The following is being distributed at the request of School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador:

Annual Awards Banquet to be Held in St. John's

Friday evening, June 4, at the Comfort Inn Airport in St. John's, the top high school student-athletes, coaches and administrators will be honored and recognized by their peers at School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador Annual Awards Banquet.

The Brother G.I. Moore Student-Athlete of the Year Awards are given to the graduating male and female student-athletes who best exemplify the ideals of the student-athlete academic excellence, athletic prowess and overall sportsmanship and leadership. All winners receive a certificate, and scholarship money. The winners of the athlete of the year will also receive an Athlete of the Year Ring.

The winner of the 2010 Female Student Athlete of the Year is Kristan Cooze from Stephenville High School. Ms. Cooze is an outstanding athlete, excelling in basketball, track and field and ice hockey. Her teams have consistently performed well at provincial competitions, winning at least five titles in four different sports. She has also won sportsmanship awards, both individually, and as a team member. Her coaches have considered her one of the best players on the team, regardless of the sport. She has done all of this and still maintains a high academic average.

The runners up for the Female Student Athlete of the Year are Julia Loder from St. Lawrence Academy and Stacey O'Brien from Baltimore High.

The 2010 Male Student-Athlete of the Year is Brandon Parrott from Carbonear Collegiate. Mr. Parrott has also been an all-round athlete throughout his three years of high school. He has represented Carbonear Collegiate in Track and Field, Cross Country Running, Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball and Ball Hockey. His coaches have ranked him in the top three players on every team he has been on Carbonear teams with Parrott, have had strong provincial showings with gold and silver medal winning performances. Brandon Parrott balances his academics and athletics very well — maintaining an 85 per cent average.

The Male Student Athletes of the Year runners-up are Stefan Hayse from Christ the King School in Rushoon and Patric Alexander from Stephenville High.

The School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador Coach of the Year for 2010 is Rhonda Martin from Cloud River Academy in Roddickton. Ms. Martin has built an impressive volleyball program in the small community on the Northern Peninsula. She has coached the Girls Volleyball team at Cloud River to three consecutive provincial titles, at the 2A and 3A level. She has also been involved coaching softball, ball hockey and badminton at her school. Ms. Martin has been active in convening many SSNL tournaments as well, at the regional and provincial levels. For her efforts in the past, she was awarded the SSNL Recognition Award for the St. Barbe-Labrador Region.

SSNL is taking the opportunity this year to recognize 2 outstanding teachers for their many years of service with the Coaching Service Award. John Hatt from Exploits Valley High is one of the recipients. Mr. Hatt has been coaching school sports for almost 30 years in Harbour Breton and Grand Falls-Windsor. Throughout this time, he has coached at various age groups for boys and girls volleyball and basketball. His teams have won provincial championships, silver medals and Team Sportsmanship Awards. On two separate occasions, he has coached boys and girls teams to provincial titles in the same year.

The other recipient of the Coaching Service Award is Selby Noseworthy from Canon Richards High in Flower's Cove. He has also dedicated 30 years to coaching high school sports. Although his main area of interest has been in the sport of Badminton, Mr. Noseworthy has also been involved in coaching basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, table tennis and cross country running.

The Honor Award is the highest award given by SSNL. It is reserved for the individual who has contributed to school sports in a variety of ways over a large time frame. The 2010 Honor Award winner is Gerald Wheeler of Gill Memorial in Musgrave Harbour. Mr. Wheeler has served SSNL in almost every capacity for 31 years. He attended is first AGM in 1978-79 and continued this past year on the Board of Directors. He has served as zone president, regional director, Vice-President, President and Past President. He has represented SSNL at the national level five times, represented the province four times at Canada Games (as athlete, coach and mission staff), and served on many district and provincial committees for physical education curriculum development. In addition to all of this he has had tremendous success as a coach, particularly in the sport of volleyball. He has coached Gill Memorial teams to 10 provincial titles and two team sportsmanship banners. He also has countless provincial titles from NLVA. For his overall dedication to school sports, Mr. Wheeler will receive the Honor Award.

The runners up for the Honor Award are Terry Holmes from Eric G. Lambert School in Churchill Falls and Ron Chambers from Viking Trail Academy in Plum Point.

Each of the province's 11 regions determines a Regional Recognition Award winner, which is given to an individual based on their work within the region. The 2009-2010 recipients are:

St. John's Region    Blair White, Holy Heart of Mary High, St John's
Avalon Region    Karen Hearn, St. Catherine's School, Mount Carmel
Avalon West Region    Trent Pardy, Heritage Collegiate, Lethbridge
Bruin Peninsula Region    Marc Pittman, St. Joseph's All Grade, Terrenceville
Central East Region    Gerard Doucette, Smallwood Academy, Gambo
Central Region    John Hatt, Exploits Valley High, Grand Falls-Windsor
Central West Region    Chad Legge, Dorset Collegiate, Pilley's Island
Western Region    Vicki Simmons, Belanger Memorial, Doyles
Northern Peninisula Reg.    John Ping, Cloud River Academy, Roddickton
Labrador South Region    Tom Flynn, D. C. Young School, Port Hope Simpson

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Media contact:
Karen Richard
Executive Director
709-729-2795