Larson rewarded for athletic commitments

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Strathmore High School Spartan alumnus Karly Larson was an exceptional athlete during her time in high school sports.
As a result, her efforts were recognized with a nomination earlier this fall with the ‘Pay it Forward’ scholarship award.
The award recognizes student athletes that help out in the community with athletics, through coaching a team or officiating sports.
Larson, who competed in events such as cross country running and basketball in her three years at high school, was able to accomplish the criteria by helping out with spring league basketball club in Strathmore during her high school years, while taking an officiating course to referee basketball during her spare time.
“It feels really nice to be recognized for my athletics because that was a really big part of who I was throughout my high school career,” said Larson.
“When you work really hard at something for a good portion of your time it feels like it all pays off when you are recognized for it.”
She was grateful for her coaches, Paul Sonsteby in cross country, Dion Galandy in basketball and Scott Koller at the junior high level basketball, for the opportunities they provided her.
“They took the time out of their lives to help me better myself,” she said. “If it weren’t for them I would not have been given many of the opportunities I had been so lucky to get.”
Now in her first year playing basketball with the Medicine Hat Rattlers, she is embracing the adjustments of playing at the ACAC level and has noticed many differences from high school.
“The one difference I noticed within the first week of being here was in practices for sure,” said Larson. “In practice not only do coaches push us to our limits but each of the girls pushing each other to go as hard as we can at all times is pretty tough, but you can tell the everyone wants to win just by how we work even in the littlest of drills in practice.
“The game is a lot faster for one, the girls are all a lot bigger and the level of play is a lot higher as well.”
Sonsteby had high praise for Larson because of the way she was able to inspire teammates with her willingness to go the extra mile to always wanting to get better.
“Karly is a perennial MVP on any team in any sport,” said Sonsteby. “She approaches every challenge, every drill, and every championship the same way: positive and serious.
“She inspires her teammates because she works so tirelessly, she’s never satisfied that anything is good enough.”