Carihi Island girls volleyball championships. Band member Emoni Bush is kneeling. Photo courtesy of Mark Tazumi.
Two Wei Wai Kum youth, Mark Anthony Roberts and Emoni Bush, are celebrating their athletic accomplishments this month. Mark Anthony Roberts is one of eight outstanding Aboriginal athletes from the Vancouver Island Region to be presented with the 2017 Premier’s Awards for Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sport.
Meanwhile, Emoni Bush was a member of the Carihi senior girls’ volleyball team that made history by winning the AAA Island Championships for the first time in over 50 years. Carihi qualified as the #1 seed from Vancouver Island for the AAA Varsity Girls Volleyball BC Championships that are being held in Vancouver Nov. 29 – Dec. 3.
Mark Anthony, 17, a rifle shooter, received his award during a formal celebration held at the Tsawout Community Center in Saanichton Nov. 16. These recipients automatically serve as nominees for the Provincial Awards. A total of 12 Provincial Recipients (six male and six female) will be selected next February. Provincial recipients will receive an invitation to attend a special Aboriginal Youth Sport Leadership Forum, to be held at the Gathering our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Training in Richmond next March.
Both Mark and Emoni were among the Wei Wei Kum youth who helped propel Team BC to the top of the 2017 North American Indigenous Games in Toronto this summer. Swimmer Jesse Shade and soccer player Tanisha Matilpi also won medals at those games, while Jalen Price was a member of the Team BC Male Hockey Team that won the bronze medal at the 2017 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships that were held in May in Cowichan. Congratulations to these and all of the young people dedicated to their sport!
