Local sports organizer Brenda Dion has been named as a recipient of multiple Yukon sports awards.

As an athlete, she won the Yukon Minister’s Award for winning gold medals in the Canada 55+ Games in Track and Field in the 50m, 100m and long jump (all 65+) in Kamloops, B.C. in August, 2022.

She has also been named one of Sport Yukon’s 2022 Major Award Winners for Administrator of the Year.

Dion is a director for ElderActive, the Yukon director for the 55+ Games, and a director for Pickleball Yukon.

Sport Yukon had this to say about Dion’s award: “Brenda has been involved in sport in the Yukon for over 20 years serving on a number of sport boards including Athletics Yukon, Canada Senior Games Association, and the Yukon Pickleball Association, where she has been instrumental in growing the sport in communities across the Yukon, and through the “Pickleball Fundamentals” program with the Canada Games Centre.

“Brenda’s enthusiasm for sport is infectious and inspirational, and her impact on our community can be measured in many ways: in building senior participation in sport, in promoting healthy active living, and in leading sport organizations and initiatives with compassion, vision, and fairness.”

And if that wasn’t enough, Dion was also nominated by the Yukon PickleBall Association for the City of Whitehorse 2023 volunteer awards.

The Star spoke with Dion Friday about winning the awards, starting with the Minster’s sport award.

“It’s very lovely that you were recognized at the ministerial level for these events that we go to. It’s great.”

Dion was asked what enabled her to win the award.

“A little bit of training. Keeping up with the running certainly, between games is always what helps me and I also try and get to some of the exercise classes at the Games Centre throughout the winter, to maintain strength and flexibility. I do those typically the year leading up to the games.”

Dion added support of her teammates as a key to her success.

“We have a very strong track and field contingent that we’ve had for a number of years, so we’re all out there helping each other get excited about the event and warmed up for the event and cheering everyone on, so I think that’s always really helpful to do that, with your teammates.”

Dion figured that she started going to the games in 2014.

“We’ve had a fairly consistent group. But the other thing that happens is you meet up with other Canadian athletes who you participated in games with before. So you get a little bit of that rivalry around ‘Oh, you beat me last time. I’m gonna try and beat you this time.’

“And it’s really fun. It’s really all about encouraging, again, and being glad that we’re all there at these games and still being able to participate at this level.

This isn’t the first time Dion has won the Minister’s award.

“At all of the games that I’ve been to, I’ve done well in track and field.”

Dion said she went to a Masters Games and saw 80-year-olds doing hurdles.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, you guys can do the hurdles and you can do high jump and actually some steeplechase. I can do some of this I guess.’”

Dion said she’s been to World Masters Games as well and won medals there too. For her, though, it’s not about the medals.

“There’s lots of joy in competing with folks of your own age group and seeing the accomplishments of those who are older. That’s always been an inspiration to me when I feel kind of tired training or whatever, and I see other people older than me doing very well. Another one of our team Yukon medal winners was Sheila Senger, and she’s over 75. This was her first time participating in track and field and she was a real role model for us, in terms of our training and coming out to the track all the time and inspiring us.”

Other 55+ Games Minister award winners include Jim Newnham, Tim McLachlan, John Hadvick, Doris Dart, Mike Spicer, Mark Pike, Vickie Roche, Barb Philips, Jennifer Trapnell, Jim Howard, and Don and Marg White.

When asked if playing sports keeps her young, Dion replied, “It still keeps you feeling young and it also keeps your body healthy. And then for me, certainly my mental health. It helps with both of those for me, just going out training, you’re having a goal, having folks that are kind of counting on you to come out and work out with them. Because we have a group that we train with. So it’s the social (aspect) that’s a big part of it, too.”

As for the Administrator of the Year award, Dion said, “That was such an honour. I’m still kind of busy as a retired person. I have six grandkids but I want to make the time to do volunteering, because it’s important to me because I get so much out of these organizations like ElderActive. I get so much back from them. And I really want to make some kind of a contribution. And of course, I love these games, and I love supporting other people to go to the games. It’s a real joy when new people come on board and want to participate and have the excitement that I felt the first time, so it was an honour for ElderActive to nominate me for that award. And I was very appreciative of it.”

Dion said teamwork was a key to winning the award.

“You don’t do this kind of volunteer work without a team. It takes a team to organize a team and with ElderActive we have a wonderful Team Yukon organizing committee and we work 13 months together, preparing the team for the games. And of course my husband (Brian Craven) helps me because he’s the one making lunch while I’m on the computer for another two hours.

“I have a couple of folks like Sue Meikle and Jan Mann with ElderActive, who were very key in helping me with advice and their time and some guidance and so yeah, there’s always people beside you, supporting you to do these activities.”

It was the first time Dion won the award.

“It was humbling, too, a little bit too because I don’t think people volunteer for the awards. People volunteer because they get something else out of it. I get lots out of volunteering. But the award was lovely.

“I went with Brian and Sue and Jan, to kind of celebrate Team Yukon actually and celebrate our committee and the hard work that we did, and the good work that we did.

“It’s definitely a highlight for me.”

Dion added, “ElderActive submitted this nomination. Maybe not everyone knows about ElderActive and how it supports so many, like hundreds, we have a membership of over 500 I think of older Yukoners.

“It certainly helps people stay connected with each other by providing all of these events for them to participate in. So it’s a really incredible organization that we should be thankful for. And support it.”

The nomination for a City of Whitehorse 2023 Volunteer of the Year award was another feather in Dion’s cap.

“That one was from the Yukon Pickleball Association, which was another big honour because I volunteered for the organization two years ago, I think, and it’s a sport that’s growing so fast here. So trying to keep up with the participation in these events, getting out to communities, providing instruction to people. We can’t keep up with the demands for new lessons for new folks. And so I kind of took on the lead instructor role, the instructor coordinator, and brought a pro (Mark Renneson) here to offer us the brand new NCCP Level One pickleball training certification for instructors. And we now have nine instructors here. Nine of us over the last year and a half still can’t keep up with the demand for lessons from people and it’s great.

“We’ve also been into the schools now and we have been to a number of communities.”

Tim Sellars was named Volunteer of the Year for his 30-plus years with Search and Rescue.

Dion added that she is on the national Board for the Canada 55+ Games in 2024 and is going to go back to Quebec City, where the games are taking place, for their annual general meeting in September.

“That’s when we go and we check out all the venues.”