RED DEER – The Alberta Female Hockey League (AFHL) is pleased to announce the 2020-21 Scholarship recipients.
The U18 AAA and AA scholarships were established to recognize the efforts of our student-athletes who are successful in the classroom, on the ice and within their communities. The Student-Coach scholarship was established to recognize the efforts of young female coaches who are full time student and are giving back to the game through coaching.
The 2020-21 AFHL Scholarship recipients are:
U18 AAA – Rebecca Alloway, Calgary Fire
U18 AA – Quinn Odland, Southern Express
Coach – Emma Sundar, St. Albert Chargers
Rebecca Alloway – Calgary Fire U18 AAA
Rebecca Alloway is a graduating defensemen from the U18 AAA Calgary Fire. She lives in Calgary and has enjoyed playing for the Calgary Fire for the last four years. Her favorite hockey memory is winning a Provincial Championship with her Calgary U18 AA Red team in 2019. Other than hockey, Rebecca has enjoyed playing for her high school basketball and rugby teams. Rebecca has been a volunteer at the South Health Campus hospital for 2 years where spends time with patients in long-term care. She is also an active member of the Canadian Charity, I Challenge Diabetes, as a youth leader and volunteer. When she is not playing sports or volunteering, you will find Rebecca hiking in the mountains or snowboarding. Some of Rebecca’s notable achievements include consistently maintaining a GPA over 95%, being Captain of her school basketball team and Assistant Captain of her U18 AA team, winning Athlete of the Year at her High School, as well as being selected for the Calgary Fire Leadership award in 2019. Rebecca is excited to be attending the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) in the fall to study Biological Sciences.
Quinn Odland – Southern Express U18 AA
Quinn Odland, a defenseman and the captain of the U18 AA Southern Express, will be graduating from Vauxhall High school this June. Growing up with a passion for hockey, Quinn has played for the Vauxhall Sabres, Lethbridge Cyclones and most recently, the Southern Express. She’s extremely grateful to all her coaches for sharing their time and expertise over the years, as well as to her teammates for making an incredible game even more enjoyable. Next year, Quinn will be attending the University of Victoria, and plans on becoming a diagnostic medical sonographer.
Emma Sundar – St. Albert U15 AA Chargers
Emma Sundar is currently going into her third year of university at MacEwan with a major in Human Resources and a minor in Business Law. She played hockey for 13 years and played in the elite stream from U12 forward. Emma learned many life lessons and skills from the sport that has helped her not only as a coach, but also as a person. In her final year of minor hockey, she got injured badly and had to walk away from the sport she put my blood, sweat, and tears into for so many years. However, that setback wasn’t the end of her path with the sport. As a competitive person with such a strong love for the game, Emma couldn’t walk away from the sport.
Emma decided to begin coaching. Coaching became an outlet that helped her heal from the emotions she felt after being injured and unable to continue her final season. It also helped her reconnect with the game. Emma had the opportunity to coach the U18 AA Sharks for two years where her growth as a coach grew exponentially. Not only did she learn the game side of things but also the emotional side and helping players through everyday life.
In September of 2020, she began a very fulfilling hockey position at Free Play For Kids in Edmonton. This position gave her the opportunity to share her love for the game with kids who may have never been exposed to the game before, kids who’ve never got the opportunity to play, and/or kids who want to play but financially can’t. Emma has been lucky enough to help kids who have never seen a hockey rink before skate all by themselves. One of her favorite moments over this past year was when one of their Jr. High kids, who was scared of the blade of his skate and was scared of slipping on the ice, asked her if he could do one more lap after practice. Emma is excited to continue to grow as a coach and continue to share her passion for hockey with many kids!