Hats off to a sporting beacon
EACH weekend The Chronicle sport team jumps on its Saturday Soapbox and voices its opinion on some pressing sporting issues.
This week the team talks about one of the state’s most successful sporting organisations and Glen Maxwell.
Jason Gibbs: The annual Sports Darling Downs Awards, celebrating our region’s promising athletes, sports officials volunteers and teams are on tonight.
I encountered Sports Darling Downs during my first stint with The Chronicle and it’s amazing to see how much it has grown.
It’s not hard to see why and how it has become the envy of similar organisations state-wide.
Lead by president Mick Smith the Sports Darling Downs team (all volunteers) are dedicated and passionate.
That same passion and dedication is mirrored by an extremely long list of businesses and individuals who contribute financially to the group.
It blows my mind to think that this group has contributed to the success of Olympians and world champions from our region in every sport imaginable.
If you think you can contribute to this great organisation I urge you to get on board - you won’t regret it.
Glen McCullough: We are so lucky to have a body like Sports Darling Downs at work in our region under the leadership of Mick Smith, it’s not funny.
Mick has continued building on the wonderful foundations put in place by those who had the vision and drive initially to make Sports Darling Downs the envy of regional centres throughout the country.
The contribution of The Chronicle and other media supporters to its ongoing success should not be sold short either.
It would be impossible to put a value on what SDD has meant and provided to our region’s sporting achievers and emerging stars.
And when I talk about achievers, I’m talking world class. So many of our international stars gained early recognition and incentives from the grass-roots contribution of SDD.
My late friend and colleague Pat O’Shea was a long-time judge of our sport star awards.
He used to tell me how he was continually amazed at the quality of talent SDD confronted each year when they had to sit down and somehow single out both a senior and junior to be awarded the top gongs.
Many of our award winners have gone on to bigger and better things, but I’m sure they all remember the home-town support which helped give each of them the start and incentive to succeed, not necessarily found elsewhere.
Jason Gibbs: It wasn’t that long ago that Glenn Maxwell was on the outer with Australian Cricket but know he’s the darling.
Amazing what a match-defining Twenty20 century can do for your status hey.
Glen McCullough: There is no doubt you are either an avid Glenn Maxwell fan, or you can’t cop him at all.
I’m not even sure which camp I’m in.
He is unique in his skills and character and that is probably why he’s misunderstood by some people and is a media target.
Many of his kind are complex, and that’s often an ingredient of their success. But he’s paid to perform and that’s all he should be judged on.
Personally I would have him in my team. He will fail spectacularly, but he is also a potential match winner. They don’t grow on trees.