June 6th saw another of Korfball’s well-loved annual events – the End of Season Awards Night. Most of the non-first team players arrived at the cocktail bar of Old Orleans in the Red Dragon Centre after a mad dash from the Bristol Tournament where we’d been knocked out only an hour earlier. We’d left the first team at the tournament. The Cyclones were still firmly in contention for a final position, much to their annoyance as it meant they had to stay behind and miss the first round of drinks.
After cocktails, it was time to head on to the main venue of the night… Ba Orient in Cardiff Bay. Text message-fuelled rumours were already starting to permeate the evenings’ revellers that the Cyclones might have good news for us when they turned up… if they turned up. They had made it to the Bristol final, but it had started 40 minutes late, and the statutory 3 hours that some of them usually require to get ready was already looking more like 3 minutes.
At Ba Orient we were shown to our room and got stuck in straight away, sampling the delights of the drinks menu. Final votes for the evening’s awards were still coming in at this stage and after a frantic effort to put the final results together we were ready to go. The first of the Cyclones had started to arrive, along with news of a victorious first-place in Bristol. What better way to finish the day than to celebrate the end of another great Korfball season and recognise some of the players who had made particular achievements in the preceding months.
The final results of the Awards Night were:
· Best Cyclones Male: Chris Gubby
· Best Cyclones Female: Zoe Gabica
· Best Non-Cyclones Male: Aidan Dickson
· Best Non-Cyclones Female: Susie Williams
· Most Improved Player: Julie Prosser
· Best Newcomer: Ian Russell
· Pinup Player: Ian O
· Comedy Player: Max, Stu & Kenny
· Special Mentions: Stuart & Ramzi
A great night was had by all and thanks to everyone who turned up.