Alex Campbell (Brampton, Ont.) of the Niagara College Knights Men's Basketball team and Nicole Schoonderwoerd (Tavistock, Ont.) of the Niagara College Knights Women's Volleyball team won the Male and Female Rookie of the Year Awards for 2011-2012. They were presented their awards at the the 43rd Annual Athletic Awards Banquet on Saturday, March 31 at the Welland Lions Club.
Male Rookie of the Year Award - Alex Campbell
Steve Atkin, head coach of the Niagara College Knights Men's Basketball team had the following to say about Alex:
"Alex Campbell is a very rare individual. He is exceptional and special, and is one of the most receptive players to constructive criticism that I have ever seen. In fact, he seeks out constructive criticism and advice. In his first year with the Knights, he led by example. Alex is extremely hard working, day in and day out. He is eager to learn, listens, and makes adjustments immediately; improving daily. He has a burning desire to excel and win. The extra work he puts in outside of practice demonstrates his disciplined and driven nature. His positive and easy going temperament makes him an absolute pleasure to work with. We really look forward to seeing him progress in our program, and would like to congratulate him on a remarkable, ground breaking year!"
Female Rookie of the Year - Nicole Schoonderwoerd
Joey Martins, head coach of the Niagara College Knights Women's Volleyball team had the following to say about Nicole:
"One of the top first-year players in the Province, Nicole proved that she can be successful at numerous positions on the court. Many times this season she was called on to play out of position. The outside hitter filled in as middle and setter when her teammates were injured. Although she played multiple positions on the court, she still was one of our top scorers with 74 kills, 32 aces and 17 blocks. She was one of the top defensive back court players in the OCAA west accumulating a total of 151 digs.
Nicole had one of the biggest challenges in the Quarter-Final match at the OCAA Championships. Her task was to contain Cambrian College's All-Canadian Shawn Metcalf, who averaged four kills-per set. In the Knights four-set match against Cambrian, Nicole held her to a total of seven.
She has been an instrumental player to the success of our team. We can all look at stats and see that Nicole is amongst the top rookies across the league, but what stats do not show is the transformation that she has gone through over the past season. Nicole always looked at the "glass as half empty". As the season progressed, her personality and attitude started to change, and her play dramatically improved. In the second semester, it was almost as if it was an entirely new person. Now looking at the 'glass as half full', Nicole has the coaching staff excited to see how far she will take herself not only in volleyball, but also in life.
