These days, such has been her improvement, the Greater Hamilton Archers sharpshooter counts the points she’s dropped. It’s easier that way.

“I always have nostalgic moments,” she said.

“This year I was shooting indoor at the club. I was remembering when I used to score I’d add up. Now I just count the points I drop.

“When you’re sitting talking to people who three years ago were your idols and you never thought you’d have the guts to talk to, it’s mind blowing.”

Niamh, 15, earned recognition for her stellar 2014 by being among the winners at South West Sport’s annual awards night on Wednesday.

She took out the junior female category, with judges impressed with her string of results at national and international level.

They included gold in the intermediate girls’ compound section at Australian youth championships in April and second among all-female archers.

She backed up with gold at national indoor championship in July and helped Australia to success at a trans-Tasman challenge in September.

“My brother can’t do contact sports so dad decided it would be a great sport for us to take up as a family when I was nine,” she said.

“I had my first comp six months later. In 2011 I went to my first junior nats. This is my fifth consecutive year. I want to keep achieving bigger things.”

Her next major competition is World Youth Archery Championships in South Dakota, USA, next month. Niamh is part of a 12-member squad.

Other award winners on Wednesday night included Warrnambool aerobics star Jordan Rooke, who took out the junior male category.

Jordan, 17, won his class at FISAF state and national level before clinching a bronze medal at world championships in Prague.

“I’m really proud of what I did last year,” he said.

Jordan steps up to the open ranks this year. 

The masters award went to Terang karate fighter Jill Cole, who returned from an international tournament in Belgium with medals hanging around her neck.

She also tasted success in the National All Styles Championships — her veterans continuous sparring crown was her fourth in a row.

Cole, a second dan black belt, said she started karate five years ago after her children Airlie and Tobi took up the sport. “I never started karate to be competing, it was for fun and training with the kids. I started doing competitions and had a bit of success,” she said.

The open male winner was Warrnambool table tennis player Ben Taylor. Brimpaen archer Tori Dunn won the open female category.

Warrnambool basketball mentor Rebel Noter earned the elite coach accolade. Teenage Dunkeld runner Jacob Mibus took out the athlete with a disability award.