In spotlight with Linford

Sports stars from the Canterbury Academy Trust met sprinting legend Linford Christie at the school’s annual awards night.

The British 100 metre record holder presented awards to an array of the academy’s talented athletes, who had achieved success at home and abroad.

He said the sporting opportunities offered by the Canterbury Academy Trust were vital because “sport opens doors”.

He told pupils: “If you aim to be the best, anything can happen. When all my opponents were sleeping, I was training”.

Christie was joined on stage by Ironman triathlete John Mcavoy, who since presenting at the academy’s 2018 awards night, has continued his work with the academy at its specialist City and Coastal Colleges.

In the ceremony held at the Knight Avenue school and watched by an audience of 200, goalkeeper Jordan Gillmore was announced as the academy’s sports personality of the year.

Scouted by Chelsea at the age of 13, the 16-year-old was later developed by Millwall and he will begin a two-year scholarship with the Championship side after he leaves the academy this summer.

Basketball player Jonathan Brown,18, won the national award.

In 2018 he represented Great Britain in his age group and was named Eastern Conference player of the season. Brown, who joined the academy’s sixth form elite basketball programme in 2017, has just won a scholarship in the sport at Fresno Pacific University in California.

Brown’s team, Kent Crusaders, took the team of the year prize after regularly competing in the national league and just missing out on a place in the national finals of the sport in 2018.

Patrick O’keeffe, 12, claimed the academy’s regional award. O’keeffe has represented Great Britain in taekwondo and kick boxing and won two bronze medals at the world championships held in Ireland in 2018.

The county sports prize was won by athlete Jamie Keir, 14. The winner of the schools’ Kent cross- country championships in January 2018, Keir held the fifth fastest time in the UK at 1500m in the under-13s category in May of the same year.

Clay pigeon shooter Dan King,14, won the outstanding individual achievement title.

The Year 9 pupil had an excellent 2018 season that led him to earn fifth place at an international event and put him on the Olympic pathway in the sport.

A new award for most outstanding tennis player, in partnership with Appeti Tennis, went to John-mark Montague, 15.

The Year 11 player has taken his ranking from 201 to 31st in the county since joining the school in 2016 and is now competing in the under-16s’ category.

The academy’s Max Jameson,18, was awarded the long-term commitment prize for his hard work that has led to success in the pool. Jameson, who trains with Dan Cross at Thanet Swim Club, took four county titles in 2018 and has trained for 20 hours a week, every week for the last four years.

The evening covered the entire Canterbury Academy Trust and five awards were given out to primary school pupils under the categories of commitment, achievement and leadership.

The Canterbury Academy Trust`s director of sport, Phil Relf, thanked a number of organisations for their backing including Lifestyle Fitness, Canterbury Christ Church University, the Mary Edmondson Sporting Trust, Marathon Sports Foundation, Canterbury Rugby Club, Canterbury Gymnastics Club and Invicta East Kent AC.

He added: “The Canterbury Academy Trust is extremely proud of the incredible sporting successes achieved by so many of its pupils.

“Our programmes for elite athletes that are combined with academic study attract the best sporting talent and are fast establishing the Canterbury Academy Trust as one of the top schools for sport in the south-east of England.”