The 15 winners of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023 Unsung Hero Award have been announced today.
these are:
- Chloe Gibson (East Midlands)
- Des Smith (Yorkshire)
- Gareth Mahood (Northern Ireland)
- Hamsa Hassan (West)
- Hannah Escott (West Midlands)
- Kate O’Sullivan (North East and Cumbria)
- Khadija Patel (Northwest)
- Ramin Far (southeast)
- Megan Allen (London)
- Melvin Hammer (Cymru Wales)
- Rachel Hutchinson (East)
- Ruby MacDonald (Scotland)
- Sadie Merian (Southwest)
- Steph Atkinson (East Yorks & Lynx)
- Terry Dennis (South)
There will be a winner for each BBC country and region, and one overall winner will be crowned in the 70th BBC Sports Personality of the Year competition on Tuesday 19 December from 7pm to 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. It will be announced live.
The Unsung Hero Award celebrates volunteers who positively impact their communities by enabling participation in grassroots sport.
For more information about the Unsung Hero Award and to see this year’s winners, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/unsunghero.
Chloe Gibson (East Midlands)
Chloe, 40, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2022, but she remained committed to supporting girls through volunteering at her local netball club, the Clift Nets, until her death in June this year. I didn’t stop. Despite enduring her own personal trauma, Chloe spends all of her spare time encouraging her children to take part in netball and positively impacting their lives. I did.
Desmond Smith (Yorkshire)
After moving to Sheffield from the Caribbean in the 1960s, Desmond Smith made it his life’s mission to support people in his local community and launched the Sheffield Caribbean Sports Club in 1986. What started as a safe haven for a small number of young people has now developed into a comprehensive sports club supporting five cricket teams, eight junior football teams and over 40 young people training up to four times a week. I am attending the event for this purpose. Either in football, cricket, hockey or netball.
Gareth Mahood (Northern Ireland)
Gareth, whose enthusiasm and passion for the sport of paddle is contagious, ran the Ulster Canoe Club for many years. We strategically keep membership fees low and offer free kits to be as comprehensive as possible. Having overcome some personal adversity in recent years, Gareth also volunteers with various youth groups, encouraging young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to get involved in paddle sports.
Hamsa Hassan (West)
Hamsa has been improving the lives of disadvantaged children in Bristol for many years through his community organization Nextgen Circle, which he founded in 2019 at the age of 23. He founded this program with the primary purpose of increasing youth sports access. How to prevent young people from disadvantaged areas of Bristol from joining gangs and taking part in anti-social behavior. Hamsa, who is a taxi driver by trade, has also set up a free youth camp that runs all year round for children aged 6 to 18, providing a lifeline to busy parents. Over 100 young people participate every week.
Hannah Escott (West Midlands)
Mr Hanna, a keen bike coach by trade, opposed plans to bulldoze the plot of land and instead had it transformed into the Burish Bike Park and Community Center, which opened this summer. Aiming to create a safe cycling space that is accessible to people of all cycling abilities, in his first four months alone he had over 2,000 cyclists visit, far exceeding his first year expectations.
Kate O’Sullivan (North East and Cumbria)
A keen rower, Kate can be found on the river at Tees Rowing Club, which encourages people from all walks of life all year round, whatever the weather. With the aim of making rowing more meaningful to people, Kate has secured significant funding to establish the Infinity Project, which will put social inclusion at the forefront of rowing clubs’ agendas. Over the years, she has formed a new crew of rowers, including young children, asylum seekers and neurodivergents, as well as positively impacting the local community.
Khadija Patel (Northwest)
Khadijah founded the KRIMMZ Girls Youth Club, a volunteer-led community group offering women-only sporting activities in Bolton, bringing local women together in the community. As a strict Muslim, Khadijah ensures that the opportunities KRIMMZ provides meet the cultural and religious sensitivities of the community, and places emphasis on diversity and inclusion, ensuring that all members from different walks of life are accepted. , we aim to make you feel welcome and supported. club. KRIMMZ currently has over 360 members taking part in a variety of sporting activities including swimming, netball, football, skiing, yoga, cricket, archery, squash and fitness classes.
Ramin Far (southeast)
A devoted father and football enthusiast, Ramin is the football coach for Seaford Town Football Club All Inclusive team, set up for children and adults with disabilities who have difficulty accessing mainstream football. He is a stepfather to his two young people with disabilities and works as a night carer at a local care home. He shows up every Saturday morning after a grueling night shift to coach his AI team, further underscoring his dedication to his players.
Megan Allen (London)
For the past two years, Megan has been the face and voice of We Swim Crouch End, encouraging people with a range of complex disabilities to stay active through swimming. She splits her time between volunteering as club manager for We Swim and her full-time role supporting the migrant community as operations manager for Hackney Immigration Centre.
Melvin Hammer (Cymru Wales)
Melvin has been the life and soul of Heads of Valleys Boxing Gym for over 50 years. Before retiring, in addition to his day job as a milkman, he had boxing training sessions three nights a week. Over the years, Melvin has been instrumental in maintaining the gym, giving thousands of young people in Cymru the opportunity to learn about boxing and its discipline.
Rachel Hutchinson (East)
As an orthopedic surgeon, Rachel has been changing lives for over 15 years. She is the co-founder of her Able2B, a rehabilitation center that improves the functioning of people with disabilities, devoting 50 hours a week to this service and serving over 400 clients a week. She has changed lives, including teaching children with cerebral palsy to walk and helping stroke survivors regain their independence. Rachel works with ‘Discover Your Capacity’ which encourages a culture of inclusion in the community and allows children with disabilities to play alongside non-disabled people to raise awareness and change perceptions. This led to the establishment of an educational sports project called.
Ruby Macdonald (Scotland)
Ruby, 17, is an athlete with a learning disability who is driving inclusion at Disability Sport Fife and serving as a role model for young people across Scotland. Ruby has fetal alcohol syndrome and requires regular care, but that doesn’t stop her from pursuing her passion. Ruby volunteers with multiple organizations, from supporting classes for younger children with disabilities to planning and implementing sports summer programs to paddle boarding challenges. She has also recently become a member of the Disability Sport Scotland Youth Sport Committee. This committee is a voluntary position that ensures that people with disabilities are represented in the community.
Sadie Merian (Southwest)
Sadie has volunteered as secretary for Guernsey Raiders Rugby Club. Without her dedication, club co-president Andrea believes the club would not exist. Her role as Honorary Secretary was an all-encompassing one, and she undertook volunteer work as a way of giving back to the club that nurtured children’s rugby skills at a young age. Her volunteer work ranges from organizing the club’s finances, preparing breakfast, and serving as a mentor and mother figure to all club members. Sadie is a hero of her club Guernsey Raiders FC.
Steph Atkinson (East Yorks & Lynx)
Steph has been involved with Little Victories FC, a club exclusively for children with cerebral palsy, since her sons Henry and Harvey started playing for the club. She is a full-time nurse and decided to volunteer as the club’s welfare officer, but she quickly transitioned to being a football coach and she is a team member that new players and families can rely on. I have become a reliable member. Steph currently leads her weekly training sessions. Her journey as a volunteer further highlights the impact she has had on the Little Her Victories FC community.
Terry Dennis (South)
Although Terry was disabled as a teenager, he has continued to give back to his local community time and time again through sport. Terry volunteered in wheelchair sports such as basketball, fencing and para-cycling, and he founded the Wessex Accessible Cycling Club. After the pandemic, he started a wheelchair basketball team, the Dorset Demons. The team aims to give adults with disabilities who have been sheltering in place due to the coronavirus an opportunity to get back into the community and socialize. Not only did he set up the club and become chairman and head coach, he also managed to secure over £20,000 in funding to ensure team members had sports wheelchairs so they could compete safely.
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