The Estevan Comprehensive School's cafeteria was packed on June 11 for the school's annual athletic awards night.
Before any awards were given out, Olympian Chelsea Valois spoke to the student athletes about her journey to the 2014 Sochi Olympics as a bobsledder, and how she became involved in sports in her hometown of Zenon Park, Sask.
In her high school years, she competed in track and field and was a multiple provincial medalist.
“I started properly training for track and field when I was in Grade 11. I was encouraged by the principal and coached in the nearby town,” she said.
She ended up being the only athlete on the team.
“I was glad I made that decision because that same year I became the provincial champion for high jump and also qualified for the Canada Summer Games team.”
After high school in 2006 she went to the University of Regina and competed on the track and field team.
“Three hours a day, five days a week I trained my strength speed, speed endurance, power and technique in the pentathlon event. I did this for five seasons."
The hard work paid off as in her final year she became the Canadian Interuniversity Sport gold medallist in pentathlon.
In 2012 she had to make a decision once the opportunity to try out for the Canadian National Bobsled team came along. She was confident in her athletic abilities and had the mindset of making the team.
In August of that year, during a weekend training camp she pushed the bobsled to a World Cup standard her very first time. Next month, she tried out for the national team and then she was off touring the world in a brand new sport with teammate and Olympic Champion Kaillie Humphries. During the World Cup season, they had five straight wins.
After competing in the Sochi Olympics in 2014 she returned to the University of Regina and recently graduated with a bachelor of science degree.
After Valois spoke, the award ceremony started. There were numerous awards handed out for each sport.
At the end of the night the male and female athlete of the year awards were given out. Mitchell Clark and Kristen Skjonsby were the recipients.
Clark played football and basketball in 2014-2015 school year and was happy to be recognized for the award.
“I worked hard all season, but I got to thank all of my coaches and all of my teammates for being there,” he said. “I'm glad that I won it but there are definitely a lot of other guys deserving of this award.”
This is the third year in a row that Skjonsby won the award and she was surprised.
“I thought they were going to give it to someone else. I wasn’t really expecting it to come back to me again,” she said.
The Grade 12 student competed in basketball, volleyball and track and field, and said that winning the award proves that all of the hard work she has put into athletics has paid off.
“Lots of people help me be the athlete I am and the person I am, including my coaches, my trainer and my teammates.”
