Young Saskia Sills is proving that she is a force to be reckoned with, read on for more…
Saskia Sills from Launceston has received a £1,500 OCS Young Sports Person Award in recognition of her outstanding sporting ability. In the awards scheme, run in partnership with the charity SportsAid, windsurfer Saskia beat stiff competition to scoop the prize for the South West region for the second time in two years.
15 year old Saskia is currently World Champion in the Techno U17 category, having been U15 World Champion in 2009. She won this recent title in July, at the 2011 Techno 293 Windsurfing World Championships in San Francisco, USA. Since winning the regional OCS Young Sports Person Award in 2010, she has been working hard to build her strength and fitness with a local expert.
Saskia believes the money from the 2010 OCS award has helped her become the champion she is today: “The money helped pay for strength and conditioning coaching with James Owen and his techniques have definitely helped me become a stronger competitor. The cost of competition this year alone is nearly £5,000, so it’s great to know that OCS is supporting me again.”
Like her idol, Usain Bolt, she hopes to become an Olympic medallist by qualifying for the Olympic Games in 2020.
Saskia, accompanied by her sister Imogen and her father joined the winners from nine other UK regions, four national disability category winners and the Young Star category winner at a celebratory event on 24th November in the OCS Stand at the Kia Oval. Previous OCS Young Sports Person Award winners attended the event alongside a host of top sporting stars such as Wayne Otto OBE, Beth Tweddle MBE and Rory Underwood MBE.
Master of Ceremonies at the event was Claire Balding and Saskia was delighted to receive her award from windsurfing legend Nik Baker.
