BPSN tourney awards seven bursaries
The BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament is delighted to help aspiring student-athletes achieve their academic and basketball goals.
Seven athletes who competed in the 2022 edition of the tournament have been awarded $500 bursaries to help defray the costs of their education.
Receiving the bursaries are: Jamie Addy from Governor Simcoe; Ava Conway from Thorold; Emma Hemphill from Notre Dame; Katie Brophy from E.L. Crossley; and, Laurel Graham, Regina Mushegera and Daniella Zondag from Smithville Christian.
“The BPSN tournament committee is thrilled to be able to help our former players as they begin their post-secondary journeys,” tournament chair Jill Stiefelmeyer said. “Staging the tournament is always a lot of fun and it is nice that we can use proceeds from the tournament to help out in this manner.”
Two of the bursaries handed out were made possible with the generous support of Women Networking in Sports of Niagara.
“Our group’s goal is to support and empower female athletes within the Niagara Region,” said Kristy-Anne Wytenburg. “We have created a funding application process accessible to females within sports of Niagara which is currently open until Aug. 15.
The group’s next event is the WNS Golf Classic to be held at Whiskey Run on Sept. 9.
Other sponsors who make the tournament and bursaries possible are primary sponsor Tora Inc., and secondary sponsors, Alltech Automotive, St. Catharines CYO Basketball, Pelham Panthers basketball, Niagara Falls Red Raiders basketball, Niagara Rangers basketball and the Niagara District Referees Association.
“We are so grateful to our sponsors whose support allowed us to hand out a tournament record amount of bursaries this summer,” BPSN’s Bill Potrecz said. “We are looking forward to the upcoming tournament this October.”
Below are brief bios of the bursary winners.
Jamie Addy played this past season with Niagara Juel and has played in the past with the Pelham Panthers and St. Catharines Rebels. She will be going to Brock this fall to study child and youth studies and is looking to become a teacher. She is planning to continue to play basketball with Brock Badgers women’s team.
Ava Conway didn’t play any club basketball and only competed at the elementary and high school level. She is off to the University of Ottawa to study political science. She is hoping to go to law school and be a criminal lawyer in the future. She is planning to play some recreational basketball in university and probably become part of a league through the school.
Emma Hemphill is coming off a season with the Niagara Juel team. She will be attending Brock University and studying physical education. Her career goal is to become a teacher. She is looking forward to resuming her competitive basketball career after recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery.
Katie Brophy played this past season with Niagara Juel and has also suited up for the Welland Warriors and Pelham Panthers. She will be attending Wilfred Laurier University and majoring in political science and an LLB law degree at the University of Sussex. Her goal is to become a lawyer. She plans to stay connected to the basketball community through the Pelham Panthers Basketball Association as a coach and mentor while also planning to play basketball while at the University of Sussex.
Laurel Graham played basketball at the elementary and high school level. She is off to Brock to study neuroscience co-op and hopes to become either a neurosurgeon or a pilot.She plans to continue with intramurals and pick-up basketball.
Regina Mushegera started her travel basketball career with the St. Catharines Rebels and has been playing with the Grimsby Grizzlies since Grade 9. She has committed to University of Ottawa and will be majoring in health sciences. Her goal is to become an anesthesiologist. She plans to continue with basketball for Ottawa or in an adult league.
Daniella Zondag has played travel basketball with the Grimsby Grizzlies for the past five years. She will be attending Redeemer University and will be studying kinesiology. She is not sure what career she plans on pursuing, maybe physiotherapy. Her hope is to continue playing basketball.
