VIU basketball player Kaitlyn Lafontaine recognized with Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sports Award
NANAIMO — Basketball player, coach, student, and proud member of her Metis first nations community – that only partially describes VIU student Kaitlyn Lafontaine.
The 21-year-old was one of twelve recipients of a 2017 Premier’s Award for Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sport earlier this month.
She’s been a member of the VIU Mariners basketball team for four seasons, and she’s also been a part of the North American Indigenous games as a player and an assistant coach.
Lafontaine coaches a girls team in Nanaimo, and is working on a criminology degree from VIU.
Just recently she was accepted into law school and wants to work towards an Indigenous specialization.
The criteria for the award is excellence in sports, commitment to education, commitment to community, and cultural involvement.
Lafontaine was encouraged to fill out a nomination form and says she also received several reference letters in support of her application.
“For me I felt this award really validated exactly who I am and how many things I’ve been involved with, so I felt that I was very qualified in all those categories,” said Lafontaine.
The Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sport Awards were presented at a conference called Gathering Our Voices which was held on traditional Musqueam land.