Pride
Last Updated: Dec 20th, 2011
NWT Soccer Awards
In an effort to recognize the tremendous efforts of our volunteers and athletes within the soccer community, NWT Soccer unvealed several trophies at the recent Annual General Meeting. These trophies will be housed within Yellowknife's new Field House in NWTSA's own trophy case (coming soon).
2011 award recipients were:
| NWT Soccer Coach of the Year: | Joe Acorn |
| NWT Soccer Official of the Year: | Nick Rivet |
| Northwestel Volunteer of the Year: | Vivian Hansen |
| First Air Female Player of the Year: | Paulina Ross |
| First Air Male Player of the Year: | N/A |
| Overlander Sportsmanship of the Year: | N/A |
Pictured above are Ryan Fequet (in blue) presenting 2011 awards to Joe Acorn for Coach of the Year and Paulina Ross for Female Athlete of the Year, respectively. (Photo's courtesy of Daren Horn Photography)
Picture above is Ryan Fequet (in blue) presenting the Northwestel Volunteer of the Year Award to Vivian Hansen (photo courtesy of Daren Horn Photography).
Players off to College or University
Paulina Ross - Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB (2011)
Paulina took part in a hard training camp for two weeks before starting university, with practice 8:00-9:30am and again 4:45-7:00pm every day. She was competing against almost 30 girls for four spots. Paulina was one of the girls who made the team and has played in all but two games as of late September, as Flanker and sometimes Striker. For a Rookie to play in most of the games has something to say about the coaching she had at home and her desire to be the best.
Paulina Ross trained and played for years with the Yellowknife Diamond Drillers, and was part of Team NWT Women's Soccer teams at the Western Canada and Canada Summer Games as well as the bi-annual Arctic Winter Games.
Click here to follow Paulina's success at university:
http://www.mtroyal.ca/Cougars/playerprofile.php?player_id=833&team_id=7
Adrienne Schmalz, Dalhousie University, NS (2010 and 2011 Seasons)
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Adrienne Schmalz enjoyed playing many sports while growing up in Yellowknife. She was coached by Michael Doyle while training with and playing for the YK Diamond Drillers Soccer Club for many years; has participated in three Arctic Winter Games (2008 and 2010 for Indoor Soccer), as well as the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games and the 2009 Canada Summer Games, playing for Team NWT Women's Soccer on the outdoor pitch. In her first year at university, Adrienne successfully made the Dalhousie Tigers varsity soccer team as a central defender in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Adrienne would like to thank all those who helped coach her along the way, giving a special Thank You to Mike Doyle and Vivian Hansen. 2011 update - Adrienne is playing for the University of King's College Blue Devils who won the ACAA championship. She is off to Quebec for the CCAA Soccer Nationals. Competition starts on Wed. Nov. 9 and runs through Sat. Nov. 12. Congratulations Adrienne!
Sarah Cannell - St.Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS (2010 and 2011 Seasons)
Sarah trained with and played for Yellowknife's Diamond Drillers for several years before being noticed at 16 by University of Saskatchewan Head Coach in the summer of 2008.
The following January Sarah moved to Saskatoon to attend Centennial Soccer Academy as she finished High School, trained with the UofS women's squad, was a key player for the Hollandia Impact Women's team (who represented Saskatchewan at Club Nationals that year), and when home, continued training as Captain with Team NWT towards the 2009 Canada Summer Games (PEI) in August. Sarah stayed in Saskatoon to coach for the U of S Huskies Soccer Camps in July 2009.
Sarah was offered full scholarships with Acadia and previously discussed same with UofS for the Fall of 2009 to play soccer. She attended the latter briefly but had to withdraw due to illness.
Having fully recovered, Sarah successfully tried out in August 2010 at Antigonish NS for the St. Francis Xavier University team, and is now playing Centre-Midfield for the X-Women! 2011 update: Sarah is now in her second year at St.FX, once again on the roster as a Mid-Fielder.
Sarah has always been a willing volunteer to coach and referee local games, enjoying the sport however she can take part.
Click here to follow Sarah's success at St. Francis Xavier University
Danielle Gillard - Grande Prairie Regional College, AB
Photo courtesy of Rick Scott
Danielle Gillard is a starting Striker for the Grande Prairie Wolves, who travel almost every weekend to play different college and university teams right through to the end of October 2010, in hopes of making the playoffs for provincials. Danielle was noticed by the previous head coach for GP Wolves at the 2010 Arctic Winter Games and was offered a full scholarship to attend GPCC.
Danielle is currently at school for Business Administration, a three year-program, and is taking on-line photography classes. Her plan for after college is to start her own photography company.
Dani has been a starting player for all four games so far this year, with the women's Wolves taking 2 wins (Kings), 1 tie (MacEwan), and 1 loss (NAIT). Upcoming ogames will be against Concordia, Keyano, MacEwan, NAIT.Dani elle got her start training with and playing for Yellowknife's Diamond Drillers for several years.
Arran Ferguson - Grande Prairie Regional College, AB
Photo courtesy of Rick Scott
Arran is starting right back for the Grand Prairie Wolves who gets to travel all over Alberta to play other college and university teams. If they make the playoffs, it will be the first time ever that GP College has done so. Arran is studying engineering and will be transfering to the University of Alberta for the last two years of his degree, in hopes of working as an environmental engineer in the future.
Four games into the 2010 season the team is ranked second in the league, first until NAIT played their 5th game and pulled ahead. Currently ranked 14th in the nation of all colleges, that can change a lot though!
Arran and his Yellowknife buddy Jan Barbier are both starters for GP, and as of end Sept/10 have both started all games, with 3 wins, 1 tie, and 0 losses to date (wins against NAIT, Kings x2, tie against Grant MacEwan). GP plays Concordia, Keyano, Grant Mac and Nait in upcoming games. Arran got his start in Yellowknife playing for Jack Simpson's various boys teams, travelling with great success to Arctic Winter Games and various tours across southern Canada.
Jan Barbier - Grande Prairie Regional College, AB
Jan had trained and played in the past with Grand Prairie College but decided to move to Wolfville Nova Scotia in February of 2010 to train with the Acadia Axmen. Jan planned on pursuing a Bachelors of Kinesiology with recreation and tourism while at Acadia. He is back at Grande Prairie as a starting player for the Wolves for the 2010-2011, with a great start to the season!
Jan also got his start in Yellowknife playing for Jack Simpson's various boys teams, travelling with great success to Arctic Winter Games and various tours across southern Canada. He's always had a tremendous presence on the soccer pitch, playing up and making a difference in the U14 Boys division at the tender age of eleven. Good Luck with all your pursuits Jan!
Mikey Ayiku - Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB
After living in Yellowknife for 15 years, Mikey went off to play soccer for the Mount Royal Cougars down in Calgary. 2011 update: Mikey is hoping to finish a 4-year Business Administration program next Spring; after which he plans to return to Yellowknife to apply his business skills and continue refereeing, coaching and playing soccer, probably doing a little rapping too. Mikey helped out with the summer soccer camps this year, enjoying the fine Yellowknife sunshine, and helping younger players to enjoy the Beautiful Game.
RJ Wells - SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, AB
RJ attended SAIT college in Calgary to get his Travel and Tourism diploma. He played Right Midfielder for the Trojans in 2009 and got to travel around the province playing other teams in the division. RJ is headed back to school in January 2012.
Jessica Fleury - Acadia University in Wolfville, NS
As part of the training for the 2009 Canada Summer Games program, Team NWT's women's team played several exhibition games in Nova Scotia prior to the week of the Games. Acadia University's Head Coach for their women's team, Coach Morrison, was impressed with Jessica's vision and first touch and subsequently invited Jessica to tryout for the school team. Jessica was succesful in making the Acadia team and is now studying science in Halifax.
"Everyone at Acadia was extremely helpful in getting Jessica set up, including; the university recruiting team, admissions, the registrar's office, professors, coaching staff, director of residence, everyone. Everywhere we went they knew who Jessica was and were expecting her. Again, their level of support was out of this world" - Darcy Fleury
Sport North Awards
The Sport North Awards are given out each year to recognize athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers for their performance and contribution to sport in the NWT. The NWT Soccer Association would like to congratulate and thank the following individuals for their dedication to the sport of soccer:
2009
Richard Toll named NWT Official of the Year
2008
Vivian Hansen was presented the Contributor to Sport Award
Sarah Cannell was named the Most Valuable Junior Female Athlete
Rebecca Alty was named Coach of the Year
