Lethbridge Sport Council announces Achievement Awards recipients

By Lethbridge Herald on March 15, 2023.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Some of the Lethbridge Sport Council Achievement Awards recipients were on hand for the award winner announcements on Wednesday at the the organization’s office.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge Sport Council announced 15 exceptional recipients for the organization’s annual Achievement Awards for 2022 on Wednesday morning.

The awards are handed out annually to those athletes and organizations who display significant achievements and contributions in Lethbridge.

“Oh it’s fantastic, said Susan Eymann, LSC executive director, on the announcement of the nomination.

“We love this day and the ceremony day. (With) being able to read all the nominations that come in …  you just learn so much about what is happening in the sport community. We see over the year when the achievements come in, we see all the reports by the organizations, by families (and)by media. But there’s always some that surprise you. So it’s fantastic.”

Eymann is looking forward what 2023 has in store for sport, but was enthused to see what 2022 had for sport after a couple of years on hold with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Yeah, I’m loving 2023,”said Eymann.

“There’s so much happening.  And 2022, leading into it, everyone was back at it again. They were not only training, but they were competing, they were travelling, the volunteers were getting back into it. And although it’s been challenging for some organizations to get the number of volunteers, the ones that are committed are there doing just amazing work.”

LSC was excited to get nominations for officials, as they do not always receive forms for that category.

“They’re not part of the organization,” said Eymann.

“They have to be unbiased. So they often get left out and to get wonderful officiating nominations is fantastic.”

The year 2022 was the first year that the Coaching Excellence awards was divided to include a community coach and a high performance coach.

“Both are equally as important,” said Eymann.

“But when looking at nominations, it’s hard to compete with national and Olympic coaches. So we wanted to make sure that our community coaches got the recognitions that they deserved.”

Local wrestler Payton Shields is the recipient of the Junior Female Athlete.

“I actually didn’t find out until last weekend at nationals when my coach told me,” said Shields.

“It was very exciting.”

Shields accolades included winning the 2022 female wrestling championship for Alberta Schools Athletic Association and as a Grade 10 student she was the youngest female wrestler as a member of Team Alberta at the 2022 Canada Summer Games and helping them to a bronze medal.

She also won a silver medal in the 61-kilogram class at the 2022 National Team Trials and Cadet National Championships.

University of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team coach Peter Schori was the recipient  for the Coaching Excellence High Performance award.

Under Schori’s guidance, the Pronghorns in 2022, achieved a Canadian record, two provincial records, nine school records, won four All-Canadian awards and qualified 11 swimmers for the USports Championships where six medals were won.

For his efforts, Schori won the Canada West Men’s Coach of the Year.

“I think when you get chosen for an award like that, it’s (a) nice recognition,” said Schori.

“But it’s ultimately recognition of what the athletes have achieved and my name gets attached to their accomplishments. So I’m proud of them and grateful for being included in what they’ve done.”

The Amateur Team of the year is the U of L’s 4×100 metre Medley Relay swim team of Apollo Hess Parker Brown, Raine Arden and Chris Alexander after they won the gold medal at last year’s USports championships.

Other award winners announced include:  Basketball players Kacie Bosch and Paige Crozen receiving the Senior Female Athlete (s award, racquetball player Coby Iwaasa winning the Senior Male Athlete, the Special Olympics award going to swimmer Naoi Leam, Coaching Excellence Community Coach going to volleyball coach Rob Wood, Officiating Excellence going to Lindsey Ducharme, Volunteer in Sport- Peter Kreminik, Business and Sport Excellence-Stranville Living Master Builder, Dr. Gary Bowie Sport Event Excellence- 2022 ATB Financial Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival, Sports Administrator- David Zeeb, Knud Peterson Spirit in Sport-Chad Chief Moon and Servus Credit Union Outstanding Sports Citizen-Kieran Mattice.

The awards ceremony is on April 6 at the Enmax Centre’s Canadian Western Bank Lounge beginning at 6 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at https://lethbridgesportcouncil.ca/events/achievement-awards.