‘A huge honour’: TISS athlete named Brockville Sportsperson of the Year
After a decade of dedication on the basketball court and a standout final year of high school athletics, Thousand Islands Secondary School (TISS) student Victoria Ford has earned one of Brockville’s top sports honours.
Ford was the youngest of six nominees for the award; they included a paralympic swimmer, a Canadian kickboxing champion, a minor professional hockey player, and an all-Ontario track and field champion, a press release from the UCDSB explains.
Ford was presented her award at the Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame’s Kinsmen Awards Banquet. held on Thursday, June 11.
“I was honestly in total shock,” she said. “I did not expect that at all. I was just so happy to be nominated with other amazing athletes. It was a huge honour.”
Ford has excelled in high school athletics in both basketball and track and field. Earlier in June, she earned a silver medal as part of the 4×100-metre relay team and a gold medal with the 4×400-metre relay team at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Track and Field Championships.
The gold-medal race was the final track race of her high school career.
“Coming down that last stretch, I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled. “It was such an incredible moment to cross the finish line first.”
In the fall, she helped the TISS senior girls’ basketball team reach the OFSAA championship game, where the they narrowly missed a gold medal by one point.
“It was an incredible experience,” she said. “I’m so proud of our team. We worked so hard to get there.”
In her Grade 11 year, the TISS basketball team qualified for OFSAA for the first time in 20 years. Ford began playing basketball in Grade 3 with the Brockville Blazers. Her father, Jeff Ford, a teacher and basketball coach at TISS, helped foster her love of the game, the release shared.
“I grew up coming to basketball games at TISS,” said Ford. “There’s just something about the community and culture here that I’ve always loved.”
Ford recently completed a co-op placement with Curran Reading Corner, discovering a passion for speech-language pathology. This fall, she’ll attend the University of Toronto where she’ll play for the school’s basketball team while studying linguistics.
Her Sportsperson of the Year award comes after 10 years of hard work with the Brockville Blazers, Kingston Impact, St. Lawrence Lightning, and TISS Pirates basketball teams.
“Winning the award wasn’t just about me,” she shared.
“It represents TISS, my coaches and everyone who has supported me throughout high school. The wins, the losses, the lessons and the friendships have all helped shape who I am today. Without those people, this wouldn’t have been possible.”