The 2024 Gippsland Sports Academy (GSA) Awards Night was held recently at the Italian Australia Club in Morwell, with Newlands Arm youngster Jack Bateson among the major winners.
More than 170 guests attended the 28th annual awards to celebrate and recognise the achievements of the 2024 athletes at their official graduation ceremony.
The room was filled with 72 young Gippsland athletes who received graduation certificates from their respective program’s coaches with nine sports participating in 2025.
This year’s guest speaker was Emily Beecroft OAM, a paralympian swimmer, who although now residing in Queensland is
originally from Traralgon and is a past GSA athlete and Gippstar Award winner.
Beecroft talked about her journey leading up to and attending three Olympic Games culminating in her relay gold in Paris in 2024, inspiring athletes and guests with her story.
The four major awards on the night were presented to hockey’s Kelly Godfrey (Phil Shelley Award), tennis player Campbell Scott (David Drane Award), hockey’s Ruby Shieffelbein (Darrell White Award) and Bateson (Tim Forsyth Award) for his clay target efforts.
The Forsyth Award goes to the athlete who has excelled and
had outstanding achievements for the year.
