Laping who recently passed away. Nick was a former High School
Basketball Coach, who eventually entered the business community working
for
The Birchwood Group. He was an ongoing supporter of High School Sport,
and exhibited strong leadership and motivational skills. This year’s
inaugural winner is Ross Wedlake, retired Vice Principal of St. John’s
High School. Ross has been a long time coach and educator at Kildonan East and Tec-Voc, and recently retired from St. Johns; he has coached
Basketball and Cross-Country Running, and won a Provincial “AAAA”
Basketball Championship. Ross has been involved in all organizational
aspects of School and Community Sport and has served on the MHSAA Board
of Directors. He is currently an active referee and is the Education
rep on Sport Manitoba Board, and Chair of the Manitoba Basketball Hall
of Fame and is a member of the MBHOF Class of 1996. Other awards presented by the MHSAA included...
The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association hosted its 47th Annual General Meeting at CanadInns in Portage la Prairie on June 15th. As part of the Annual Meeting, a number of special awards were presented.
Honorable Peter Bjornson – Minister of Education brought greetings to the group and assisted in presentation of the awards.
Certificates of Recognition were presented to Murray Brown, girl’s basketball coach at Oak Park High School, Ross Metcalfe – Assistant Superintendent of the Interlake School Division and past MHSAA President, Nancy Baker of St. John’s High School - Phys-Ed representative to the MHSAA Board of Directors and long time coach and zone president, Frank Major, of the Manitoba Soccer Referees Association who has been involved in assigning soccer games for high schools for many years, Denis Marinelli of St. Norbert Collegiate who coached the “AAA” Basketball championships this year, Mark Diboll, Vice Principal of Portage Collegiate, and recently deceased Don Barton who retired as Vice Principal of Sturgeon Creek Collegiate who was quite involved with High School Hockey, and a former MHSAA Board Member.
The 2009 Grey Cup Legacy High School Coach of the Year was awarded to Don Dulder of Niverville Collegiate. Don has coached and taught physical education since the early seventy’s and has made Niverville a true Volleyball Community. He has captured eight Provincial Championships in the “A and AA” categories. Don has also convened the “AA” Boys Volleyball Championships on four occasions. In addition to coaching, he also conducts a number of clinics and as well has strong out of season programs. Dulder will receive a $2000.00 prize courtesy of the Grey Cup Legacy Committee.
The Frank McKinnon Award,. named in honor of former Carman Collegiate Principal and MHSAA President Frank McKinnon, has been awarded to Dale Ready of Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler. Dale began teaching in 1982 in Grandview and continued to Rivers, Goose Lake High in Roblin and for the last five years as Vice Principal at Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler. He has coached numerous sports and is also a referee. He has been a Zone President and a member of the MHSAA Board of Directors and has convened nine different MHSAA Provincial Championships over the years. He has been a rural admin rep on the MHSAA Board on several occasions and has been the Council of School Leaders (Principals) rep for the last three years. Dale is a deserving recipient of this award named in honor of Frank McKinnon.
The annual meeting attracted over 125 coaches and educators from across Manitoba. This is an opportunity for the membership to discuss issues and philosophies for High School Sports.