CORNWALL, Ontario – The 54th annual Sports Awards, hosted by the Lions Club, recognized local athletic talent on the night of Wednesday, May 9.
According to David Murphy, a Lions Club committee member and last night’s announcer, the Lions Club has awarded over $45,000 and RBC Royal Bank has contributed $20,000 to local athletes in the last 15 years.
The evening’s guest speaker was Tony Luis, who is currently NABA’s lightweight boxing champion. He is also ranked 11th in the world. Luis encouraged young athletes to persevere with their careers in a heartfelt speech. He reminded the audience of how success is often masked in defeat.
“We don’t grow if things are easy all the time,” said Luis.
The Jacques Richard Memorial Trophy, which is presented to the top sports personality of the year, was given to 19-year-old Melissa Gilligan. Gilligan excelled in basketball and soccer during her first year at Algonquin College in Ottawa. In soccer, she helped lead her team to a third straight provincial win and the Thunder placed bronze at nationals. She was named the Rookie of the Year as the East Division’s scoring champion. In basketball, Gilligan was named the East Division Rookie of the Year by the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Women’s Basketball.
“It feels amazing, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without the teammates that I have,” said Gilligan.
Gilligan is a graduate of Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School and she is planning on switching her major to study Child and Youth Care at Algonquin College this fall.
The Joe Assaly Top Junior award was presented to Sydney Seymour. Seymour also took home the Highschool Rugby award, sponsored by RBC. Seymour has been playing rugby for four years and attends St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School. This past winter she trained and played with the Youth Olympic Games Rugby Americas North Regional Qualifiers. She is hoping to compete for Canada at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina this October.
“I’m really excited, but I just got a knee injury,” said Seymour. “I have to get that repaired to play again and I’m hoping I can play in October. But I’m doing physio and getting an MRI soon, so I hope it will get better.”
There were 61 awards total last night, recognizing the hard work and dedication made by athletes, volunteers and coaches of all ages. Rob Lefebvre, who won Multi Sports Athlete of the Year, reminded the audience that there are organizations and opportunities within the community that support athletes of any age.
