2013 EFA End of Season Awards: Time to get voting!
Following on from last year's inaugural event, the EFA Dinner on May 11th will see the presentation of the EFA Awards for the following categories: Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Team of the Year, Coach of the Year and Special Contribution to Fives.
***VOTING IS NOW CLOSED***
Simply read on to see the list of nominees in each category and then email Gareth Hoskins directly or by using the Contact Us option from the menu bar above with your choice of the winner in each category. Each registered Fivesonline user, member of the EFA or member of the EFA Facebook group is allowed one vote per category and the winners will be announced at the EFA Dinner. Entries are now open and will close on Saturday May 4th.
Player of the Year
George Campbell
George has been steadily improving over the last couple of seasons, reaching the semi-finals of the 2012 Kinnaird Cup with Doug Foster. This year, a new partnership with Peter Dunbar has seen him raise his game a notch further as they have established themselves as the second best pair in the country behind Tom Dunbar and Seb Cooley. A first major triumph in the London Tournament before Christmas was followed by semi-final wins over their main rivals James Toop and Howard Wiseman at both the Northern Tournament and the Kinnaird, with George becoming the first Lancing College Old Boy to reach the final of the Kinnaird. George has also led the Berkhamsted 1 team to the runners-up spot in Division 1 of the league with a personal record of eight wins in eight matches.
Seb Cooley
Last year's player of the year award winner has had another stellar season, winning the Kinnaird Cup and Northern Tournament once again in partnership with Tom Dunbar. Seb missed out on the London title in Tom's absence, but was part of the Olavian teams that won the Richard Barber Cup and the Alan Barber Cup and also partnered Chris Self to win the Turnbull Trophy.
Charlotta Cooley
Seb was not the only Cooley to become a national champion this year, as Charlotta became ladies champion for the first time since 2004, partnering Karen Hird to victory in tense five game final, her tenth in total. Charlotta will also be aiming to defend her Mixed title with Seb on April 21st.
Peter Dunbar
After two seasons out of the game due to work commitments abroad, this has been a triumphant return to top level Fives for Pete Dunbar. Allongside George Campbell, a win at the London tournament was followed up by final appearances at both the Northern Tournament and the Kinnaird. Pete has also led the Old Harrovian side to a strong third place finish in Division 1 of the league.
Tom Dunbar
Tom has been consistently at the top of the game since leaving school and this year won a remarkable ninth Kinnaird title and a third in a row with Seb Cooley. Tom and Seb also won the Northern Tournament and Tom is currently top of the standings in this year's Keeling Cup individual competition, as well as number one in the EFA rankings.
Young Player of the Year (Under 25)
Jamie Abbott
In his first year since leaving school, Jamie has had a fantastic debut season in the senior ranks. Having quickly established himself as Robert Wilson's partner as Cambridge first pair, Jamie won the Universities title in October and then followed that up after Christmas with wins in the Under 21 tournament and at first pair in the Varsity Match. He and Robert also had a highly impressive run in the Kinnaird Cup, defeating first former champion Manuel de Souza Girao and then the number eight seeds to reach the quarter-final stage.
Karen Hird
Karen's game has been improving steadily year on year and this year she made the big breakthough, partnering Charlotta Cooley to victory in the Ladies Championships to win her first national title. She also won the Under 25s for the second successive year with Emily Scoones and was a key part of the North Oxford team that won Division 2.
Constance Mantle
Since arriving at Oxford University four years ago, Constance has been the driving force behind the increase in numbers and improvement in performance of the Oxford Ladies team. Her final year has been her most successful, as she played first pair in a crushing Varsity Match win and in a third place finish for the team in the Richard Black Cup. She also partnered Izzy Watts to victory in the Universities tournament and Alice Walker to the semi-finals of the Ladies Championships.
Eve Smith-Bingham
Eve continues to produce outstanding performances for such a young player. This season has seen her retain her U15, U19 and Mixed titles at the Marsh National Schools' Championships, as well as winning the Under 21 title with Aimee Paul for the second year in a row. She was also the leading player in the Highgate School team that won the Richard Black Cup - the senior ladies team event - for the first time back in November.
Robert Wilson
Following a highly successful first season at Cambridge in 2011/12, Robert has simply picked up where he left off in this campaign. Forming a new partnership with Jamie Abbott, he has won the Universities and Under 21 titles as well as winning the Varsity Match and reaching the quarter-finals of the Kinnaird Cup for the first time, knocking out the number 8 seeds on the way.
Team of the Year
Eton College
Under the guidance of Master-in-Charge Mark Williams and coaches Seb Cooley and now Mike Hughes, Eton's Fives has been on the up for a while. This year saw the team win the Williams Cup, the three pair inter-school team competition, for the first time - a tremendous achievement which was followed by some strong performances at the Marsh National Schools' Championships, with finalists in the U14 beginners, U15 and U16 tournaments and a top seeded Open pair who were leading 2-1 and 7-7 in the fourth game in their semi-final when they had to withdraw due to injury.
Highgate School Girls
The Highgate girls have been dominating the girls school Fives circuit for a while now and they continued that at the Marsh National Schools' Championships in Shrewsbury. This year, however, they took things to a whole new level: Eve Smith-Bingham and Aimee Paul beat fellow team members Phoebe Bracken and Amira Reimer in the final of the Under 21 tournament and earlier in the season the four of them teamed up with Olivia Hirschfield and Marjolaine Briscoe to win the Richard Black Cup, the senior Ladies Fives team event.
North Oxford
This has been another strong year for North Oxford as they successfully defended their Division 2 title, winning 9 matches out of 10 and taking 25 points out of a possible 30 to pip the Old Millhillians 2 by half a point. Beyond the league, North Oxford continue to play as many fixtures across as many pairs and at as wide a variety of venues as possible.
Old Millhillians
This has been a stunning season for the Old Millhillians, with their first team winning Division 1 for the first time ever, a tremendous achievement and testament to the work done at school level over a number of years by Steve Plummer and Ian Hutchinson as well as the organisational ability of Chris Vincent and James Hutcheson and the on court performances of a group of mainly young players led by Vishal Bhimjiyani, Justin Lefort, Joe Coakley, Sunil Tailor, Jitesh Patel and Hutchinson himself, with valuable contributions from several others. The club were only a whisker away from a remarkable double as the second team finished in second place in Division 2, just half a point behind champions North Oxford.
Old Olavians
The Olavians have continued their policy of giving their younger players experience in the league, but elsewhere the Olavian team have shown that they are still the dominant force in club Fives when they want to be. An amazing tenth successive success in blue riband event the Alan Barber Cup was the highlight, especially in the light of a strong Harrovian challenge this year, but the club also won the Richard Barber Cup for combined teams of Old Boys and current pupils as well as having representatives in all of the major tournament finals.
Coach of the Year
Mike Hughes
Mike has now been at Eton for two years and has built impressively on the work done by his predecessor Seb Cooley. Eton pairs performed strongly at the Marsh National Schools' Championships, with finalists at U14 beginners, U15 and U16 level but the highlight was the team's first ever win in the Williams Cup, a demonstration of their strength in depth and a real feather in the cap of the coach.
Ryan Perrie
Ryan has been among the top rank of players for a few years now, but this year it is his coaching achievements that have really caught the eye. As the most successful player to come through the Westway sytem (so far!) he is ideally placed to provide inspirational coaching to the local schools around Westway. He has also coached the very promising Latymer School pair who reached the semi-finals of the Under 15 tournament at the Marsh National Schools' Championships and the Emanuel School pair, who broke new ground for that school by reaching the quarter-finals of the U14 tournament.
Steve Plummer
Steve has been the Master-in-Charge of Fives at Mill Hill School for longer than he would probably care to remember; this year has produced the greatest reward for his years of devotion to the cause, astute coaching and most importantly his ability to bring through his school players into the ranks of adult Fives, as the Old Millhillians - consisting mainly of players introduced to the game and coached over the years by him - won the EFA Division 1 title for the first time ever.
James Poole
When James took over as Master-in-Charge of Fives at Harrow at the start of this year, he was well aware that he had some pretty big shoes to fill following on from Graham Dunbar. With Graham still on hand to provide expert advice to some of the senior pairs, James has had a massive and immediate impact on Harrovian Fives, filling the courts regularly, producing teams to play 14 and 15 pair matches against other schools and creating a huge buzz about the sport at the school. The results on court have been impressive too: James Lawson-Baker and Zicomo Smith reached the semi-finals of the EFA U21 tournament and then went on to become the first Harrovian winners of the Open title at the Marsh National Schools' Championships since 2000. There was also a semi-final for their U16 pair and the future looks bright for Harrow as James's boys won the U14 beginners tournament and provided three of the four semi-finalists.
Matthew Wiseman
Matt is one of the most decorated players in the history of the game but less well known perhaps is the work he has done for many years now on the coaching front, especially at Westminster School. This year has been an particularly successful one for Matt as many of his former charges were part of the Old Westminster team performing very creditably in Division 1. This year's crop of Westminster pupils have been their strongest for many years and most impressive has been the enthusiasm for the game that Matt has obviously instilled in them as they have played and performed well in nearly all of the senior EFA tournaments and are also in a strong position to win Division 3 of the league under the guise of the Abbey Club.
Mark Yates
As the EFA's resident coaching guru, Mark has been leading the way in the field of Fives coaching again this year. He has been busy passing on his expertise to a wide range of Fives coaches on the Fives Federation's Level 2 courses and his own achievements in resurrecting Fives at first Wolverhampton and then Wrekin are highly impressive. His first cohort of Wolverhampton boys reached senior level this year and performed well in the Marsh National Schools' Championships and the EFA Trophy for the Old Wulfrunians, and the WGS girls are also progressing fast, providing the runner-up pair in the inaugural Ladies festival competition ath the Schools' Championships.
Special Contribution to Fives
Andrew Aitken
Being a club secretary can be a thankless and seemingly sisyphean task sometimes but no-one has done it better - and not many for longer - than Andrew Aitken, who has finally handed over the reins of the Old Westminsters to Chris Watts after over 30 years in the job. Andrew passes on a club in fine fettle, with two league teams, in the first and second division respectively, and a good size playing membership including plenty of promising young talent.
Rodney Knight/Richard Black
The possibility of new courts in Cambridge has been an ongoing saga since the demise of the Portugal Place complex in the mid 90s. With the project back on track, CUEFC were faced with the mammoth task of raising the large amount of money required to ensure that Eton Fives courts take their place in the new facility. The job was made even trickier by the late imposition of an extremely demanding deadline. Cambridge Fives players, current and future, and the Fives world as a whole owes a huge debt of gratitude to Rodney Knight, who has kept the Cambridge flame burning over the years and to Richard Black who spearheaded the final push to raise the money in time. Others were involved, of course, notably Dale Vargas and Peter Worth, and the nomination goes to Rodney and Richard on their behalf.
Ronald Pattison
Dealing with the Charities Commission, ticking every box and jumping through every hoop to obtain charitable status for the EFA has not been a job for the faint-hearted and the man who has done it almost single-handedly on the EFA's behalf is Ronald Pattison. With the green light finally obtained in March 2013, this should be of great significance to the EFA and the game in general: it sends out a huge message to the public as a whole that the game is not an elitist sport and that the EFA is providing through Eton Fives a significant Public Benefit (Sport and Recreation) for its members as well as the public as a whole.
John Reynolds
A quick read of the recent press coverage (CLICK HERE) will tell you everything you need to know; the new courts at St.Bartholomew's School in Newbury, built by John's company, are a real watershed moment in the history of Fives court construction and hopefully provide a glimpse into the future of the whole sport.
Dale Vargas/Peter Knowles
Anyone who has read "A History of Eton Fives" can surely only agree that it provides a definitive, fascinating and highly readable account of the history of our game. The men we have to thank for this are authors Dale Vargas and Peter Knowles and this nomination is a reflection of the importance and success of this book in documenting the history of Eton Fives from its earliest origins to the present day. CLICK HERE if you would like to contact us about buying a copy.