Manitoba's Credit Unions Scholar Athlete

Danika Nell of Institut Collégial Vincent Massey Collegiate - holds academic average of 97.4% while participating in basketball, volleyball and fast pitch. She is a graduating all-star for volleyball, member of the volleyball all-Manitoba team and ranked as a Winnipeg Free Press Top Ten Player in grade 12. In fast pitch she was part of three provincial champion teams, declared provincial MVP three years in a row and the Boissevain Collegiate Institute Female athlete of the year 2022. Danika was selected to play for the Canadian U18 softball team in a World Cup qualifying tournament in Columbia where her team finished with a silver medal and will play with the National team again in Dallas later this summer in the WBSC World Cup Group Stage.

She also takes the time to give to the community of both sport and her city. She volunteers with the Osborne Village clean up, is a peer tutor at Massey and coaches/mentors younger athletes in both volleyball and softball. Danika plans to become a doctor, working towards a medical degree while playing Division I softball at Boston University.

Danika states: “To play high school sports was my dream as a young girl watching my older siblings thrive in the energetic atmospheres with their friends. It was nothing short of amazing to finally step on the volleyball court in Grade 9 wearing my school’s colours, and playing with the people who knew me inside and out.

Though Covid-19 stole a precious year of my high school athletic eligibility, being able to finish strong and play sports at two different high schools has been special. Nothing will ever compare to helping Boissevain’s softball team win their first ever Provincial championship and then going on to win again with my team at Massey the following year; the smiles on the faces of the girls who had never won an MHSAA championship before were priceless. I was inspired by the ones who played before me and I hope the banners, the records broken, and all the smiles I’ve witnessed in my time as a student athlete will inspire the next generation to follow in our footsteps. There are no words that can capture the essence of weekly carpools, watching each other mature, and earning the hard-fought wins – that’s the magic of high school sports, and it will always be within me.”