Maitland's pool of young talented sportspeople stood tall again excelling in 2014.
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The 2014 junior Maitland Sportsperson of the Year nominees came from a variety of sports including athletics, cricket, rugby league, swimming, motor sport, surf lifesaving, golf and water polo.
JULY: Brock Lamb (rugby league)
There was a sense of deja vu to the path Brock Lamb trod in 2014, but this time the reward was sprinkled in green and gold.
The 17-year-old from Thornton travelled to Darwin with the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges team and steered them to an undefeated national title, which was a repeat of the performance 24 months earlier in the under-15 division.
Only this time, when Lamb was named as an Australian Schoolboys half, it wasn’t only a merit side, it was a UK touring squad.
Lamb, who was also part of the Newcastle Knights under-18 and under-20 squads this year, went half way around the world at Christmas to don the nation’s sporting colours for the first time.
AUGUST: Matthew Rees (athletics)
Weston and China are not commonly used in the same sentence, but 17-year-old javelin thrower Matthew Rees made the connection last year.
After taking out the under-18 national title at the Australian Junior Championships in Sydney in March the Kurri Kurri High School student booked a ticket to the Youth Olympic Games.
Rees was the sole javelin thrower named in a 20-person squad by Athletics Australia to contest the second summer Youth Olympic Games.
The St George-trained athlete fell narrowly short of the podium, finishing fourth in Nanjing, but threw a personal best 71.50 metres with his second attempt in the final.
SEPTEMBER: Matthew Pender (swimming)
The reigning Maitland Junior Sportsperson of the Year bettered his efforts from 12 months earlier at the School Sport Australia Swimming Championships.
Representing the NSW All Schools team in Melbourne the Aberglasslyn teenager picked up 10 medals from the carnival in the 17- to 19-years boys’ division – four gold, three silver and three bronze.
A fortnight earlier at Homebush he contested the NSW State Age Short Course Swimming Championships and scored five medals in the 17- to 18-years boys’ section.
And to kick start it all off Pender clinched seven medals, including four titles, and two individual records at the 16-years division at the NSW State Age Championships.
OCTOBER: Clayton Small (golf)
At 14 years of age sporting-minded boys are aspiring to emulate their heroes, playing junior competitions and maybe starting to make their way in seniors.
Not so for Bolwarra Heights golfer Clayton Small.
In 2014 the year 9 student at Maitland Grossmann High School became the youngest winner of the Maitland Golf Club A-grade championship.
Small finished two shots ahead of his much older and more experienced rivals, managing to birdie the second last hole of the four-round tournament when level in the lead group.
Small also helped the Maitland junior pennants team to a third straight Hunter River district title.
NOVEMBER: Jack and Tom Newman (athletics)
There must be something in the water at the Largs household of Newman twins, Jack and Tom.
The dynamic duo have been making their name on the athletics circuit for some time now, but during November they took things to an all new level.
Jack was crowned the 61st champion of the Macksville Gift before Tom followed up with victory in the Queanbeyan Gift – capping off a successful period for the Maitland Sprint Connexion squad.
Both the 16-year-olds also represented Maitland Grossmann at the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships.
DECEMBER: Katie Smee (athletics)
“I’ve just had the best athletics week of my life.”
They were the sentiments of Thornton athlete Katie Smee after completing a sprint double at the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships.
The Maitland Grossmann student recorded personal best times at Homebush in taking out the 100 and 200 metre titles in the under-17 girls division.
Smee created a new individual mark of 12.14s for the 100m and stopped the clock at 24.62 seconds in the 200m final.
The 16-year-old collected silver and bronze respectively at nationals in Adelaide, which included breaking the 12-second barrier over the shorter distance and another second in the 4x100m relay.