Tara Murray
Ten elite young western suburbs athletes will be vying for the prestigious 2022 Don Deeble Sports Star award next month.
The Deeble committee will reveal the name of this year’s winner at an awards dinner on the last Wednesday in January.
The first nominee was rising football star Charlotte Baskaran.
The former junior running star made the switch to football in recent years and it paid off. The Caroline Springs resident captained the Western Jets to their first NAB League premiership, before being drafted by Hawthorn, making her AFL debut in the recently completed season.
Volleyball rising star Isabella Maticevski was the second nominee for the year.
The Maribyrnong Sports Academy student thrived when she joined the school representing her state on a number of occasions.
After the disappointment of COVID-19, stepped into the senior ranks and had big goals for 2022 and 2023.
Another MSA student, Louise Baliton was nominated in April for her achievements on the golf greens.
Baliton spent the year juggling school and spending time on the green as she continued to push towards her goal of making it into the American College system.
It’s been a big year for Truganina Rabbitohs’ Suliasi Prescott. The rising rugby league star was sports captain at The Grange P-12 Secondary College.
On field, he was part of the Melbourne Storm development squad and was recently announced as part of Melbourne Storm’s new academy.
The hard work continues to pay off for Point Cook’s Charlotte Morey.
After missing out on making the Australian under-17 netball team, Morey came back 12 months later and made the team.
Juggling netball and training most nights a week, Morey has since been selected in more state squads as her talents on the court are recognised.
The next nominee again shines the light on different sports being recognised with taekwondo young gun Jake Buhagiar nominated in July.
Buhagiar is a three-time national taekwondo champion, with his ambitions clearly set on representing Australia at the 2024 Olympics.
Buhagiar, who is part of the Australian Performance Pathway Program, had been hoping to make it four national titles in a row this year and competed internationally for the first time this year.
August nominee Lucas Impey was always destined to be on the basketball court.
Following in the footsteps of both his parents, the Melton teen stands out on the court at nearly 200 centimetres tall.
Another Maribyrnong Sports Academy student, Impey was recently named in the state team for next year’s under-20 championships, having been part of the under-18 team previously.
September nominee Om Neelam has had to overcome adversity to have success on the badminton court.
Neelam’s resilience and single-minded focus belies his age. He turned 13 in February.
His quiet demeanor and inner strength are two of the reasons he was ranked the number one under-13 player in Victoria in 2021 and ranked number two in the under-15s.
October nominee national School under-70 kilogram class judo champion Ruby Gojevic is very quietly understated in her demeanour.
Gojevic became a student of Maribyrnong Sports Academy in 2021 and has immersed herself in the program.
She trains six days a week, three pre-school morning sessions with the judo coach and her other judo team mates where they focus on technique.
November nominee Jayden Kim has been in a spin since he arrived in Australia in December last year with his parents to begin the next phase of his life.
He dreams of following in his father’s footsteps and has already been selected to represent Australia at the World Baseball Softball Confederation under-18 World Cup in Florida in September.
