Finalists for this prestigious award, which is sponsored once again by the PEI Mutual Insurance Company, are Gardiner MacNeill (swimming), Roy Main (tennis), and Cliff Poirier (curling).

 

Tickets are available for the banquet by contacting Sport PEI at 368-4547.

 

 

Swim PEI has a fine reputation for hosting professional meets, and much of the credit must go to Charlottetown’s Gardiner MacNeill, who has been Chair of Island Officials for the past three years.

 

A fully qualified level 5, Gardiner has dedicated countless hours volunteering at clinics and preparing Island officials for events such as the East Coast Short Course Championships, Provincials, AUS finals, and Canada Games.  

 

Standards have reached an all-time high under his leadership, with 65 new officials trained for the Canada Games, while others have continued to reach higher national standards.

 

Gardiner’s reputation as an official is impeccable, and he has worked the biggest championships in Canadian swimming.

 

Whether as an official, coach, administrator or competitor, Gardiner MacNeill has made an outstanding contribution to Island swimming.

 

Charlottetown’s Roy Main needs a lot of concentration in his role as a tennis umpire, and in 2010 he was rewarded with appointments at one of Canada’s most prestigious events, the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

 

A stalwart on the Atlantic circuit, where he not only officiates but acts as Supervisor of Officials and Atlantic Officials Chair, Roy has organized the region in an impressive fashion, with numbers and standards continually on the rise. He oversees much of the training and development, and maintains records for all their assignments.

 

Short listed by Tennis Canada as a finalist for its “Rookie of the Year,” Roy enjoyed a fine tournament at the Rogers Cup, working seven consecutive days as a line umpire at the premier women’s tournament, including four days in the main draw.

 

Understanding the need to have qualified officials at all levels of play, Roy has made tremendous strides in advancing tennis officiating across PEI, and is well respected and admired by all involved in the sport.

Summerside’s Cliff Poirier is undoubtedly the province’s finest curling official, and in 2010 he was in demand, working not only most of the provincial events, but the national Brier and Dominion championships as well.

 

In Halifax, Cliff worked many of the Brier draws as timing supervisor, while at the Dominion championships held on PEI he not only served on the committee, which meant organizing the officials’ details, he was also an on-ice or head official throughout the championship.

 

A conductor of the association’s timing clinics, Cliff was constantly busy over the past 12 months, and when he wasn’t directly associated with events, he was reviewing, critiquing and providing feedback to the Canadian Curling Association for its new rule book.

 

Generous with his time, knowledgeable and accommodating, when Cliff Poirier is in charge, curlers know that they will get maximum effort, and the best officiating it is possible to get.