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Red Deer Games Foundation unveils 2022 grant recipients

Six athletes from Red Deer received grants
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The Red Deer Games Foundation has once again awarded its grants to athletes in Red Deer and the surrounding area. (Photo supplied)

The Red Deer Games Foundation has announced the recipients for this year’s Athlete Development Grant.

The recipients have a wide range of talent and grants are awarded to those who live in Red Deer and the area and have shown they’re committed to their sport.

The grants are meant to be used to help with the costs of equipment and training as they continue to compete. Those picked have competed at regional, provincial, national, or international levels.

First up is Nicholas Nechifor who is a tennis player from Red Deer. Nechifor is ranked number three in Alberta among under-12 players and number one in Alberta in under-11. He is also ranked nationally as the 33 player among those under-12 in Canada and number 10 in under-11.

McKinley Penninga from Red Deer is a Grade 10 student on the senior basketball and volleyball teams for the Lindsay Thurber Raiders. Penninga also plays for the Calgary Cobras Basketball club’s under-16 Elite Team.

Freestyle mogul skiier Makenna Colenutt from Red Deer is a recipient after she competed provincially and nationally last season after returning from injury. She is currently ranked sixth in the province for freestyle mogul skiing and is a member of the Central Freestyle Ski Club as well as the Jasper Freeride Provincial Development Team.

A pair of team handball players 17-year-old Elyse Borys from Red Deer and Kesaly Von Kuster from Bentley. Borys is a student at St. Joseph’s High School and was chosen to the under-18 Canadian Women’s Handball Team this spring. She also qualified for the under-20 World Championship in April at a tournament in Mexico and led the team in scoring. Von Kuster has played handball in Bentley and at a club in Calgary. She is a member of Alberta’s Senior Women’s Handball Team as well as the province under-18 Women’s Handball Team. Von Kuster also is a member of the Canadian Youth Handball Team where she won a bronze medal at the North American and Caribbean Junior Championships in April.

And finally to the ice surface where Red Deer’s Keith McInnis who played for the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C. this past season. The defenceman previously played for Atom AA in Sylvan Lake and Bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels where he won Rookie of the Year in the Alberta Bantam AAA league. This year he played for his province at the WHL CUP and was selected First Team All-Star. McInnis signed a tender agreement to play for the Waterloo Blackhawks in the USHL next season.



Ian Gustafson

About the Author: Ian Gustafson

Ian began his journalism career as a reporter in Prince Albert, Sask. for the last three years, and was born and raised in Saskatchewan.
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