Four student athletes from Lord Tweedsmuir recently committed to play for post-secondary athletic programs in the province.
The school held a singing ceremony for the four kids at the end of June.
Lord Tweedsmuir athletic director Mike Mitro said he was excited to arrange the ceremony to recognise the student athletes.
“We try to prepare our kids for post-secondary opportunities,” said Mitro. “So when they excel and this happens, then we like to celebrate it.”
Student athletes Suveen Grewal, Nate Swing, Maddie Hiebert, and Josh Petrov all inked letters of intent in the school gymnasium with coaches from UBC, UVIC and Camosun college on hand.
Mitro said each grad is very deserving of the scholarship each of them were awarded from the various schools.
Suveen Grewal
He said Suveen Grewal signed to play basketball for Victoria’s Camosun College.
“Suveen was our point guard this year,” noted Mitro. “She played in our program for five years, right from Grade 8. She is just an amazing player.”
Mitro coached Grewal this year as he was the girls basketball coach. He said Grewal dominated the court for Tweedsmuir in every game she played.
“She dropped 59 points in our semi-final game this year against South Delta,” added Mitro. “She’s just went off. It was insane. It was the greatest high school girls basketball performance I’ve ever seen. She even hit a left-handed three at the end of the game.”
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He said her dedication to improvement was second to none and that she always put in extra time and extra effort to work on her game.
Nate Swing
Mitro said high school football standout, Nate Swing, inked a letter of intent to play for UBC.
“Nate was involved with football from the get go, but he really improved, took a step up, at the junior level,” said Mitro. “He just improved and improved.”
He said Swing really made a difference for the Panthers this past season when he played both offence and defence. He said Swing also ran track and field and played on the basketball team.
“He works really hard and that got him noticed by the guys over at UBC,” noted Mitro. “They offered him a scholarship to come play football for them—which is pretty amazing. We don’t have a lot of kids that go off and play at that level very often. So, we’re pretty excited for him and pretty excited to see him play over there. And his dad, who is also one of the football coaches, is really proud of him too.”
Maddie Hiebert
Mitro said Hiebert is a top level softball pitcher.
“She got recruited by UBC earlier in the year and she played for the Renegades, her club team,” noted Mitro. “She was the number one pitcher for her club this year and she’s won at the national level before. She’s been one of the top pitchers in B.C. at her age for several years.”
Hiebert told Mitro she was eager to see what she can accomplish playing against tougher competition.
“They have a brand new facility at UBC,” Mitro added. “She is pretty excited to be going to UBC and facing the challenge of making an impact at that level.”
Josh Petrov
Mitro said Josh Petrov will play rugby for UVIC.
“Josh was the engine that drove our rugby program this year,” he explained. “He made it as one of the national junior team members. So that was a big thing for us. There aren’t many kids that get picked for that honour.”
Mitro said Petrov travelled internationally with the Canada U18 team and has played some very high level rugby.
“It was pretty exciting for us to have a player of that calibre on our rugby team this year,” Mitro said. “He was the catalyst this year. The team goes how Josh goes.”
Mitro noted that each of the kids is highly motivated to go on to post-secondary education and to play post-secondary sports.
“They want to continue and, unfortunately, sports at the next level can be limited,” he explained. “Where are you going to play football, if you don’t go to university and play football, or college and play basketball? Softball, who do you play for? So if you really are one of these kids that is motivated in your sport, you kind of have to choose this route.
“And education’s a big thing,” he added. “If (sport) gives you a little bit of a break getting in, that’s a big deal. It’s not easy to get into these institutions.”
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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