supreme award at the TSM Nelson Sports Awards for his third time on Tuesday evening after being named as the winner of the sportsman of the year award earlier in the night.

His previous wins were in 1999 and 2006.

Nathan’s achievements were stacked up against all the award winners, but also surpassed the achievements of successful athletes like Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Val Smith.

“I don't believe my achievements are any greater than the nominees, it's not easy for the judges to choose a winner, I'm just lucky they chose me this time.”

It was a surprise when he was told he was the winner of the award, saying he didn’t even know he had been nominated.

“When Sport Tasman told me, I was legitimately blown away, humbled and grateful.”

Nathan is the captain and creator of New Zealand’s top adventure racing team, AVAYA, and the organiser of the world’s largest adventure race geared purely for women alongside his wife Jodie, Spring Challenge.

He says his passion for the sport came from a thirst for adventure and exploration but his motivation comes from a desire to continue being the best.

“The main thing that made me fall in love with adventure racing was the opportunity to travel around the world to some amazing places.

“What keeps motivating me is the challenge to keep performing at that level.”

In 2022, Nathan teamed up with Simone Maier, Chris Forne and Stu Lynch to continue their winning streak with a sixth consecutive world title, this time in Paraguay, after being unable to compete in the previous three scheduled editions of the event.

A win earlier in the year in the 710 km GodZone adventure race with a time of 5d 23h 55m had shown the team were still in dominant form as they finished ten-and-a-half hours ahead of second place, but they were still a long way away from the world championships.

The team had set the standard in adventure racing by winning the world championship title five years in a row between 2014 and 2018, with teamwork and navigation their key strength, but an unfortunate accident to one of their team members in the lead-up saw them have to regroup.

Nathan says their achievement in overcoming the lack of competition, as one of the few countries to miss out on last year’s world championships due to border restrictions, was one of the reasons why the win was so special.

“It felt like we had a number of obstacles to overcome to win the title.”

He wanted to thank his family for their loyal support, as well as the award sponsors for the event, the category sponsors, and the judges.

Watch the interview with Nathan here.

Bowater Motor Group Sportswoman of the Year - Niamh Fisher-Black

Despite thinking it was coming up short event by placing 12th place at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Australia Niamh Fisher-Black was the fastest U23 finisher.

Made even sweeter was the fact that Niamh had backed herself to compete at the event, having paid for her own way because Cycling New Zealand could not afford to

Niamh, who comes from a family of accomplished cyclists with younger brother Finn also riding professionally, says her results have been very special in the last 12 months.

She was also first in the junior rider category of the Giro d'Italia world tour race, finishing in fifth place in the general standings.

“I also took a top five in the world tour race called the Giro Donne earlier this year, so that also marked my progression and my development this year.

“A world title and a rainbow jersey is very special to have in cycling”

Riding with a professional team, SDWorx, her goals is to continue on the track she’s been following.

“I love what I do, riding my bike, and I’m very determined and competitive when it comes to racing.

“I want to be better than my competitors and perhaps that day where it’s a little bit harder mentally to get out is going to make the difference.”

Watch the interview with Niamh here.

Tasman District Council Junior Sportsman of the Year - Zefa Fa’avae

Zefa Fa’avae has been awarded the Tasman District Council Junior Sports Man of the Year for his success in orienteering.

Following in his father’s footsteps, with Nathan having won the supreme award this year, Zefa has carved his own space with a string of impressive results.

Earlier this year he was a member of the New Zealand team at the Australian Orienteering Championship Festival, where he went on to post a string of impressive results.

Day one of racing saw him finish second in the Victorian Middle Distance Championships, before he topped the podium the next day in the M20E grade of the Australian Middle Distance Championships.

After a second place in the sprint race for Senior Boys, he was back on the top perch by winning the Australian Schools Long Distance Championships in the senior boys division.

A third place in the  Australian Long Distance Championships was then followed by a second place as part of the M20E NZ relay team.

Zefa also travelled to Portugal for the Junior World Orienteering champs, where he finished 14th in the long distance and 17th in the middle distance.

Alongside his impressive performance, Zefa has continually impressed at minor events throughout the year as a leader of the strong young contingent of local orienteerers.

He says his training predominantly consists of running from home or in the hills, with a little bit of practice on map reading.

“It’s really good knowing that you have people supporting you and it helps you keep pushing on.”

Watch the interview with Zefa here.

Nelson City Council Junior Sportswoman of the Year - Maia Jones.

Maia was a key member of the New Zealand Basketball U17 Women’s team where she was their top scorer with an average of 9.4 points per game.

Maia, the daughter of Nelson Giants legend Phill Jones and Nelson Sparks great Kat, says she wouldn't be where she is without the support of her family.

“I’d have to thank the people involved, especially my mother and my dad. My mum's been my coach for forever, she’s coached all the teams I've been in.

“Dad has helped me with his shooting, as we all know he’s quite a good shooter himself.”

Maia was also a member of the inaugural year of the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa competition, playing for the Mainland Pouakai while still in school.

She also played in the Nelson Sparks 3x3 team, where she finished as one of the competition's top scorers, playing against some of the best female basketballers in the country.

Watch the interview with Maia here.

Sport Tasman Masters Sportsperson of the Year - Joeline Jones

Track and field athlete Joeline Jones is the Masters Sportsperson of the Year for the second year running.

She says it all started with the South Islands, where an elderly lady came up to her and said, after watching Joeline compete last year, that she was the person who would break her records.

“She thought if anyone was going to beat her records it was going to be me.

“This lady was now in her 70s and I was only 5 years old when she set these records 35 years ago.”

This year Joeline travelled to the Gold Coast for Pan Pacific Masters Games, where she earned four gold medals from the four W40 events she entered.

Racing in the 60 metre, 100m, 200m and 400m, Joeline asserted her dominance over the field in winning by over a second in several of her races.

She won her 60m sprint by 1.05s with a time of 8.31 and cruised over the finish line more than five seconds in front of her opposition in the 200m with a time of 27.17.

Joeline has big aspirations for 2023, exploring options of how she might travel to compete at the World Indoor Games in Poland and wanting to improve on her records.

“Four golds there (at the  Pan Pacific Masters Games), that’s one goal ticked off already. Next is nationals, I would really like to beat my 60m NZ record that I set at the end of the season previous.”

Watch the interview with Joeline here.

New Zealand Community Trust Sports Team of the Year - Nelson Giants

Selling out Trafalgar Stadium week in and week out, the local basketball team fell just short of a national title with a loss in the semi-finals after coming into the playoffs as the team to beat.

They had led the regular season leaderboard on the back of strong performances from the whole team, who banded together to create a strong bond that was expressed on court.

With local Tom Ingham sidelined for the season with a knee injury it was the imports who impressed, with Trey Mourning, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, having a 35 point and 14 rebound introduction to the NBL.

He was joined by fellow Americans feisty defensive point guard Jarrod West and big man Sam Thompson to put on a show of highlights for local fans.

The team’s New Zealand players also came to the fore, with local hero Sam Dempster, the 2022 NBL Most Improved Player, getting experience in a Tall Black jersey after 15 years in the league and young Alex McNaught having since been picked up as an injury replacement by the New Zealand Breakers.

Watch the interview with Giants captain Sam Dempster here.

Nelson Weekly and Waimea Weekly Junior Sports Team of the Year - Nelson Rowing Club’s women’s senior coxed eight

The young group won gold at the 2022 New Zealand rowing championships earlier this year and have all gone on to be awarded scholarships to America.

Brooke Pitchford, Emily Bowden, Meg Flanagan, Kyla Otway, Lucy Munro, Macy Kappely, Nicole Campbell, Orla Fitzgerald and cox Hamish McCulloch dominated the A final to win by five seconds over Waikato.

Speaking on the awards show, Lucy says they had grown close as a team throughout their training together and to see everyone get a scholarship was an exciting prospect for the future.

“We just got in the 8 a couple of times and it just went flying, we all clicked.”

“Leading up to nationals you’ve got to be peaking, so I guess (it was) a lot of hard training, early mornings, long k’s on the water,” says Orla.

“When you get a really cool result at nationals like we did, it definitely is worth it and makes all those tough mornings just feel a lot better.”

Sport New Zealand Coach of the Year - Mike Fitchett

Nelson Giants head coach Mike Fitchett was awarded the coach of the year honour after a stella season for the Giants.

Under his stewardship, he has created a team culture at the Giants that they were able to bring to the court that saw him also awarded the New Zealand NBL Coach of the Year Award.

He has also been a Tall Blacks assistant coach under Pero Cameron since 2017.

The Giants fell just short in the playoffs, after having regularly been at the top of the regular season leaderboards, but Mike’s attention to detail saw them hold their heads high despite not reaching their ultimate goal.

“The main success for me was getting the right people, recruiting a really talented team and a bunch of really good people, having a really really top level support staff around me as well, it made my job easy.”

Mike uses his experience from his time on court as well as his time off court, having also been assistant coach with the New Zealand Breakers between 2016-19, to create a strong team chemistry.

As a 13-season veteran of the NBL with the Giants as a player from 1999-2012, Mike has the experience as a player that his squad respects and responds to in kind.

He says he always wanted to be a coach, having grown up around the game with his dad, Steve, a long term contributor to Nelson basketball since the 1980s.

“I grew up going to the Trafalgar Centre, sitting on the floor and watching the games.

“Coaching the Giants after playing for the giants for so long is just a massive honour.”

Watch the interview with Mike here.