Aurora’s sports stars of tomorrow honoured

July 28, 2022 · 0 Comments

The 2021-2022 school year brought a much-needed return to team sports for students across Ontario, and here in Aurora, youth success on the soccer pitch, baseball diamond, and on the ice were honoured by Sport Aurora on Thursday evening.

The organization, which is an umbrella organization for numerous teams and clubs in the community, announced their 2022 Sport Aurora Student Athletes of the Year on Thursday evening in a celebration held at Town Park.

Among the attendees were Aurora’s MPPs, Dawn Gallagher Murphy (Newmarket-Aurora) and Michael Parsa (Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill), along with parents and coaches all eager to celebrate the successes of young Aurorans.

“This is one of the most important events that we run every year simply because school sport is so important,” said Sport Aurora’s Ron Weese. “As we all know, every athlete who ever started participating in sport always started in school so you get the foundation at that time.”

Allan Dean, Chair of the group’s Sport Celebration Committee echoed those words, telling students, “I am sure this is only one of the awards that you young people are going to get throughout your life. This is a great start.”

Both Sport Aurora representatives also thanked the parents and coaches for helping the honoured students reach the levels they have.

“We know that the achievements of these young athletes don’t happen overnight,” said Ms. Gallagher Murphy. “It is with your support through the years, ensuring their participation and prosperity in these sports, why they are here today.

“Sport Aurora truly is a catalyst for community engagement. They basically make things better for our community. It’s the love of sport and them supporting sports and it’s all ages, all genders, all abilities.

“To the young athletes, I would like to say congratulations. You are truly inspiring all our community members.”

Mr. Parsa shared these sentiments, stating the evening was all about the athletes who were being honoured that evening.

“Congratulations to each and every one of you. You 100 per cent are the future [and] that’s why it is so important to celebrate and encourage you, to congratulate you along the way every time you succeed. It sets you up later in life as well. Sport Aurora might get tired of hearing this, but I think it is important for you to hear: For someone like me who is an incredibly shy person, I never took part in any public events. Never. Growing up I was an incredibly shy person but because of sport, through team activities, I started opening up and I started getting involved in our community events and eventually started volunteering for a service club and charity, and of course, later on with our party.

“It was because of sports and sports at our school that I started getting involved in our community and now becoming a Member of Provincial Parliament. Congratulations to each and every one of you.”

This year’s honourees are: