We honoured our CADS Calgary volunteers on Friday, Oct. 4th at the
CADS Calgary Volunteer Appreciation BBQ and Awards.
Here are this year’s award winners:
Student of the Year – Matthew Pirie
Instructor of the Year – Anastasiya Petruk
New Instructor of the Year – Calvin Schaller
Grant Myren Memorial – Yangwei Dai
Volunteer of the Year – Candy Cheung
Ted Rhodes Award – Bob Sigurdson
Doug Brack Memorial – Thomas Griffith
Instructor of the Year
This award is presented to an instructor who has committed themselves to the CADS Calgary program and demonstrated the ability to help their student improve their skiing or snowboarding skills throughout the season. The instructor will have been committed to the program for three or more years and shown an abundance of dedication, creativity and passion for helping their student advance.
Instructor of the Year – Anastasiya Petruk
Anastasiya was nominated by the parent of a student that she has been skiing with for 5 years. She has demonstrated patience and instilled confidence in her student to graduate from the magic carpet to the chairlift. Lesson after lesson, year after year, her student was eager to come back and have fun at the ski hill with her creating a lifelong hobby that he can participate with others in his extended family.
Thank you to Anastasiya! We appreciate you!
New Instructor of the Year
This award is presented to a new instructor during their first year in the program. The instructor has shown commitment to learning how to improve their teaching skills, improve their own skiing or snowboarding technique and be focused on helping to support any student they are paired with. The instructor will have displayed a dedication to the program and sharing the love of skiing and snowboarding with all!
New Instructor of the Year – Calvin Schaller
Calvin showed up for his first year volunteering with excitement and commitment! He showed up to all training sessions and participated fully. He carved a spot into the group for himself, even though he was too young to volunteer without his parent beside him. He showed maturity and intelligence beyond his age while interacting with other volunteers and all students. Being close in age to his student allowed them to develop a relationship unique to them and a level of trust that is hard to come by. This allowed his student the confidence to try anything he suggested and make big progress. This volunteer took pride and joy in every milestone his student achieved, recognizing each accomplishment as the students own, but also recognizing his role in it!
Thank you to Calvin! We appreciate you!
Grant Myren Memorial Award
This award is presented to a new instructor that has been with the program for less than 3 years and embodies Grant’s whole-hearted passion for CADS Calgary. Grant Myren was a competitive Bull Rider and a dedicated instructor in Calgary for many years. He showed CADS the same commitment he had every time he got on the back of a bull, giving 110% all the time without knowing what to expect. The recipient of this award will have jumped into instructing adaptive skiing or snowboarding without fully knowing what teaching and the CADS program was all about, but still giving their all and picking it up as they went!
Grant Myren Memorial Award – Yangwei Dai
Yangwei has his CSIA Level 2 and this was his first year with CADS, and he completely sank his teeth into the program. Right out of the chute, he attended every training session and lesson night, helped out with running training in January, and even provided leadership and much-needed, much-appreciated help for the group supervisors. He was one of the leaders of the improved collaboration and team dynamic in the Advanced Group this year, by happily offering help and providing mentorship to the other instructors by talking with them and suggesting drills and tactics they could use with their students. He is positive, upbeat, incredibly friendly and everyone loves him. Moreover, the students in his group excelled with his instruction this year – they were engaged, their skiing notably improved and, most importantly, they all had a ton of fun!
Thank you to Yangwei! We appreciate you!
Student of the Year
This award is presented to any student in the program who has shown determination and dedication in developing their skills to becoming a life-long skier/snowboarder.
Student of the Year – Matthew Pirie
Matthew Pirie started with CADS program 3 years ago. He has been with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing group for the last two years. This year Matthew started on the gold carpet, was able to do a number of controlled turns and having a great time doing the rollers. With the help of his instructor, they ventured on to the ski doo, so they could access more terrain and skiing time. On and off the ski doo like a pro, no problems and was able to do more turns in a tight corridor. Matthew then advanced to the chair. As the eighth lesson progressed, Matthew was enjoying himself, was controlling his turns without any aids and was staying outside till the very end. Always smiling and having fun. Most importantly, Matthew was able to attend the CADS Mountain Trip to Norquay. Skiing both with his instructor and family.
We are so proud of Matthew and what he has accomplished!
Ted Rhodes Award
This award is presented in honour of Ted Rhodes to a participant of our ski and ride programs that have given their all over the course of the season. Ted Rhodes was the founder of CADS Calgary in 1972 and loved to see his students skills and confidence grow over the course of the season. In recognition of Ted, the individual receiving this award will have committed themselves to improve their skiing or snowboarding skills, and also will be actively promoting the CADS Calgary program. They will take great pride and joy from the opportunities to be on snow and are proud to be a part of our CADS family!
Ted Rhodes Award – Bob Sigurdson
Bob Sigurdson is certainly dedicated to both the students and the CADS program overall. In the 3 years he has been with the program, Bob has achieved his CSIA Level 2, CADS Level 1 and is preparing to take the CADS Level 2 test this season. Over that same time, Bob has attended almost every lesson and training session. Both in his lessons and off the hill, Bob is a happy, friendly and energetic instructor that always seems to be smiling and the students love skiing and learning with him. He is constantly sharing ideas and providing mentorship with other instructors, and he’s flexible, accommodating and has no problems rolling with all the crazy twists and turns that the CADS program rolls out. He is definitely one of the anchors of the improved collaborative team dynamic we are so pleased to see in the Advanced Group. Bob is also an excellent ambassador for the CADS program overall. He is constantly talking about CADS with his CSIA colleagues, has attempted to recruit tons of volunteers and has been successful in bringing 3 or 4 new instructors into the program.
Thank you Bob for all of your contributions to CADS Calgary!
Volunteer of the Year
This award is presented to a volunteer that has helped in ways other than instructing participants on snow! These individuals have gone above and beyond to contribute to the CADS Calgary family through their help in fundraising efforts, check-in for lesson nights, event planning and many other ways. Although not necessarily as readily identified as their instructor counterparts, they are crucial to every night we get to spend on snow!
Volunteer of the Year – Candy Cheung
Last season, Candy Cheung was selected to win this award because of her unwavering dedication and behind-the-scenes support. Candy is reliable, organized, friendly, approachable and funny. She is the smiling face of the Advanced Group welcome desk, the key inside organizer and she makes the Advanced Group run like a well-oiled machine! The Advanced Group team wouldn’t be able to do what they do on the hill without her support in the lodge. Her efforts last season and years previous were essential in creating a welcoming and successful environment for all participants.
Thank you Candy for all you do!
Doug Brack
The Doug Brack Award is given to volunteers who have given their time to CADS Calgary for many years. The award is presented in memory of Doug Brack who was a long-time volunteer, starting in the winter of 1975. He was a certified CADS Instructor and spent many years building outriggers before he began driving snowmobiles for our CADS participants. Doug also participated in many CADS Festivals and was happy to pitch in whenever needed. In addition to his involvement with us, he gave back to the larger ski community by volunteering at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and was a fixture at every World Cup race at Lake Louise. Doug was tragically taken from us too soon in 2017 and leaves a large gap in the hearts of many members of the CADS family. This award is given out in his memory at the discretion of the Board of Directors to individuals that have been with CADS Calgary for 25 years minimum and have gone above and beyond in their contribution to CADS throughout that time. Recipients do not need to be nominated for this award.
Doug Brack Award – Thomas Griffith
Many of you never had the opportunity to meet Doug who was one of our Snowmobile drivers among other things. Doug had been involved with CADS Calgary since 1975 and in 2017 we lost him in a tragic car accident. The hole that this left in the lives of his friends cannot be described. We still miss him today. Last season while considering nominees for awards, this submission came in for the Doug Brack award. This award is typically decided by Ski School, though this nomination hits all the spots for the award.
Thom has been a long-time snowboard supervisor who has given countless hours to CADS Calgary and CADS groups across the province and country. He is personally accountable for recruitment and retention of our volunteers because his enthusiasm for the sport and for the organization is infectious! He convinced his partner and her daughter to volunteer as well as his co-workers. And I think many of the volunteer instructors have stuck around because they enjoy riding and talking to Thom, I know I would be on that list!
Thom has served on the Board for a number of years in various capacities, filling in for any role that was needed. He attends festival regularly and is always available for technical advice for his students and instructors. He was also a key advocate for CADS Calgary when it came to fundraising, shedding many a tear in presentations to donors!
To summarize, Thom’s name is synonymous with CADS Calgary in my opinion. He embodies everything this organization is about, and I think he should be recognized for all that he has done for us. See what I mean, and if you were at the Volunteer Appreciation BBQ in October you may remember me saying that Thom had been a pain in my &$$ for years but what you may not know is that he was being a pain with the best interests of CADS Calgary at heart. Thom is responsible for the success of our Snowboard program, our Snowboard training set up and in no small part for CADS National making sure they always remember that we teach Snowboarding as well. All the blood sweat and tears of certification, training plans, Festival attendance and making sure his volunteers have too much fun.
Thom, Doug would be smiling to see you with his award.
~ Laura Lee
We are thankful for each and everyone of our volunteers!
Think about who you would like to nominate at the end of this season!