In 2017, Dennita Cameron’s athletic career went into overdrive.
Not only did this six-foot-plus athlete make it to provincials playing soccer, basketball and volleyball for the R.D. Parker Collegiate Trojans, but she also got to compete as a member of Pimicikamak Cree Nation, winning a bronze medal in volleyball at the North American Indigenous Games.
However, Cameron really turned some heads in track and field, where she became the top ranked under-20 female high jumper in Manitoba and went on to represent the province in in last year’s Canada Summer Games.
Despite not stepping onto the podium at this high-profile event, she still managed to attract the attention of the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports & Recreation Council (MASRC), eventually picking up their Female Aboriginal Athlete of the Year award in April 2018.
The MASRC says it hands out these awards based on a variety of factors, including “personal commitment to athletic development,” “achievements in sport” and the nominee’s commitment to being a “positive role in sports and the community.”
While Cameron obviously fulfills these first two qualifications, she also told the Thompson Citizen about her local volunteer work, which includes serving as a junior assistant dance coach at Aurora Dance Academy and mentoring elementary school kids through the True Sport initiative.
“I was teaching virtues to players at the elementary schools, like hard work, teamwork, leadership,” she said. “It kind of was [tough], but it’s pretty fun, I’d say.”
Cameron said accepting her award at a ceremony in April wasn’t the biggest highlight of her past year of competition. That honour goes to playing keeper for the RDPC girls’ soccer team, which finally captured a Zone 11 championship back in October after years of trying.
“For soccer we’ve been going to finals, but usually losing to Flin Flon just by a point or two for a few years now. And we finally beat them this year by one goal.”
Right now, Cameron is just getting back into back into track and field and has her sights set on topping her 1.69-metre jump from provincials last year.
“I was hoping to get a new personal best (PB) for track and high jump. There’s a provincial record that’s near my PB by about five centimetres off, so I was hoping to break it.”
The provincial high jump record currently stands at 1.75 metres for junior girls varsity and 1.76 metres for varsity girls.
