Noah Bain
Algonquin/Fijian
Noah, who has an engineering degree from UVic, has an impressive list of rugby accomplishments at the regional, provincial and national levels. He’s heading to NZ this summer to play Premier rugby and continue to develop his skills.
He hopes to be more involved with Thunder in the future and sees the value of programs focused on Indigenous youth, “Growing up, I have seen some many high potential Indigenous athletes in my inner circles who just lacked a pathway to pursue and Thunder Rugby can definitely help to mend this.”
Noah Bain is the 2023 Phil Mack Indigenous Player of the Year winner.
Representative Rugby:
- Fraser Valley (Regional, 2012-2016)
- Championship Winners, 2016
- BC Rugby (Provincial, 2012-2016, 2022)
- National Champions, consecutively from U-16 to U-19 level
- BC Elite Youth 7’s, Hong Kong and Vegas Tours – Tournament Champions
- Canada University Men’s 7’s Squad, FISU Games, July 2019
- Selected to play for Canada at the World Games in Naples, Italy
- MacDowell Rugby, August 2019
- Langford 7’s Champions
- Vancouver Island Crimson Tide & Vancouver Wave Senior Men, (Regional, 2019-20, 2022-2023)
- UVic Vikes Varsity Rugby (Premier and Super League, 2017-2021)
- National Champions, @ Concordia University, 2019
- Western 7’s Champions, @ University of British Columbia, 2019
Professional Rugby:
- Experts RFC, Premier Rugby 7s, Memphis, October 2021
- Inaugural Tournament Champions
- Rugby Canada 7s, Spain Sevens, January 2022
- Debuted in Malaga vs. France, Member of Rugby Canada centralized carding program
Youth Awards
Brooke & Paige Horsfall
Gitga’at
Brooke and Paige hope to travel for a year after graduating high school and play rugby in different countries before focusing on university. Their rugby accomplishments include: Thunder Rugby, Tsunami, Team BC, Rapids Rugby, Silver at BC Summer Games, Island Select Team, Highland Secondary, Isfeld Secondary.
Their experience at Thunder rugby has been positive, “Our gratitude for having the opportunity to play with Thunder rugby and sharing our cultural amazingness as a rugby team and Indigenous rugby family has been an experience we will cherish. It has helped us build quality relationships in all our rugby experiences and helped us build our game in so many ways.”
Brooke and Paige Horsfall are 2023 Phil Mack Youth Award winners.
Isaiah Sousedik
Sq’ewelets
Isaiah hopes to get into the trades as a heavy duty mechanic after graduating high school. His rugby experience includes: BC Bears sevens, travelling with Thunder to California, and 2nd place in the AAA provincials with Abbotsford Senior Secondary.
He looks forward to continuing his involvement with the Thunder program, “I would love to be able to continue, as long as I’m able to, as a player to further my knowledge and experience. Part of my goals later would be to have the opportunity to coach the new youth to help them as the current coaches have helped me.”
Isaiah Sousedik is a 2023 Phil Mack Youth Award Winner.
Honourable Mentions
The following applicants received honourable mentions this year.
Manuel Boada
Inca
Rugby accomplishments: U18 Canada West, UBC academy, Team BC, Thunder 7s, Vancouver South and East, Fraser Valley East, ARFC, BRFC, and Abbotsford Senior Secondary.
Goals: I have accepted an offer from the University of British Columbia’s faculty of Applied Sciences, where I will study electronic engineering.
Brenden McElhinney
Métis
Rugby accomplishments: UBC Okanagan, UBC, Thunder 7s, Canada U18 tryouts.
Goals: Study both health science and psychology to aid athletes of all ages that are struggling with the stress and mental strain that being an athlete puts on one’s mind and body.
Payton McNeill
Métis
Rugby accomplishments: UBC, MVP in high school
Goals: Finish my degree in Kinesiology at UBC and have my private pilot’s license.
Previous Award Winners
Cedar Capping Ceremony
2014 Phil Mack
2015 Bobby Ross
2016 Hannah Darling
Phil Mack Award
2017 Crosby Stewart
2018 Hunter Grant
2019 Brandon Schellenberger
2020 Caleb Sam
2021 Lyric Atchison
2022 Dakota LaChance and Shalaya Valenzuela
2023 Noah Bain
Phil Mack Youth Award
2023 Isaiah Sousedik, Brooke & Paige Horsfall
Special thanks to Phil and Nancy Meyer who commissioned the original artwork for the trophy and have generously provided award funding each year.
