Payworks Coach of the Month

Stephanie Kurylko

Award
Payworks Coach of the Month
Sport
Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball
Award Date
Apr 29, 2022
School
Morris School
award_photo

There are a number of reasons why Steph Kurylko deserves this award. As with most high school phys. ed. teachers / athletic directors, Steph coaches a lot: varsity & JV girls basketball, Gr. 7/8 volleyball, badminton, and helps out coaching any other sport on a given year that is lacking a coach to take the reins. 

She also is on-site at all home tournaments to offer a helping hand, especially during the pandemic volleyball season and basketball season when there were many added restrictions when it came to hosting tournaments and events. 

The biggest attribute that stands out about Steph as a coach is how passionate and determined she is to give opportunities to students to get active. This attribute really stood out during this past year of the pandemic.

She could have looked at all of the regulations from the province, the school division, the school, and said 'Oh well... I guess we can't do much.' But instead, she creatively thought of opportunities to offer active programs for students. 

1. She fought hard to have only half of the gymnasium taken up by desks and tables during the pandemic, so the other half could remain open for small practices.

2. She convinced custodial staff and teachers in the gymnasium to move the gymnasium desks off to the side two times per week to allow for full use of the gym space for athletes.

3. After basketball season ended, Steph created a 'Spring Training' program for athletes to come out to. Three days per week, focusing on sport-specific training, from late February to early April. This was a huge success amongst our students. 

Without Steph's passion and creativity towards offering students a chance to play, the students of Morris School would have likely missed out on hundreds of hours of sports and training during the 2021-2022 school year.

She deserves recognition for not only how good of a coach she is, how much she coaches, but also how she navigated the stiff pandemic regulations to still give students the chance to engage in athletics.