Pitsford Pirates’ team of young windsurfers have been named Daventry’s top sports team for the second year running!

The Northampton Watersports-based outfit walked off with their second consecutive Team of the Year Award from the Daventry District Sports Awards 2012, when they were hosted in the Saxon Suite at Daventry Leisure Centre last Thursday (18 November).

The team now go through to the Northamptonshire Sports Awards 2012 next month. Pitsford Pirates are part of the national Team15 network of more than 80 youth windsurfing clubs.

Team15 was set up by sailing’s national governing body, the RYA, to help make windsurfing more accessible and appealing to youngsters at a grassroots level.Fun and informal training sessions take place at T15 clubs all over the country for kids up to the age of 15, which are run weekly by specialist RYA coaches. Kit can be borrowed from the clubs and the cost of sessions is kept low.

Some 12 newcomers have started to windsurf at Pitsford Pirates this year with 30 youngsters taking to the water on a weekly basis.

The team, which has won the Midlands Inter-Club Championship, for the past three years, recently finished sixth at the 2012 T15 Champions Cup, the national grand final where all the regional champions do battle. While they may have missed out on the top prize, the Pirates did achieve their objective of winning the Fun Race title for the second year running!

Jon Sweet, Pitsford Pirates Team15 co-ordinator, said: “People may see windsurfing as an individual sport but the whole ethos of T15 is the youngsters regularly getting together with their mates and having a laugh on the water while developing their skills. People are more likely to stay in any sport if there is a strong social element to it and T15 is definitely social!

“We’re delighted to have been named Daventry Team of the Year again but for us the team isn’t just the sailors, it’s the volunteer coaches and helpers who willingly give up their time to give the kids the chance to windsurf and give something back to the sport they love.”

The Northamptonshire Sports Awards are taking place on Thursday 8 November at the Kettering Conference Centre. District Sports Awards are being held in Northampton, Corby, Kettering and Daventry with the category winners going forward to the county awards.

For more information about Team15 visit www.rya.org.uk/programmes/team15