For immediate release And the finalists are . Sport Nova Scotia announces Ricoh Sport Award Finalists Halifax, NS (May 24, 2016) – National greats, provincial record-smashers and homegrown international champions were highlighted today, as Sport Nova Scotia announced the names of the finalists for the 2016 Ricoh Sport Awards. “We have an exciting group of finalists to highlight this year,” said Jamie Ferguson, CEO of Sport Nova Scotia. “Among them, we have a fourteen-year-old soccer phenom, a crowd-thrilling basketball team that ended a nearly 30-year drought, a Parapan Am Games gold medalist, and an Olympic veteran who is favoured to be on the podium in Rio. There are stories of obstacles for the best junior curlers on the planet, a soccer official who is one of only four female referees in Canada appointed to the FIFA referee list, and a 32 year-old top national gymnast who is only getting better with age.” The Ricoh Sport Awards recognize the achievements of Nova Scotia’s greatest athletes, teams, coaches, officials, and volunteers in amateur sport over the past year. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ricoh’s title sponsorship. “Each of these nominees has already been selected by their provincial sport organization as the best in their sport. They have then come through a rigorous selection process where they are judged against the best from numerous other sports, and emerged on top,” says Ferguson. “They are the types of people who inspire us and, through their leadership, help build our sport system. Nova Scotians can be very proud of this group.” Over 180 selections were submitted by Provincial Sport Organizations. Overall finalists were selected based on their best achievement of the season, in addition to their performance throughout the year. The overall finalists were announced in seven of the ten categories. They are: The RICOH Team of the Year Basketball Nova Scotia U17 Boys Provincial Team Una Lounder and Genevieve Orton, CanoeKayak Team Canada/Fay, Curling …/2 -2- The RICOH Female Individual Athlete of the Year Ellie Black, Gymnastics Pam LeJean, Athletics Michelle Russell, CanoeKayak The RICOH Male Individual Athlete of the Year Mark de Jonge, CanoeKayak Liam Moffatt, Snowboarding Hugh Smith, Gymnastics The RICOH Female Team Athlete of the Year Teni Akindoju, Soccer Mary Fay, Curling Blayre Turnbull, Hockey The RICOH Male Team Athlete of the Year Nate Darling, Basketball Ben Russell, CanoeKayak Jason Sanford, Softball The RICOH Coach of the Year Andrew Atherton, Curling David Kikuchi, Gymnastics Mark Smith, Softball The RICOH Official of the Year Marie-Soleil Beaudoin, Soccer Marie Claude Gregoire, Triathlon Gorden Woodworth, Curling The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on May 28, 2016 at the World Trade and Convention Centre. Additional winners to be announced on May 28th include the Sport Nova Scotia Chair Award and Ricoh Sport Makes a Difference Award. Sport Nova Scotia and Ricoh will also recognize the Volunteers of the Year and Sponsors of the Year from each of the Provincial Sport Organizations. …/3 -3- About Ricoh Canada. Ricoh Canada Inc. is a leading provider of document solutions. Ricoh’s fully integrated hardware and software products help businesses share information efficiently and effectively by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of documents. Ricoh Canada Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh Corporation with its head office located in Toronto, employing over 2,100 employees nation-wide. We are pioneers in the development of computer-networked and digital multifunctional document systems and market leaders in colour and black & white digital imaging systems, facsimile products, printers, scanners, digital duplicators, document management and wide format engineering systems. With their head office located in Japan, Ricoh employs over 108,000 people worldwide and has realized a steady growth in revenue and profits for almost a decade, generating sales in excess of $21 billion (U.S.) fiscal year 2009. Their history is 74 years old as the leading supplier of office automation equipment. About Sport Nova Scotia Sport Nova Scotia is a voice for amateur sport that promotes the benefits of health, personal development and achievement of all participants. Sport Nova Scotia is a non- profit, non-government organization representing over 55 Provincial Sport Organizations and more then 160,000 member Nova Scotians. -30- For more information please contact: Carolyn Townsend Director, Communications and Public Relations Sport Nova Scotia (902) 425-5450 ext.321 [email protected] 2016 Ricoh Sport Awards Finalists’ biographies Official of the Year – Finalists Marie-Soleil Beaudoin, Soccer Marie-Soleil is active in the referee community and gives back whenever she can. In 2015, she had a year to remember as she participated in a medal game at every major event she attended. Despite not being able to win a medal, she strives for excellence in every aspect of officiating the game of soccer. She is one of only four female referees in Canada that has been appointed to the FIFA referee list. Last summer, she refereed in the Nova Scotia Soccer League's men's and women's Premiership finals. In the fall, she worked the AUS gold-medal game and the bronze-medal game at the CIS championship. Moving up to the international level, she officiated at the U17 and U20 CONCACAF events while getting the assignment to do the U17 final. To top it off, she took her whistle to Toronto for the Pan American Games and earned the honour of refereeing in the bronze-medal match. Marie Claude Gregoire, Triathlon Marie Claude officiates at many races every year, travelling from small towns in Nova Scotia to international multi-sport games. Two thousand fifteen was a busy year as her assignments included many prestigious events. Here at home, she worked at the Navy triathlon and the Riverport triathlon. Moving up a level, she officiated at the Magog Triathlon, an international event on the Americas Cup circuit which also served as the national championship. Marie-Claude also took her expertise to Edmonton for a World Triathlon Series event and to the Chicago Grand Final for the world championships. Along the way, she also officiated a world paratriathlon event in Detroit. Her top assignment of the summer came in July when she presided over the triathlon events at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Gorden Woodworth, Curling Gorden has been the chief umpire for the Nova Scotia Curling Association for the past ten years. In this role, he is responsible for recruiting, training and maintaining a cadre of umpires to provide services for provincial events. This past year, Gorden worked as the chief umpire at the men's and women's provincial tournament at the Mayflower Club in Halifax. This was the first combined Scotties/Tankard held in Nova Scotia and required all of Gorden's expertise and experience to make it run smoothly. Because this event served as a qualifier for the nationals, and eventually the world championship, it required him to clearly set the rules and consistently enforce them. His fine work earned him a key role at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. He also served at the Canadian Special Olympics in Corner Brook, a seniors’ event in Digby, and at a Pinty's Grand Slam event in Truro. Coach of the Year – finalists Andrew Atherton, Curling As coach of the Canadian team skipped by Mary Fay at the World Junior Curling Championships in Taarnby, Denmark, Andrew had to regroup his team after an upset loss in the playoffs. They had gone 9-0 in round-robin play, but lost to Team USA in the playoff game. Given a chance to redeem themselves, they rebounded with a 9-4 win over Hungary in the semifinal. That set up a rematch against the Americans in the final and Atherton was able to prepare his athletes to play their best, and they did as they claimed gold with a 7-4 victory. Andrew is the first coach from Nova Scotia to lead a junior women's team to the top of the podium. He did so despite the challenge presented by a line-up change at the start of the season; but with solid planning, the team had great training sessions and was able to peak for key competitions. David Kikuchi, Gymnastics David coached Nova Scotia's top two gymnasts last year, including Ellie Black who won five medals at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Kikuchi also guided Ellie to Canadian records at the world championships and the American Cup. Ellie finished fourth in the all-around in qualifying, on her way to placing seventh in the finals at worlds while setting a new mark with a third-place finish in the all-around at the American Cup. Hugh Smith, another of the four national team members that Kikuchi coaches, landed the top mark in the all-around at the final Olympic qualifier, earning one spot for the Canadian men in Rio. As head coach at Halifax Alta Gymnastics Club, David also coaches nine other national and international level gymnasts. Athletes he coached won nine medals at Elite Canada in February and fifteen medals at the national championships in May of 2015. Last year, David was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame alongside his father, Tak. Mark Smith, Softball Last summer at the Pan American Games, Mark achieved a double-gold performance unlike any other softball coach before him. As coach of the men's and women's national teams, Mark guided both squads to Pan Am gold in Toronto. The feat was made even sweeter by an upset of the heavily favoured U.S.