Danielle Groenendijk finished her decorated high school sports career with possibly her most impressive accomplishments.
Not only was she named Duncan Christian School’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year for the second time, Groenendijk also received the top student-athlete awards for the B.C. Christian Secondary School Athletic Association and for the entirety of B.C. School Sports.
“I was kind of surprised,” the humble Groenendijk said. “I don’t think anyone from a small school has won it before. I was pretty honoured, pretty happy. It’s another thing to show that my hard work paid off.”
Groenendijk received the David Gifford Memorial Award as the top female student-athlete in the entire province. Named for a former director of B.C. School Sports who died in 1992, the award recognizes athletic and academic achievements. She also received the Luke Van Harmelen Memorial Scholarship from the BCCSSAA, which honours athletic and academic success, as well as leadership and character, and school, community and church involvement. Both province-wide awards come with $1,000 post-secondary scholarships.
It caps off a phenomenal year and outstanding career for Groenendijk, who represented DCS in volleyball, basketball, track and field, badminton and bowling. She was named a first-team all-star at the provincial single-A volleyball championships and a second-team all-star at basketball provincials, and MVP at the Island volleyball and basketball championships. Outside of school sports, she was a provincial club volleyball all-star for the third straight year and competed with Team B.C. at nationals for the second time. Groenendijk has also been an active member of the Cowichan 4-H Holstein Club, serving as president for two years, and received two separate 4-H scholarships as well. That’s all while maintaining a 97 per cent average.
Groenendijk will head to Vancouver Island University next fall, where she will play volleyball for the Mariners and start work on a B.Sc. with the eventual goal of becoming a physiotherapist.
She will be the fourth member of her family to play post-secondary volleyball, following in the footsteps of Cameron, Megan and Doug. All four siblings were star multisport athletes at DCS, while their mom, Henrietta, also spent 25 years contributing to the school first as a coach and then as a beloved Team Mom.
Danielle doesn’t deny that the family connections helped motivate her.
“With my siblings always being in sports, I strove to be like them, and I accomplished that,” she said. “I feel I made a positive impact on the community here.”
Beyond all the provincial honours, Danielle was pleased to finish her time at DCS — she attended the same school from kindergarten to Grade 12 — as Senior Female Athlete of the Year.
“It feels good for my final year,” she said. “It’s nice to have won it for the last time. I wanted to play all the sports anyway. It’s nice to get recognition for them.”
DCS athletic director Tom Veenstra encourages athletes to play on as many Chargers teams as possible, and Groenendijk is happy to do it.
“I like the diversity,” she said. “They’re all really different.”
It helps that the DCS community supports the students no matter what they are doing.
“Our coaches for one sport support us in all the other sports,” Groenendijk said.
