Our Spring 2007 Awards Banquet was held on Saturday, May 19th at the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn. It was fairly well attended with guests ranging from first season rookies, like James, to supporters like Dave and Connie Van Asdale. A couple of people couldn't make it because they decided to have babies instead! Congratulations Brandon and Lisa on the birth of your twin girls. Send out some pictures.
We really want to build this tradition and improve attendance, so starting next year, it will always be held on the first weekend in May, which also coincides with the running of the Kentucky Derby (and betting!) and should allow for attendance by our players from FIT. So, mark your calenders now. (We might even be able to hold it at Scotty's new party barn!)
We started the evening with a true Happy Hour from 6 to 7PM, with an open bar. I have to say that this served its intended purpose………it got people there on time and it got them social. We then had a great bar-b-que buffett dinner and a very special dessert - a Red Eye cake - specially made by our captain's wife (who got a picture?). It was much better than the dessert that came with the buffett.
After dinner, we handed out the Awards - as voted on by the players. These awards covered Fall 2006 and Spring 2007. Most of them were serious, but we did have one spontaneous write-in “fun” award and afterward we voted to add it to the list of yearly awards. More on that shortly.
First up we was Most Valuable Forward. We had 6 players nominated for this award (not bad considering there are only 8 forward positions) with the winner being our team captain, Ben Buchanan.
The next award was for Most Valuable Back, which had 4 nominees. The well-deserving winner of this award was Sugi, who held the backline together through constant new players and different lineups every week.
Next up was Rookie of the Year, which honors players who started in the Fall or Spring. There were 5 nominees for this award and most them were from the backs, which should bode well for our backline play for the next couple of seasons. The winner was James (Hoyle?), a first-season backline player, who has shown lots of potential in a short period of time.
Then we had the award for Most Improved Player, which honors the player who improved the most during the year, or from last year. There were 7 players nominated and the winner was second year player, Jimmy Webster, another back, who has really stepped up his game. (Jimmy I've got your trophy).
Next came Most Versatile Player Award, which as the name implies, honors the player who has the ability to play the most positions (usually out of necessity). There were 3 nominees, but the run-away winner was Tom Buist.
Then we had the award we added a couple of seasons ago - the Most Aggressive Award - also known as The SIlverback Award, named in honor of Tyler Bailey, who defined aggressiveness. The run-away, most-deserving recipient, from 3 nominees, has now won the award for the past 3(?) seasons - Matt Henderson. We might just have to rename this award.
Finally, we had the “Fun” write-in award that I mentioned earlier. The award was for Most Insane Player and the unanamious winner was Brian Keefe. If this had been a regular category, I'm sure we would have had 10 or so nominees. Now, I've got to get Brian a trophy and remember to add it to next year's ballot.
So, that's the recap…………….if I left anything out, or got something wrong, please let me know - and remember to mark your calenders now for the the first Saturday of May 2008.
Now, get out for some running, ball-handling and socializing this summer and look for some other planned club outings in the next couple of months.
