Sportrait

Nicole Byrnes has worked her way up through the ranks.

Currently the captain of the Weyburn Junior High Cobras basketball team, Byrnes, 14, first started playing hoops when she was in Grade 6. Now in Grade 9, the three-year veteran is enjoying it as much as ever.

"It's aggressive," she says. "I like the aggressiveness."

It all began when she was encouraged to play because of her height. Now standing at five-foot-10, Byrnes has found that being tall can come in pretty handy for rebounding under the basket and when she is hitting and blocking on the volleyball team, too.

Height only goes so far, though. "It doesn't matter if you're short or tall when you're playing ball," she adds.

That's fastball, to be exact, which she has been playing since she was nine years old. This past summer provided a major highlight for Byrnes and her teammates on the Weyburn United Safety Cutters Peewee A team when they won the provincial gold medal.

"That was exciting," she recalls. "It was my last year of peewee."

As a member of the Cobras volleyball team this year, she helped them win the gold in Tier III at the Arima Challenge provincial championship for the second year in a row.

Byrnes gives credit to her coaches over the years for the success and enjoyment she has had playing sports.

"I've learned all different skills from all my coaches along the way," she says. "They've all helped me."

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