Winners of the Lethbridge Sport Council Achievement Awards announced

The 2016 Lethbridge Sport Council Achievement Award winners are:

Junior Male Athlete: Ethan Choi (Golf) – At age14, Ethan has had success at the Provincial, National and International levels. His 2016 accomplishments include: 2016 CJGA BC Junior Open Champion 2016 PGA of Alberta Junior Masters Champion (14 & Under) 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur Low Qualifier for Washington State (Spokane) 2016 Alberta Bantam Junior Bantam Player of the Year

Junior Female Athlete: Alyssa Fraser (Weightlifting) – In 2014, Alyssa Fraser won Jr Nationals for Olympic Weightlifting. In February of 2015, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Pseudomyogenic Hemangioendothelioma. Alyssa chose to turn her fight into something positive, by launching a fundraiser for ‘Helping Families Handle Cancer Foundation’. She surpassed her $7500 goal by raising $10,000. After taking a year off of hard training, Alyssa returned to training, and in November of 2016, won the “Best Lifter Award” at the 2016 Alberta Youth & Junior Championships where she finished ranked 1st This January, Alyssa competed at Jr. Nationals in Quebec, where she finished 9th in her category, with a total of 127 kg.

Senior Male Athlete: Tanner Sudo (Football, Judo) – Tanner played for Alberta as starting Running Back in the Canada Cup for football in 2016. He was named team offensive MVP for 2 of the 3 games they played in that tournament. As a result of that Tanner was picked as a running back for the Team Canada U19 team. In the 2016 season, Tanner played high school football for the LCI Rams, where he rushed for over 1400 yards and averaged approximately 165-170 yards per game. Tanner was named MVP of his team and also named MVP of the Southern Alberta High School Football League for 2016. In January of 2016, Tanner also won a Canadian National judo championship in Montreal at the National Elite invitational championships in the Under 18 category. At that same championship he fought in the senior men’s category against the best senior judo fighters in Canada, he won bronze in that category. Tanner has won a total of 5 Canadian National Championship Judo Gold medals since from 2014-2016.

Senior Female Athlete: Rachel Nicol (Swimming) – In 2016, Rachel achieved a lifetime goal of becoming an Olympian, as she qualified to represent Canada at the Olympic Trials in April by swimming lifetime bests and achieving the FINA qualifying standard. She is the first Lethbridge swimmer to make the Olympic team since 1976. At the Rio Olympics Rachel exceeded expectations and moved up from her seed of 18th to place 5th in the Olympic final of the 100 Breaststroke. In addition, she swam on Canada’s 4×100 Medley Relay which placed 5th. Rachel also swam at the World Short Course Championships in December and won a bronze medal in the 400 Medley Relay and individually placed 8th in the 100 Breast and 10th in the 50 Breast. Rachel also coaches young swimmers in the Jr. Pronghorns program and is fostering the Olympic Dream in the next generation of local swimmers.

Athlete with a Disability: Zack McAllister (Swimming) – In 2016 Zack McAllister won the 100 Free at the Canadian Paralympic Trials, setting a new Canadian and America’s record. At the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, Zack placed 7th in the 100 Free and 8th in the 50 Free in the S8 category. In addition, he swam on Canada’s 4×100 Free and Medley Relays which both placed 7th.

Coaching Excellence: Ryan Thornley (co-winner – Swimming) – Ryan is a Head Assistant Coach for the Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club. His primary responsibilities include coaching the Jr National group of swimmers, dry land training coach for National level swimmers, and he is also a training coach for Olympic finalist, Rachel Nicol. Ryan is always attentive to the needs of each individual and is frequently talking to the swimmers about issues they are facing both in and out of the water. As a swimmer himself, who represented our team well at the past Olympic Trials, and been has been a great role model both in and out of the pool.

Coaching Excellence: Jesse Sawyer (co-winner Baseball) – Jesse is a former Prairie Baseball Academy player, and a member of the 2008 Canadian College Baseball Conference Championship team. He moved on to play NCAA Division I baseball at South Dakota State University where he played three seasons while finishing an Education degree. In 2015, Jesse was the assistant coach to the Lethbridge Bulls, when they won their first Western Major Baseball League Championship. He is currently head coach of the PBA Junior Varsity team and Head coach of the Lethbridge Bulls.

Officiating Excellence: Mitch Ball (Baseball) – Mitch has 20 years’ experience umpiring. He won the 2012 Alberta Umpire of the Year award and was selected as an official for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. He is the President and a Founding Member of the Southern Alberta Umpires Association. Mitch has also represented Canada at the Little League World Series. In 2016 Mitch passed his evaluations that will allow him to move to his next goal – the Olympics.

Sport Administrator: Scott Sweetman (Shooting) – Scott has been a tireless advocate of introducing youth to the safe and effective use of firearms. He is the founder of the Safety Training program (STP) and the Safe Shooting Team (SST). The STP is the “proving ground” for members to be vetted for the SST. Young folks learn firearm safety principles and then are provided hands-on training, use of equipment, ammunition and targets (funded by LFGA and Chinook Country Shooters). The SST team receive further training, complete their Black Badge training and travel to International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) pistol matches across Alberta.

Volunteer in Sport: Jennifer Drader (Softball) – Jennifer is the current President of the Lethbridge Minor Softball Association and the Softball Alberta South Zone Minor Ball Representative. She has rebuilt the executive, created a new website, streamlined the registration process and created new coach manuals which include practice plans and information to support coaches. Last summer Jennifer coached a Lethbridge team and took them to the first ever U10 Jamboree in Edmonton. This winter she started winter pitching clinics for U10 and U12 athletes to develop their pitching skills. She is also volunteering to visit a few schools in the Lethbridge area this spring to run a Softball Alberta Learn To Play Program to expose students to the sport.

Knud Petersen Spirit in Sport: Ashley Steacy (Rugby) – Ashley was a member of the Canadian Rugby 7s team that brought home bronze medals from the Rio 2016 Olympics. She exemplifies “Spirit in Sport” because of her character, the way she has embraced the honor of role model, and the connection she has made in this community in the months following the Olympics. Whenever possible, Ashley has said yes to every invitation she could, and is a mentor for our youth that we can be very proud of.

Shaun Ward Sport Champion: Malolm Kano (Kidsport) – In 1995 Malcolm Kano became the Founding Chair for the Lethbridge/Taber KidSport Society, which believes that no kid should be left on the sidelines and all should be given the opportunity to experience the positive benefits of organized sports. He has led fundraising to assist over 3300 kids with hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in sports in the local area. He is an 18-year and current provincial board member for KidSport Alberta, which has raised over $14 million and funded more than 71,000 kids.

The official award ceremony will be held in the Canadian Western Bank Lounge at the Enmax Centre on April 6th at 7:00-pm.

Tickets: $20.00 (youth $10) and can be purchased by calling. 403-320-9371

by Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter) with files from the Lethbridge Sports Council

Winners of the Lethbridge Sport Council Achievement Awards announced

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