Leopards junior centre Leigh Greenan collected the BBC East Young Sports Personality of the Year award last week.

The 17-year-old attended the awards evening held at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford and was presented with his award by Ipswich Town manager Jim Magilton and Chairman David Sheepshanks.

Other award winners on the night included Formula One star Lewis Hamilton, from Hertfordshire, who was the overall winner of the BBC East Sports Personality of the Year 2007.

Greenan, originally from Colchester, plays for both Leopards’ senior team and Ipswich Tomcats in the under-18 South East Premier League.

It was Leigh's performances with Ipswich that attracted attention for the award, with the 7-foot centre helping his team win the Midlands Conference League last year and earn a place in the national playoffs.

He also represented the England Junior National Team at the European B Division Championships and is expected to feature heavily for the team in this year’s tournament.

He has been invited to represent Spanish team, Pamesa Valencia in the prestigious L'Hospitalet junior tournament in the New Year.

After being offered a place on Pamesa Valencia's junior program last summer, Leigh will be a guest player for the team in January with a view to possibly joining the team next season.

Valencia's Men’s team is one of the biggest teams in Spain; they regularly qualify for the end of season playoffs and are currently in sixth place in the country’s top league.

The L'Hospitalet tournament in Barcelona is without a doubt one of the premier junior club tournaments in the world, won last year by Serbian powerhouse FMP Zeleznick who defeated Real Madrid in the final.

Valencia will be hoping to improve on last years third place finish, only missing out on the tournament final by meeting the eventual champions in the semi-final.

The tournament attracts all of the top Spanish club teams including Barcelona and Malaga as well as some of the best teams from other countries. Last year at the 28th edition of the tournament CSKA Moscow, Cibona Zagreb and PAOK Thessalonica all travelled to the region to compete.