Greater Victoria Sports Awards are back again

The city’s elite athletes, teams, and coaches were feted at Government House Thursday night as winners of the 2023 Greater Victoria Sports Awards in a sold-out gala in a regal setting.

“Having it at Government House adds a wonderful veneer to the whole thing,” Keith Wells, the executive director of the Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission, tells Capital Daily.

“You can tell that people from the sports community really enjoyed having this thing there, and it was quite fancy.”

Male Athlete of the Year honours went to basketball wizard Diego Maffia, the 2023 Canada West MVP and Canadian university basketball scoring leader.

Maffia, a high-scoring shooting guard who once drained 96 points while playing with Oak Bay High, stars for the Vikes men’s squad in the fall and in the summer plays professionally with the Vancouver Bandits of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He also was named Male College/University Athlete of the Year.

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Cyclist Mel Pemble, who won gold and silver medals at the 2023 Para Pan American Games in Chile, was named Female Athlete of the Year. Though training commitments kept her from attending, her parents were on hand to accept her award from former MLA and four-time Paralympian Michelle Stilwell.

Pemble participated in the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics four years ago, and this summer she will become a summer and winter Paralympian when she rides for Canada at the Paris Paralympics.

Victoria’s Team of the Year also had a good reason for missing the event: it’s out in Regina about to throw stones at the Brier. The Victoria Curling Club’s Jacques Gauthier rink, consisting of vice-skip Sterling Middleton, second Jason Ginter, and lead Alex Horvath became the first Island rink to represent BC at the Brier since 2007 when it competed in last year’s men’s curling championship in London, Ont. Regina native Catlin Schneider has replaced Gauthier as skip for this year’s championship in Saskatchewan. (A full list of winners follows)

There's a history here

Sponsored by the Victoria Foundation, the Greater Victoria Sports Awards were an annual fixture on the Victoria sports calendar between 1968 and 2006, but volunteer fatigue forced their cancellation.

“The volunteers aged out, and there was no one there to pick up the pieces and continue this event,” Wells says.

“We thought it was a great initiative to attempt to bring this event back and with sponsored help, and Destination Greater Victoria kind of backing everything, we spun it up, it was a great success again [Thur] night.”

The Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission is a not-for-profit entity dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of sport-related events and activities hosted in Greater Victoria.

It assumed the role of SportHost Victoria, which ceased operations when Hugh MacDonald retired as executive director six years ago. On its website, the commission says it’s a catalyst for $117M in tourist spending in Greater Victoria each year.

Wells says it’s all about the volunteers: “It’s a whole new group of people that would have just attended this event 20 years ago, but we kind of brought them all together and said that this was a worthy thing to be involved in.”

‍ Other winners:

Female High School Athlete of the Year - Adia Pye, Rugby & Basketball

Male High School Athlete of the Year - Blake Swan, Lacrosse

Female College/University Athlete of the Year - Kathryn Lee, Weightlifting

Male College/University Athlete of the Year - Diego Maffia, Basketball

Female Master Athlete of the Year - Catrin Jones, Long Distance Running

Male Master Athlete of the Year - Robert Bettauer, Tennis

Alex Nelson 'Ok'wilagame' Indigenous Female Athlete of the Year - Shalaya Valenzuela, Rugby

Alex Nelson 'Ok'wilagame' Indigenous Male Athlete of the Year - Maddox Moon, Soccer

Coach of the Year - Krista Thompson, Field Hockey

Pat Hall Volunteer Award - Keith Butler, Track & Field

John & Marilyn Bate Organization of the Year Award - Victoria Reign, Capital Region Female Minor Hockey Association