Tara Murray
Rising judo star Ryley Rametta was left speechless when she was announced the overall winner of the Western Region Sports Club Don Deeble Sports Star for 2021.
After two years of training and competition ruined by the pandemic, Rametta felt that her achievements didn’t match those of the other nominees.
But the judges felt otherwise and awarded her the prize, which includes $5000 from the Yarraville Club Cricket Club to help with her sporting goals.
“It’s pretty good,” said the July nominee for the award. “I didn’t expect it at all.
“I was gobsmacked and I didn’t have the words for it. Having listened to everyone’s stories and how far they had gone and I didn’t think I matched them.”
Rametta said the money will help towards a couple of trips for events that she has coming up to Canberra and Sydney and then to Europe.
She said sponsorship for judo athletes at her level is rare, with the money to prove a big helping hand in getting her on the road.
Rametta took up judo in her pre-teens after her parents started looking for a sport for their daughters.
Rametta trains at Resilience Training Centre in Footscray, which is run by principal trainers Daniel Kelly and Maria Pekli.
The upcoming events are a fresh start after a a tough couple of years for Rametta both on the mat and off it.
She hasn’t been able to compete in an event in nearly two years. She has previously competed for Australia in 2020, finishing ninth in the European Judo Championships as part of the Australian cadet team.
“The last one was in Turkey, which was nearly two years ago, at the end of March.
“Training was interrupted and you couldn’t train unless you had working permits. That cut out a lot of training partners.
“We would have to take all the precautions, but we didn’t know if training would happen.”
Rametta said she felt unprepared heading into these competitions, but that was something she felt ahead of many of her events.
She said as long as she stuck to her game and fought the way she trained, she thought she would be okay.
The break from competition wasn’t all bad. It allowed Rametta to have major surgery and recover, while also focusing on her year 12 studies.
Now the focus is on competing and reaching her goal of the Olympics.
“I’m more determined,” she said.
“I definitely want to go further than before if that is possible.”
Rugby Union player Antonio Sipa Masina and shooter Georgia Pistone were named runners-up and will each receive $2500 from Yarraville Club Cricket Club.
Cricketer Holly Nagpal and footballer Montana Ham were awarded encouragement awards and will each receive $1000 from the The Bendigo Bank – Strathmore Branch.
The Deeble sports award if sponsored by the Yarraville Club Cricket Club, Strathmore Community Bank and the Deer Park Club, with the aim to financially support rising sports stars in the west of Melbourne.
