Tuesday evening, LCHS celebrated their teams and athletes over the past year. LCHS had 16 teams this year and approximately one in four students played a sport.
LCHS Athletic Director Doug Smith says there was, “tons of competition, some really good competition, lots of growth and development in our athletes. I’m proud. June is a time to celebrate everything they’ve accomplished.”
The big awards of the night were male and female athlete of the year.
Soleil Gow won the Female Athlete of the Year and three MVP Awards for Sr. Girls Volleyball, Sr. Girls Basketball and Badminton.
“It’s overwhelming, I came here expecting nothing and now I just got a lot of awards, so I’m very happy about it, very honoured, very blessed.”
For the athletes coming up she offers this piece of advice, “push hard and always thank your coaches for everything they’ve done for you.”
Gow is planning on head to the University of Saskatchewan, she hopes to become a phys-ed teacher.
Smith says, “it takes a special commitment to sport and then to do that while maintaining academics, it just speaks to her character, just who she is as an individual. You couldn’t ask for someone better on your team.”
Arash Saini won the Male Athlete of the Year and the Sr. Boys Basketball MVP.
He says, “I’m gonna really miss it, it was probably the best three years of my life. I’m gonna miss going on road trips and going to practice everyday, winning, losing, all that, like all of the emotions of the game.”
Saini was a multi-sport athlete, he says that playing multiple sports and academics gave him a new perspective.
“You [have] to dedicate your time with academics and sports. It was good for me. Some sports I was better at, some sports I was weaker at. So it changes it up, you’re not always going to be the best at every sport.”
He adds that it wouldn’t have been possible without his teammates and coaches. Looking forward, Saini is planning on going to university where he hopes to get a bachelor of science degree before pursuing a medical degree.
Smith coached Saini and says, “he was competitive, he worked hard, he knew what he had to work on so he was humble and he just loved to play.”
For Baron athletics next year Smith adds, “It’s always a mixed bag, we’re gonna have some teams that are quite competitive, we have other teams that are rebuilding, that’s just the nature of sport. Regardless we’re going to install our Baron integrity and work ethic into these young athletes.”