Sydney FC defender Rhyan Grant was yesterday named the Devro Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Bathurst Sports Awards.
Sydney FC defender Rhyan Grant was yesterday named the Devro Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Bathurst Sports Awards.
The former Bathurst Junior spent Australia Day at Bathurst for a special awards ceremony.
Below is an extract from Bathurst-s Western Advocate Newspaper:
“Fittingly it was two international representatives who took the major honours at the Bathurst Sports Awards which were announced at Bicentennial Park last night.
Hockey star Rachel Miller joined the likes of world-ranked golfer Peter O-Malley and Tour de France cyclist Mark Renshaw in adding her name to the Nicoll and Ireland Sportsperson of the Year trophy, holding out 10 other high achievers from the past 12 months to clinch the honour.
Joining Miller in the winner-s circle was Devro Junior Sportsperson of the Year, Rhyan Grant.
Originally a native of Canowindra, Grant moved to Bathurst early last decade and cut his teeth as a soccer star on the rise playing with Churches United and Bathurst -75 Western among a host of representative teams during his teenage years.
With the introduction of a youth competition to accompany the increasingly popular A-League national soccer premiership, Grant trialled with the marquee Sydney FC franchise and earned a position with the youth team.
That soon took a backseat to higher honours.
Last season he made his debut in the A-League itself and while he is still just 18, he already has 12 appearances for the senior side under his belt including two full A-League matches.
He was also a crucial part of
the Sydney FC side which defeated Adelaide in the youth league grand final in 2008-09.
To cap it all off, last year he made his debut with the Socceroo-s under 20 side who competed at the under 20s world cup and has since racked up 12 appearances in Australian colours.
It was a humble and quietly spoken Grant who accepted his award from Australia Day ambassador Peter Wilkins at the ceremony last night.
“I-d like to thank Devro for making the award possible, and I hope everyone has a great Australia Day,” he said from the stage at Bicentennial Park.”
