Female Athlete of the Year Award

Award Criteria

• Awarded to the female athlete (amateur or professional) who brought the greatest amount of recognition to Kelowna. 
• Include Provincial, National and World Ranking if applicable.
• Selections are based on the nominee's achievements for the year 2020 or 2021*
• Past information (awards and achievements) may be included, but should be primarily regarding the current award year.
• Finalist selections are based solely on the information in the completed nomination package.

*Due to shortened sports seasons, no winners were selected in 2020. Nominations from 2020 and 2021 will be combined and one winner will be chosen as part of the 47th annual Civic & Community Awards (to be held in spring 2022).

Nominations for the 47th annual Civic & Community Awards will open in fall 2021. 

2019 Female Athlete of the Year Award Recipient

Madelyn Hettinga

This high school athlete is dominant on the volleyball court. With an 80% kill rate, it’s no wonder Madelyn Hettinga was named a captain of the Kelowna Secondary School volleyball team, which won the provincial championships for two years in a row. She was also named tournament MVP. As a member of the Junior Heat Volleyball program, she was considered the top athlete in the program and ranked second in the province by U Sports. She’s currently training for Team BC as the top power hitter in the province.

Madelyn also knows how to ‘kill’ it in the heptathlon, having won the gold at the 2019 Provincial Heptathlon Championships and, based on points, ranks in the top ten nationally.

Madelyn was listed as one of three finalists in the province for the High School Female Athlete of the Year by Sports BC.