College of the Rockies women’s Avalanche volleyball program recently signed Cranbrook local Lauren Penney on for the 2022/23 season.
An outside hitter, Penney is currently in Grade 12 at Mount Baker Secondary School. She has been in the sport since Grade 5, and in Grade 7 she began playing for the East Kootenay Volleyball Club, COTR Avalanche said in a press release.
Penney will be studying to become a teacher at COTR, enrolled in the UVIC/EK Teacher Education Program.
Penney has been involved with the Kootenay Regional Excellence Centre, which evolved to the Volleyball Canada Regional Excellence Program. She was also a zone representative at the BC Cup.
“I chose College of the Rockies so I could play for my community, while still being surrounded by my friends and family,” Penney said. “My previous experiences with Bryan as a coach have shown me that he and the assistant coaches, and the other players, will help further develop my skills.”
Head coach for the women’s team, Bryan Fraser says that the team is excited to have so many local recruits for the 2022/23 season. Penney is no exception, he says.
“She has been working hard the past few years to get her game to the next level and I have high expectations for her continued development,” said Fraser. “Our program has many strong athletes who push each other to be better every day and Lauren will benefit from this tremendously. With her big academic aspirations and her work ethic and determination, Lauren is going to fit right in with our programs values and expectations.”
The 2021/22 season has come to an end, but the Avalanche look forward to another exciting season in fall of this year.