The Churchill senior girls 'A' volleyball team accepted the banner on Monday. (Submitted photo/Brandi Bell)

By Derek Cornet

the extra mile

CCHS senior volleyball team recognized for sportsmanship

Mar 16, 2022 | 5:00 PM

The good work of La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School senior girls ‘A’ volleyball team has landed them a 2021 sportsmanship banner.

The prestigious accomplishment is one of four given out by the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) in conjunction with SaskMilk. While the regular volleyball season occurred between September and November, the banner presentation was held Monday.

Chargers coach Brandi Bell explained the sportsmanship achievement is one of the SHSAA’s top awards.

“Our high school girls had the opportunity to host regionals where Yorkton, Tisdale, Melfort and Humboldt had the opportunity to come up to La Ronge and play,” she said. “Some of those coaches, those teams and communities had never been in our community or our high school. They came for the entire weekend and our girls put together gifts, things they should do and see in La Ronge, and showed them just wonderful, amazing northern hospitality.”

Bell mentioned sportsmanship is not just about working hard on the court, but it’s about being a good person off the court too. She noted that was shown at the SHSAA 4A Regional Championship last November in La Ronge, adding the athletes went above and beyond as hosts.

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“We did not have the opportunity to play at provincials,” Bell said. “We did not qualify in regionals, but they spoke very highly of the things our high school did and the things that our players had done.”

These four students are the team’s Grade 12 athletes. (Submitted photo/Brandi Bell)

Volleyball is a popular sport throughout northern Saskatchewan and Bell said Churchill has a growing program in both juniors and seniors. For the first time in many years, the school has been able to offer a volleyball club so students can play between January and May as well.

Bell noted, however, maintaining the senior girls volleyball team has been challenging as the Northern Lights School Division had been more cautious when it comes to sports than other divisions in the province during the pandemic.

“As other urban centres were able to navigate, most other schools continued playing and we weren’t able to do that,” Bell said. “The girls were kind of thrown in with a really short season, but they represented not only Churchill and our tri-community, but I think northern Saskatchewan really well.”

At the banner presentation on Monday, invited guests viewed a special video sent in by the SHSAA. Also with SaskMilk being the sportsmanship award sponsor, every student attending Churchill was given a free chocolate milk.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno