After a terrific season both on and off the court, Heat forward Jordan Korol has been selected as the Slyvia Sweeney Award recipient by the Canada West Conference.
An Okanagan product, Korol graduated from Vernon Secondary and hails Coldstream, B.C., and she becomes the first Heat student-athlete to be honoured with the Student-Athlete Community Service Award, one of the conference鈥檚 major awards which were announced early on Feb. 28.
The award is given to the athlete who best excels in three key areas: basketball, academics, and community involvement; Korol, as the conference winner, will move on as the nominee from Canada West for the U SPORTS national community service award of the same name.
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Heat head coach Bobby Mitchell said Korol has been a great role-model for UBC Okanagan and Heat Athletics.
鈥淚 think I can speak for not only the women鈥檚 basketball team but the entire Heat family that we are all very proud of Jordan to win this award, a first for the school and program. Jordan is the perfect example of how a student-athlete should carry themselves on and off the court and she does it consistently,鈥� said Mitchell.
鈥淔or our women鈥檚 program, she is laying the foundation for what the Heat way looks like, players in the program or coming in don鈥檛 need to look very far to see this example, again we are all very proud of her.鈥�
As the first UBCO student-athlete in any sport to earn a CW major award, the fourth year forward also becomes the first from the Heat to be a finalist for a major U SPORTS award since UBC Okanagan joined Canada West in 2011-12.
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On the court, the forward became the first player in program history to average a double-double for the course of an entire season thanks to 13.0 points and 10.2 boards a contest.
Korol has also been a model-student athlete in the classroom, as she has been named a U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian on two occasions and is on pace for another this year.
Looking to inspire young basketball players, Korol has been a staple with the Junior Heat Basketball program as a guest coach since her arrival in 2015-16.
The forward will be returning for one final season next year as the Heat return nearly everyone off of this year鈥檚 squad along with bringing in another strong recruiting class.
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