NAME: Michelle Sawatzky-Koop
UNIVERSITY: Manitoba
CATEGORY: Student-Athlete
SPORT: Women’s Volleyball
YEARS ACTIVE: 1988 - 1993
HIGHLIGHTS:
Three-time CIAU WVB champion (1990, 1991, 1992)
Two-time national player of the year (1991, 1992)
Two-time national tournament MVP (1990, 1991)
Represented Canada at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta
BIOGRAPHY:
A gifted piano player, Michelle Sawatzky-Koop made sweet music on the court for the Manitoba women’s volleyball teams who won three straight CIAU gold medals from 1990 to 1992.
A native of Steinbach, Man., Sawatzky-Koop was MVP of the CIAU championship in 1990 and 1991, and named CIAU Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. As a senior she received the Bison Sports Female Athlete of the Year award for the 1992-93 season.
Sawatzky-Koop had a stellar international career that began during her time at Manitoba, when she was part of the Canadian junior team in 1990 and competed at the World Student Games in 1991 and 1992. Upon graduating, Sawatzky-Koop joined the senior national team, with whom she won bronze at the 1995 Pan American Games in Argentina and competed with at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games.
In 1993, Sawatzky-Koop graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Music with a Bachelor of Music Piano Performance and completed a 12-concert solo piano tour of Western Canada. She also participated in the National Music Competition twice and was a member of the National Youth Choir in 1992 and 1993.
Sawatzky-Koop has spent more than two decades working in radio. She can currently be heard as a morning show co-host on AM 1250, and appears on Country 107.7 and Mix 96.7 in her native Steinbach.
She is a member of the Manitoba High School Sports Hall of Fame (2012).