March 16, 2009
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) announced its annual Spirit of Sport award winners this week and Belvidere (North) High School senior Amy Brechon was among the honorees. Brechon was named the Section 4 Spirit of Sport Award winner, an accolade presented to the top candidate in five Midwest states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa). The NFHS conferred the Spirit of Sport Award honor on seven Section winners and one national award winner.
The Spirit of Sport Award seeks to recognize individuals who exemplify the ideals of the positive spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based athletics. Student-athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, administrators, trainers and other individuals associated with a school’s athletic department were all eligible for the honor.
As a two-sport student-athlete (volleyball, soccer), Brechon managed to maintain her status as an Honor Roll and National Honors Society student while also participating in numerous schools clubs and organizations that included Choir, Choraliers, Acapella, N Club, Z Club and the student leadership group Ambassador. Depsite her impressive accomplishments on and off the playing field at Belvidere (North), it was her work outside of the school where she best displayed her winning spirit. Brechon was afflicted with breast cancer at the age of 13 and has since reached out to others to share her story as a speaker at events for Relay For Life and the Girls Scouts of America among others.
“This is such an honor and I am thrilled to receive the NFHS Spirit of Sport Award. I have to admit though, I was one of the lucky ones,” said Brechon. “At first I was very private about my breast cancer experience, but when I decided to become more open about it, I started to see that I had an important story to tell. My message is that you are never too young and can never be diligent enough about self examination because early detection is the key. I would like to thank the NFHS, the IHSA, Karen Reynolds, Coach Kristin Frank and Coach Bria Holzinger for their support.”
Brechon is the first Spirit of Sport award recipient from the state of Illinois since the NFHS began presenting the award in 2006. Brechon will be honored by the IHSA and receive her award from the NFHS during the IHSA Class 3A Boys Basketball State Championship game (12:45 p.m.) at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday, March 21.
“We were elated to hear that Amy was named the Spirit of Sport Award winner for our Section,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. “As soon we heard her story we felt like we had come across a student-athlete who represented the core values of this award. We were hoping she would be recognized by the NFHS so her story could be shared with a wider audience, but recognition or not, make no mistake that this is a young woman who is already a successful role model to everyone she encounters.”
The IHSA compiled a list of Spirit of Sport candidates in the fall via testimony from coaches, athletic directors and media members throughout the state. Emily Troop’s Volley for the Cure feature on Brechon from the Rockford Register-Star in October clued the IHSA into her story and she became the Association’s nominee following endorsements from Belvidere (North) teachers, coaches and administrators.
Brechon’s soccer coach at Belvidere (North), Kristine Schaefer-Frank, wrote an endorsement letter of Brechon to the IHSA committee calling her an “exemplary Spirit of Sport candidate who plays with her heart and soul.”
Belvidere (North) head volleyball coach Bria Holzinger went on to call Brechon “an inspirational leader who has made an impact on the lives of her teammates, her community, her family, her friends and her coach.”