Notre Dame High School reflected on a special year that was on Tuesday night at the annual athletic awards.
Numerous students were acknowledged and recognized for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the school year for their athletic accomplishments.
The biggest award of the night was the Grade 12 Female and Male Athlete of the Year presented to Ella Black and Gage Weinrauch.
Weinrauch explained winning the award was an honour.
“Playing high school sports is a part of your life you probably won’t forget and no words can describe the feeling you get when you’re representing your school,” he said.
Weinrauch played volleyball, basketball, and track and field. Throughout his time representing the Cougars on the court or on the field, he explained he had a sense of pride.
“It’s something you don’t really get anywhere else, especially at a high school level. You’re turning into young adults and it’s something you really take forward in your life.”
Next year Weinrauch is headed to Keyano College in Fort McMurray where he’ll play volleyball while pursuing an education in business administration.
“I won’t be starting but it’s a goal I’m working towards. I’ve got a lot of hard work and effort I have to put in throughout the offseason but I’m looking forward to it,” he added.
Ella Black told The Advocate she didn’t play sports to win awards but it’s certainly a nice bonus.
“The main point of it was to just come out and play the sports that I love and if I happen to get an award it’s just kind of a pat on the back. I play for the feeling I get when I play,” she explained.
Next year Black will play volleyball at MacEwan University in Edmonton. As a multi-sport athlete, she was contacted by 18 universities both in the United States and Canada but chose to go to Edmonton due to familiarity with head coach Chris Wandler.
Wandler was recently hired as Edmonton’s new head coach but had a history of coaching Black at the high school level which made it an easy choice.
Black will also focus on her studies in hopes of entering the medical field by taking biological sciences.
“I’ve always been interested in the medical field just seeing how much it’s helped my family who’ve had medical conditions. I thought it would be kind of nice to give back to everything they’ve done for my family,” she added.
Black played not only volleyball but also basketball, handball, and many others throughout high school.
“I had a really positive experience. There were a lot of challenges… but the staff and my teammates were all super supportive,” she added.
“I’ll probably look back on it for a long time.”