Two women who coach sports in Surrey are among three of B.C.’s viaSport Coach of the Year award winners.
Thunderbirds Track and Field’s Iuliana Kroeger is the provincial organization’s Competition Coach winner for 2020, while Ari Adams of Surrey United soccer club is the High Performance Coach of the year.
The annual awards recognize “outstanding coaches in British Columbia for their dedication and contribution to sport,” according to a post on viasport.ca. “Founded by the Coaches Association of BC, the Coach of the Year Awards celebrate community leaders who continually inspire athletes to realize and reach their potential.”
A third award recognizes B.C.’s top Community Coach, Luba Sadovska of North Shore Table Tennis Club.
ViaSport tweeted the news on Monday (April 12).
(Story continues below tweet)
After receiving close to 100 nominations for the viaSport Coach of the Year awards, we are thrilled to announce the 2020 recipients!
🌟Luba Sadovska, Community Coach of the Year
🌟Iuliana Kroeger, Competition Coach of the Year
🌟Ari Adams, High Performance Coach of the Year pic.twitter.com/WJpG5ZQCEz
— viaSport (@viaSportBC) April 12, 2021
2 women who coach in #SurreyBC are among 3 of B.C.’s viaSport Coach of the Year award winners. Congrats to Thunderbirds Track and Field’s Iuliana Kroeger (left, Competition Coach) & Surrey United's Ari Adams (High Performance) @viaSportBC @SurreyUnitedSC https://t.co/ivDQsMUqur pic.twitter.com/UVQPpPXOom
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) April 12, 2021
Kroeger hails from Surrey and has been a coach in the city for more than 25 years, as the Thunderbirds’ Surrey campus club coach at the North Surrey Secondary track and also as a volunteer for Pacific Academy’s high school track and field team. Her bio is posted to thunderbirdstrack.org.
• RELATED STORY, from November 2020: Record-setting Surrey athlete triple-jumps his way onto Purdue track team.
With Surrey United, Adams is the soccer club’s assistant technical director, technical administration and female development lead, among other roles. Her bio is posted on surreyunitedsoccer.com.
• RELATED STORY, from October 2019: Bronze medals for both Surrey United girls teams at soccer nationals.
Through Bob Bearpark Foundation, each recipient of a Coach of the Year Award will receive a $250 bursary. Recipients will be honoured virtually this year, with no in-person awards event planned due to the pandemic.
“This year, we received nearly 100 nominations across three categories, all for incredible coaches,” Christina Chin, viaSport’s Sport Development Co-ordinator told Kroeger in an email. “Your remarkable contributions and passion for coaching have been noticed. You have clearly made a lasting impression on those you coach. Thank you for your commitment and passion for sport in British Columbia.”
