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Grant-A-Week WINNER My name is Amanda Tapp and I have just
completed my high school diploma from the National Sport School
in Calgary, Alberta. Here I was able to achieve better academics as well as a chance to improve my skills as a goaltender through the Calgary Hockey Development (CHD) program. However, my parents have had to spend a great deal of money for me to attend this school. As a result I decided that I wanted to get a scholarship to go to university. I learned that in the United States there has recently been new legislation that required universities to split funding half and half between male and female sports. This has resulted in an explosion of funding for female sports. Early this year I started to pursue my options. With the assistance of my coaches at CHD, I put together my resume which I mailed to over 50 different universities and colleges in the USA. I soon began receiving phone calls and information through the mail. I had many promising options, however, I had no offers of a scholarship before Christmas 1998.
One day in the middle of January, I received a phone call from my goalie coach at Calgary Hockey Development. He was warning me that there was going to be a certain scout at my game latter that day. He wouldn't tell me who it was, however it was enough to get me excited. That night I prepared myself for my game as I always do, however, I had a feeling in my stomach similar to what I get just before a championship game. During the break between the warm-up and the beginning of the game, I happened to glance over to the stands and I discovered who the scout was: Shannon Miller. Shannon was previously the coach for the Canadian Women's National team which brought home the silver medal at the 1998 Olympics. She has since become the head coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. As I stepped into my crease that night, I knew that I was going to play the game of my life. I faced many difficult shots, however my teammates supported me very well, and in the end we came out victorious. On my way out of the rink, Shannon approached me and my parents and asked us if we could meet to discuss my future. My hard work was finally starting to pay off. A few days later me and my parents and I met Shannon for lunch. We had a great conversation. I told her some stories about myself and she told me some stories about the Olympics and of the UniverCAAWS, girls body image,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games"> sity of Minnesota-Duluth. Finally, after much dialogue she made me an offer to play for the Duluth Women's Hockey Team. It was an offer that I could not refuse. I have had my eye on Duluth for a couple of years. Long before I even knew that they were going to have an NCAA Div. 1 team I knew that this is where I want to play. After consulting with my coaches at CHD, I called Shannon and told her that I wanted to accept her offer. I later discovered that it was my goalie coach, at Calgary Hockey Development, who had encouraged Shannon to come watch one of my games. If it hadn't been for him and all of my coaches at CHD (Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Maloney, and Mr. Chesla) I would not be having this opportunity to go to Minnesota. I am forever in debt to them. I have recently discovered that I will be playing with two girls that I have played with in the past. One is from Calgary. We have played on teams with each other for the Alberta Winter games as well as the Canada Winter Games. The other, I played ringette with for one year when I lived in Regina, Saskatchewan when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I also know the Athletic Director at the University in Duluth as he coached me when I was in pewee and I played hockey with his son for a couple of years. I had met Shannon a few times prior to January through the Olympic Oval Female Hockey summer programs. This is truly a small world. The team that I will be playing on next year will be the first NCAA Div 1 female hockey team ever at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. We will have players from Canada, USA, Sweden, Switzerland, and Finland. Our entire coaching staff is comprised of coaches from both the Canadian and American National Team programs. I will be living in a house with 6 of my teammates. This will be an interesting time as this will be the first time away from home for many of us. I'm just hoping that someone is going to bring a car! If everyone is half as excited as I am, I know that we are going to have a great year. I am currently organizing all of my affairs in preparation for my move south. There are so many things that must be taken care of before I leave. SIN number, student loans, immunization records, passport, student Visa, etc., the list seems endless. Even though I am going to University on a scholarship, this move will be expensive. I will still have many expenses while I'm down in the states, the biggest one being my room and board for the first year. I will be putting this scholarship towards paying my rent. I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards the CAAWS-Nike Grant-a-Week program as you are helping me on my way to university.
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