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The Barbara Cooper Award will be awarded each year to an individual who has over the years built, promoted and ehanced the game of women's squash. This person exhibits fair play. The individual should demonstrate leadership and achievement in both their competitive and social life.
This year's recipient is Brenda Forbes.
Brenda is an avid T&D and tournament player, who has worked her way up the ranks to the "A" division through hard work, training and coaching.
Balmy Beach was Brenda's first squash home, where she encouraged a group of women to get involved in the league. She came to Mayfair Lakeshore for a tourney and decided that she needed to move to that club if she wanted to improve her squash game. But she didn't leave behind her Balmy friends. Brenda organizes the annual Street Car Series which is a Balmy Beach/Lakeshore tourney.
When approached to become President of TDWSA, Brenda eagerly accepted this new challenge. Her #1 goal was to have a website exclusively for TDWSA. With her drive and tenacity she soon had that checked off the "to do" list. Brenda is also on the Board of Directors for Squash Ontario and works with a smaller sub team on Regional Devleopment.
One of Brenda's proudest squash moments was when she was selected to represent Ontario in the Canadian Masters team championships in Jan 2009.
Brenda shares her enthusiasm and passion for the game. She is presently working on her Level 1 coaching and utilizing these new skills by coaching at her high school. She is always encouraging players to enter into tournaments, and constantly looks for ways to grow our league and the sport of squash in general.
In case you are thinking Brenda's life is confined to the squash court -- look again. Whether she is gardening, enjoying her artistic pursuits, taking on additional responsibilities at work, doing a home reno, teaching herself computer skills or travelling, Brenda is all about new challenges and experiences. You never know what is "next" for Brenda, but you can be sure it will be interesting.
Brenda respects the game, her opponents, teammates and referees and demonstrates that with fair play both on and off the squash court.
As a result Brenda is a highly respected member of our squash community and a worthy recipient of this award
The award itself is a sculpture called the Lost Wax Dancing Woman and was chosen by Barbara; it is symbolic of our ideals. Created by artisans in Burkina Faso (located in West Africa), the Dancing Woman is hand crafted using the ancient practice of lost wax. With its graceful, stylized shape and detailing, this statue is a rich and meaningful expression of a woman's spirit. Barbara, as I think you will agree, felt that this spirit should be acknowledged in our award.
The executive would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Barb Cooper for her own contribution to our league - she is an outstanding role model for women in sports - Thanks Barb!
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