(Halifax, N.S.) – Dalhousie’s Director of Varsity Athletics Tim Maloney is pleased to announce Bette El-Hawary is the recipient of this year’s Sandy Young Award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to sport in Nova Scotia.
“Bette is most deserving of this award and honour,” says Maloney. “Her time, effort, passion and commitment to the development of sport in Nova Scotia is a perfect match for what the Sandy Young Award is designed to recognize. We are incredibly proud that one of our Tigers has contributed so much to sport and our community.”
Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Bette El-Hawary came to Halifax with her family at the age of six and pursued her love of swimming with the Halifax Trojans. She has been the Executive Director of Swim Nova Scotia since 1999 and in those 16 years, she been instrumental in the development and promotion of the sport of swimming in Nova Scotia.
El-Hawary earned her Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie in 1998 and swam for the Tigers for three seasons. A proud alumna, she has maintained her ties to Dalhousie’s swim program helping keep fellow alumni connected to the current teams. She also plays a key role in running Dalhousie’s varsity swim meets. As the meet manager, El-Hawary recruits volunteer officials and timers, creates the event schedule and produces results. She gives up her weekends to make this happen, allowing the coaches to focus on the athletes. In addition to the countless AUS invitational meets she has run on behalf of Dalhousie, she has been the meet manager for six AUS championships and the 2007 CIS championships.
A dedicated volunteer, El-Hawary has taken on a number of roles at national and international levels. She served as mission staff for Team Nova Scotia at the 2003 and 2005 Canada Games in addition to being the swim team’s manager at the 2009 Games. Internationally, she has been a team manager for Swimming Canada 12 times leading senior, development and para-swimming teams around the globe.
In 2007 she managed Canada’s swim team at the North American Challenge Cup and Dutch Open. In 2008, she led Canada’s junior team at the Australia Youth Tour and Junior Pan Pacific Games. In addition to managing Nova Scotia’s swim team in 2009, she also led Team Canada to the North American Challenge Cup and the Para World Swimming Championships. In recent years, El-Hawary was Swimming Canada’s Youth Olympics (2010), Youth Tour (2012), Junior Pan Pacific Championships (2012) and Commonwealth Games (2014) team manager. She also served as team manager at the World University Games (FISU) in 2011 and 2013 and was most recently the team leader at the 2015 event.
While El-Hawary has shown great passion for the advancement of swimming over the years, she has also contributed to other causes along the way. She has served as Chair of the KidSport Allocations committee and sat on Sport Nova Scotia’s Provincial Sport Organization Board. Since 2011, she has volunteered with the Danny Gallivan Cystic Fibrosis Golf Tournament, serving as the fundraising and auction chair for three years before taking on the role of chairperson this year.
The Dalhousie A. J. Sandy Young Award honours an individual for their outstanding contribution to Nova Scotia sports. It was conceived by the late Dr. Sandy Young, a professor of sport history in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie and is presented annually at the Dal Tigers Hall of Fame Gala & Auction.
This year’s event takes place Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at the Westin Nova Scotian, hosted by Sportsnet Central’s Ken Reid. This year’s class of inductees include Anna (Pendergast) Stammberger and Paul and Eric Villeneuve.
For more information and to purchase tickets.