ST. ANTHONY, NL. – Madeline “Maddie” Ollerhead is the St. Anthony Recreational Department Hall of Fame’s newest inductee.
Ollerhead was announced as the 2018 inductee during the opening ceremony of the Provincial Bantam “D” Hockey Tournament at the Polar Centre on April 5.
She was presented her Hall of Fame certificate by 2001 inductee Eric Boyd.
Ollerhead was attending the opening ceremony but the induction came as a total surprise.
Speaking with the Northern Pen after the presentation, she said she was “so excited” to be inducted. She also wished to recognize all the people who have worked with her over the years.
“I was absolutely honoured to receive this and I just like for everyone to know you don’t get an award like this without having loads of volunteers behind you,” she said.
Ollerhead has been involved heavily in figure skating and broomball.
She credits Sandra Sinyard and Linda Anstey as two individuals who were with her the entire time she was in broomball. And she says Rosarie Patey was with her volunteering for the figure skating club for 16 years.
Ollerhead and Patey were both central in starting the Northern Blades Figure Skating Club 35 years ago.
“The recreation director, at the time, called me and said, ‘we’d like to do figure skating’,” Ollerhead recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve never figure skated, what do you want me to do?’ We looked at what we could do and what we couldn’t do, and we started off the Can Skate program.”
She also subsequently attained a coach’s certificate.
Ollerhead has been thrilled to see the figure skating program thrive. She says it’s the one achievement in recreation she is most proud of it.
“They’ve gone from just skating around the ice to competitions,” she said.
And it’s continued through the generations within her own family.
Her daughter Rae Lynn and niece Keitha grew up in the figure skating club and Rae Lynn now heads the club herself. Rae Lynn’s children, Erin and Kali, are also currently members.
While no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the club, Ollerhead still emcees the annual year-end ice show.
In broomball, she served as coach and manager for approximately 15-20 years. She was also an athlete on the team.
During her time in broomball, the St. Anthony team won a number of awards all across the country – including a gold medal in Nova Scotia, Most Sportsmanlike Team at tournaments in Leduc, Alberta and Ottawa, and a bronze medal at a “B” division tournament in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Ollerhead wanted to thank all the people who have supported the figure skating club through its numerous fundraisers over the years. She also wanted to thank the recreation department and the local stadium staff.
