20 August 2016
 
The club held its annual End of Season Awards on Saturday 20 August at the wonderful New York, New York.
 
In a change to the usual format the club decided to keep things brief this year as the event followed another successful Pride Cup.
 
However, two new awards were added to awards list as the club wanted to recognise the effort put it by its players and supporters throughout the Year.
 
In addition to the usual Contributor of the Year, Manager's Players and Players’ Players awards for each team the new accolades came in the form of Most Improved Player and the Linten Technologies inspired Trainee of the Year awards.
 
Starting with the first team, outgoing manager Steve Clayton chose Alex West as his Manager's Player of the Year following a season of strong and committed performances whilst the players chose James Wilson as the worthy recipient of the Players’ Player award.
 
For the second team James Cole was awarded Manager's Player as his effort and improvement inspired manager Rob McPherson. Rob Ingle was nominated by his fellow teammates as the Players’ Player of the Year following an impressive return to the club in a new position.
 
Contributor of the Year was again worthily won by the amazing Steve Joyce for all of his impressive and dedicated work across many different spheres including communications and finance.
 
Most Improved Player of the Year went to Phil Browning who has come on leaps and bounds since he joined the club and his enriched ability has seen him earn more and more game time. Phil received the biggest cheer of the evening! We are sure Phil will want to retain the award next year so it will be great to see how he improves this season.
 
Finally, the Linten Technologies inspired Trainee of the Year award went to Sam Hardstaff who attended 82% of the training sessions during the year. In the 2015-16 season Sam was a regular at training and, therefore in turn, games and this dedication and commitment has resulted in the Lincolnshire born player continually improving his game.
 
Well done to everyone who won – each award was richly deserved and it will be interesting to see who steps up this season to challenge them for their crowns. Let the (friendly) battle commence!

 

Words: Rob McPherson

Photos: Steve Joyce