Locally Grown Pro-Athlete Sweeps Fans Off Their Feet

Locally Grown Pro-Athlete Sweeps Fans Off Their Feet

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Vegreville honoured their local grown superstar curler Val Sweeting by proclaiming April 23 as Val Sweeting Day.

To celebrate this day, there was a Meet and Greet event for Val Sweeting at Vegreville Multiplex Centre.

At this time, Mayor for Vegreville Tim MacPhee read the proclamation which stated Val Sweeting has been representing Vegreville, Alberta on curling national and international stages along with other history and interesting facts about Val Sweeting.

Val Sweeting with her numerous trophies and medals

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

People said why they wanted to meet Val and say what they thought of all her achievements in curling. Lindsey Smith, who is 10-years-old, came from Sherwood Park to meet Val. Lindsey said she curls at U15 at Ellerslie in Edmonton. Her dream is to win the Olympics someday and Scotties Tournament of Hearts/ “I feel Val’s achievements in curling are really cool! It is pretty nice that people are able to achieve that much. It was fun and cool to meet Val. She motivates me to do big things with my life someday!”

Trish Proznick said, “It is great to meet someone from our hometown and to have that connection of living in the same place and seeing her on television…I didn’t grow up in Vegreville, but I live over here now, and to see all her accomplishments and how far she has gone this year.”

Lindsey Smith, left, and Val Sweeting

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

When Val was asked how she felt about this day set aside for her and getting to meet some of her fans, she replied, “I am very honoured to have this day. It is fun to do this. It is so nice to be back here in Vegreville and good to see everyone and catch up and celebrate with everybody.”

When asked what she believes is the first step towards people fulfilling their dreams, Val said, “I think it is surrounding yourself with people who have the same goals, and working really hard, and never giving up.”