The cream of Midland sporting talent has been recognised at a prestigious event honouring disabled athletes.
Among the guests at the npower Disability Sports Awards were Sir Trevor Brooking, wheelchair basketball ace Sinclair Thomas and the former chairman of Aston Villa Doug Ellis.
But the spotlight was on athletes such as Ben O’Brien from Rigby Hall School, Wolverhampton, who won the EFDS Young Male Achiever of the Year award, and Kidderminster swimmer Francesca O’Connor who scooped the EFDS Young Female Achiever of the Year title.
Shropshire’s cricket coaches, Neil Bradshaw and Jonathan Caldecott took the Coach of the Year award, while the Villa Rockets football team won the Team of the Year title.
The new npower Partnership Award went to Worcester Rugby Football Club for its community TAG rugby programme and Chadsgrove School in Bromsgrove was awarded the prestigious School of the Year title.
Community involvement executive for npower, Kevin Rodgers, said: "Every year the Midlands awards get better and better; as a company, npower is delighted to be able to give its support to individuals and teams who achieve such remarkable success."
EFDS regional development manager Dennis Hodgkins said: "I don’t think we’ve ever had so many Paralympians and potential Paralympians together.
"I tried counting up medals and gave up due to the sheer number. That says a lot about the achievements of our athletes across the region."
