Sharon Stewart: 2018 St. Catharines Sportsperson of the Year
Track and field is an integral part of Sharon Stewart’s life.
“I have always had a passion for my sport and coaching kids,” said the 2018 St. Catharines Sportsperson of the Year.
After graduating from Grantham High School, the lifelong St. Catharines resident felt the path to becoming a coach was to obtain a physical education degree at McMaster.
Her track and field coaching career has included stints with Grantham and Governor Simcoe high schools, the Niagara Falls Optimist Club, the Garden City Greyhounds and since 1998, she has been heavily involved as a coach and board member with the Niagara Olympic Club.
“I am proud of how far an athlete can go after we have launched them and if they have the talent to go far like a Mohammed Ahmed,” she said.
She relishes the big and small moments for all her athletes.
“I can go to a Commonwealth Games and cry over a medal and I can go to a zone track meet and see an athlete win the first time and cry about that,” she said. “It’s each person’s dream that comes out and is achieved.”
She loves what the sport teaches on and away from the track.
“They learn a lot about commitment, consistency, communication, patience, confidence and they learn a lot of skills that they take on as they move though life,” Stewart said. “They learn how to overcome obstacles, work as a team and how to say please and thank you.”
The 2018 Sportsperson of the Year Award is a way for the city to say thanks to Stewart for two decades of involvement with the Niagara Olympic Club, an organization that is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2019.
She first became involved with the Niagara Olympic Club in 1998 when daughter Kate was in Grade 6 and Bill Payne asked her to help coach and encouraged her to obtain her coaching levels. She is certified at Level 3 for distance and Level 2 for sprints.
Daughter Kate competed in track and field at the University of Guelph and another daughter, Megan, was a scholarship athlete at Georgia State. Son Lee followed his parents’ footsteps and became a teacher and musician.
In addition to coaching, Stewart has been an NOC board member and the chair of the board of directors for the past eight or nine years.
The club maintains and operates the track and field facility at West Park, which is the only competition facility in St. Catharines.
“I am humbled, shocked and very proud of the fact that this sport and the work that the Niagara Olympic Club does for the community has been recognized,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realize we lease this facility and do all the work here.
“They think it is just a free-for-all and it’s not. We do a lot of work.”
As a board member, Stewart oversees the rental process for the meets from the local school boards, providing thousands of athletes an opportunity to participate in track and field for their school teams. She has led NOC in hosting several meets, acting as meet director for Athletics Ontario Championships (2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), Royal Canadian Legion District B Championships (2015, 2016 and 2018) and the RCL Provincial Championships in 2018.
These high-level meets bring hundreds of athletes into the Niagara region.
Stewart also leads a team of nine amazing coaches, who keep the athletes organized with training schedules, training camps, travels to provincial and national championships and also complete meet entries for their athletes.
“I am supported by such a dedicated group of parents and the parents come and go because they are typically involved with the board of directors while their child is still an athlete here,” Stewart said. “But there are other people who are here because of their passion for the sport or they believe in what we do have continued on and stayed.”
J.P. Korsmit, Bill MacDonald and Ian Lucas are among many Stewart singles out for the efforts.
“Those are people who have really committed and dedicated so much to the club,” she said.
The track was build for $500,000 in 1999 and hosted the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Assocoiations’ meet in 2001. The Niagara Olympic Club raised half of that amount and City of St. Catharines contributed the balance of the funds.
Since them, the club has received several Trillium grants which has allowed it to do some major renovations.
“With Trillium grants, we have probably put in another $300,000 over the years, but the club itself has always put money in,” Stewart said. “The rental fees and shoe tag fees all go back into the track.”
She has no plans to slow down any time soon.
“I don’t think about that and I feel I will continue to do as long as I am able to do it and as long as my family can allow me and indulge me to be involved at the level that I am.”
Her entire family, including husband Vaughn, have enabled het to pursue her passion.
She’s thrilled for what lies ahead.
“The big, exciting thing coming for our sport is the (2021) Canada Summer Games and once again our community having the opportunity to have a brand new upgraded facility.”
The 2018 Sportsperson of the Year and Athlete of the Year Awards will be presented Monday prior to the meeting of St. Catharines city council.
