Tyson Koop was awarded the Dr. Dale Iwanoczko Volleyball Scholarship Wednesday in Winnipeg.

"It's a great honour," said the Steinbach Regional Secondary School graduating setter shortly after the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association and Volleyball Manitoba press conference at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame to announce the 2019-2020 recipients. "All glory to God of course. Without him here, none of us would be here so that's my first thank you. It's interesting that me and my buddy James (Duerksen) are both kind of taking the same med school path as Dale took so I just think it's really great. It's a huge honour to get this award."

Koop helped the Sabres reach the Final Four of the Provincial AAAA High School Varsity Volleyball Championship this past November and was on the SRSS team that captured the Provincial AAAA Junior Varsity championship in his grade 10 year.

"Growing up I was always a little bit of a smaller setter, just like my mom," said Koop who maintains an academic average of 94.2%. "It's really been a blessing in disguise, growing up short and doing everything you have to do to win at this game as a short player. Now I've hit a bit of a growth spurt so I'm excited to see what the future holds for me post-secondary."

Koop and his twin brother Paxton will be graduating from Steinbach Regional this June and both will be following in the footsteps of their parents by moving on to university volleyball.

Dad Chris played with the Winnipeg Wesmen and mom Michelle did the setting for the Manitoba Bisons.

"I'm sure they're happy that me and Paxton (who will play for the Wesmen) both took this path," said Tyson. "I remember in Grade 6 just begging my mom to have a club team. We played 12U and I remember we lost every game that season but it was just so fun. If our team recorded 10 perfect passes Koop would buy us cookies. We started off young and I'm glad that's how it went."

Tyson Koop is still talking to a few schools and in all likelihood will take a Bachelor of Science in Biology or a Health Science degree.

The three other $1,000 scholarship recipients were Taylor McGillivray of Dakota Collegiate, Devon Borody of Portage Collegiate Institute and James Duerksen of St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg.

The Dr. Dale Iwanoczko Memorial Scholarships are awarded annually in memory of the five-time All-Canadian who began his volleyball career in his hometown playing at Lord Selkirk Regional and then helped the University of Manitoba Bisons win the National Championship in 1991.

Iwanoczko obtained his medical degree from the U of M but sadly passed away at the age of 30 after succumbing to Hodgkin's disease.

Several of Dale's friends have continued to raise funds from this scholarship which began in 1999 and is named in his honour and memory.

 

photos courtesy MHSAA