While there are many different categories of awards presented by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, some years the Committee finds that there are people deserving of recognition who do not necessarily fit into one specific category. For that reason, the Committee presents the
Jimmy Collins Awards to outstanding individuals and organizations.
Collins was a longtime New Orleans sportswriter who is credited with creating the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards and forming the awards committee in 1958.
Noah Confident, who was born with one leg, has taken inspiration from Anthony Robles, a former college All-American wrestler born with one leg, and has established himself as a high-level athlete as well.
He began his high school athletic career focusing on taking advantage of the opportunities to compete, and then focused on learning technique and improving his skillset. By his junior year, he realized that he had the potential for even more – setting goals of reaching the state championship tournament.
In both 2024 and 2025, the 17-year-old reached that goal as he recorded top-four finishes in Division I Wrestling at the LHSAA Championships.
“My way of wrestling is different from other people because it’s less of a hand fight and it’s more shots and just slowing down my opponent to be at my pace,” he said. “Overall, it’s just wrestling and doing the stuff I know how to do. I’m already low, so I don’t have to get low to get their legs. I just snatch and pull and try to get them down to the mat.
“Starting out, I wasn’t even worried about winning or losing. I just wanted to wrestle. Then going into the next year, I just wanted to get better and learn more technique and everything. I wasn’t really thinking about tournaments. I just wanted to get better at wrestling. Then in my junior year I really thought about going to state and having that goal set in mind. Even though I didn’t (win at the state championship), I’m still proud of myself for getting there."
