Winnipeg – Team BC has recognized volleyball athlete Coltyn Liu of Vancouver with the Athlete Excellence Award. This new award honours two outstanding Team BC athletes at every Canada Games with a $2,500 bursary. Piper Battersby from Rowing was the first recipient of the Athlete Excellence Award during the first week of the Canada Games.
As a child, Coltyn suffered a traumatic brain injury and had to re-learn to walk and talk. Through his therapy he found the sport of volleyball.
Coltyn has played for the provincial team since grade nine often playing with an age category two years older and he was selected to the Youth National Development team. He has been recognized as a top level volleyball player and was Volleyball BC’s Athlete of the Year in 2016. He also competed for Team BC at the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games where he won a silver medal.
“Volleyball is more than a sport to me, it’s given hope, pride and my sense of belonging within this world. As product of a brain injury I suffered as a child, I attended excruciating therapies. Sports became a natural therapy and quickly became a significant factor in my recovery.”
Outside of sport, Coltyn has established the K.A.R.E. Power organization (Kids Actions Really Energize) that identifies societal challenges and devises and implements solutions through youth led projects. One of his projects was called “A Night in Harmony” to empower bullied youth and involved 16 schools, two universities and 40 businesses. With 11 projects to date, he has raised thousands of dollars and positively impacted disadvantaged youth.
“I’m driven to make a difference in other’s lives, giving back some blessings I had on my road to recovery. There is power in never giving up and seeing the positive in life, and not allowing others limitations or perceptions stop you.”
Coltyn will take his athletic, academic and leadership talents to the University of British Columbia in September where he plans to study Kinesiology.
Funding for the Powering Potential Awards comes from the BC Games Society's Powering Potential Fund. Athletes were evaluated on their leadership and volunteer contributions, pre-games sport performances and education achievement.