Four named for Longboats are at the top of their games

A pair of teenagers are the latest recipients of Tom Longboat Awards, selected as the country’s top Aboriginal amateur athletes for 2009.

Ammon Crowfoot, a 17-year-old basketball and cross-country running star from Dewinton, Alta., was picked as the top male athlete. And Brigette Lacquette, a 17-year-old hockey player from Mallard, Man., was chosen as the top female athlete.

Crowfoot’s parents had nominated him for the award, annually presented in honor of the late Ontario-born, Aboriginal runner, who dominated races in the early 1900s. He is a Grade 11 student at Calgary’s Western Canada High School, and admitted he did not know much about Longboat or the award in his honor until after he became a nominee.

“When I read more about it, I didn’t think my chances of winning were good,” said Crowfoot, who has Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Mohawk and Oneida ancestry.

But officials with the Aboriginal Sport Circle, who annually present both regional and national awards, were impressed with his athletic accomplishments.

“I was pretty overwhelmed and shocked,” Crowfoot said. “It’s a pretty amazing honor.”

A highlight for Crowfoot in ’09 was his second-place finish in the boys’ Grade 11 cross-country race at the Alberta high school championships this past fall.
“It was actually surprising,” Crowfoot said of his placing in his six-kilometre race. “My start wasn’t very good.”
Crowfoot, who had previously focused on just his basketball career, now plans to keep on running and entering races.

“My dad thinks I’m better at running than basketball,” he said.

Crowfoot proved he’s a skilled basketball player as well this past season. The 5-foot-10 point guard played a key role for the Western Redmen, who captured the gold medal at the provincial high school senior boys’ AAAA championships this past March. It was believed to be the first time in 50 years that the Western Canada squad had won the Alberta title. The Redmen ended up compiling an over-all record of 31-3 during the 2009-10 campaign.
For Crowfoot, this marked his first year at Western Canada. He attended an Okotoks high school for two years before transferring to the Calgary school.

“It was mainly for sports,” Crowfoot said of the switch. “I wanted to go somewhere where they took their sports seriously.”

As for Lacquette, who has Saulteaux heritage, she not only switched schools in 2009, she moved out of her home province to further her hockey career.  Lacquette moved from her tiny Manitoba community to Kelowna, B.C., primarily to suit up for the girls’ hockey squad with the Pursuit of Excellence program.

Lacquette’s club ended up with an impressive over-all mark of 53-3 during the 2009-10 season. And the team won six of the seven tournaments it entered in various locations across Canada and the United States.

One of Lacquette’s top moments of ’09 came rather early in the year. She was a member of the Canadian squad that won the silver medal at the women’s world under-18 championships, held in Germany in January.

Lacquette, who plays defence, was ecstatic to win the national Tom Longboat Award.

“It means a lot to me because this is a pretty big award,” she said. “I felt pretty good about myself. And I thought, ‘wow, they actually noticed me.’”

Lacquette’s father Terrence is the one who got the ball rolling, nominating his daughter for the accolade.
“My dad told me about (the nomination),” said Lacquette, who will return to her home province and start her University of Manitoba studies later this year. “I thought it was kind of sweet.”

An even sweeter moment for Lacquette came this past March. She once again cracked the roster of the national under-18 club, which competed at its world tournament in Chicago. That team won the gold medal, beating the U.S. 5-4 in overtime in the championship final.

Two other individuals, Courage Bear and Gloria Hendrick-Laliberte, were chosen as the winners of the National Aboriginal Coaching Awards for 2009.

A year ago Bear guided the Saskatchewan boys’ team to a second straight National Aboriginal Hockey Championship (NAHC) in Winnipeg. With Bear coaching once again, the team won yet another NAHC crown this May in Ottawa.

Bear, a 33-year-old Cree who lives in Saskatoon, also coached a pair of other youth hockey teams this past year. These two boys’ teams competed at the pre-novice and midget levels.

“It’s an honor,” Bear said of his national award. “But I didn’t sign up to coach 15 years ago to win any awards. It was just to give back.”

As for Hendrick-Laliberte, a member of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, she believes she was honored not just for her coaching duties in ’09.

“I think it’s because I’ve been involved with multi sports throughout the years,” said Hendrick-Laliberte, who has coached hockey, baseball, soccer and track and field teams in her hometown of Thunder Bay, Ont.