Trinity Western goalkeeper Hannah Miller has been awarded the 2023 U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Student-Athlete Community Service Award.
The fifth-year goalkeeper, who hails from Langley, B.C., is an outstanding servant leader who has modelled what it means to give back throughout her time as a student-athlete. She has exemplified what it means to give of herself for the sake of others, and has dedicated much of her student-athlete career to serving in so many ways, places, and settings.
Leadership and initiative
Hannah has consistently served in her local and expanded community over the duration of her career. She is a coordinator of a TeamUp Camp for underserved and underprivileged kids each summer in Chilliwack, helping coordinate athletes and coaches to provide opportunities for about 200 kids to have a fun-filled week-long sports camp experience. Hannah also coaches and coordinates volunteers for a TeamUp Canada sports outreach for kids from refugee families living in the Edmonds, Burnaby community.
Hannah serves alongside teammates at the RAN (Ruth and Naomi) center for homeless and addiction recovery. She volunteers monthly, serving in the kitchen for food prep and meal serving, and helps coordinate this.
International service
Hannah has also been a participant and junior leader on TWU Spartans international IMPACT trips to Peru, Paraguay and Uganda in the last 12-18 months. This past July, she joined 16 other athletes who travelled to Uganda for the purpose of providing life-changing opportunities through sports to hundreds of kids in six different communities. She also helped TeamUp Canada facilitate leadership training for local leaders, and participated in elevating the role of women in sports and providing opportunities for young girls to participate in sports programs that she and her athletes led during the 17-day project.
Hannah has helped her fellow teammates remain regularly engaged in volunteer opportunities and community service initiatives by acting as the Spartans women's soccer community service coordinator.
“She’s always willing to go above and beyond for her teammates and for people around her," TWU Spartans Captain Sierra Halldorson says of Hannah Miller, "She’s been an incredible friend and a leader in our program. She’s demonstrated incredible leadership and our team has been super grateful to have her."
Putting others first
“I went to Uganda on a TeamUp trip with Hannah and she just led everyone so well," TWU Spartans Striker Sophie Crowther adds, "She always puts herself aside; and she’s always wanting to help people and make people feel comfortable and safe and make people laugh. She’s the first person to volunteer to serve every time."
"You can see that the kids have so much joy when Hannah is interacting with them," she adds, "They love her and she’s always making them laugh, and she’s super caring. You can tell she loves the kids she’s with so much.”
TWU Head Coach Graham Roxburgh affirms of Hannah, “She’s a consummate servant and, over the years, she’s always, always shown up and made a difference—both in the lives of her teammates with how she models servanthood, but also so many other lives, be it kids at camps or playing for youth clubs or some of the places we’ve been internationally. She has an amazing heart to serve, and she has grown so much in her servant leadership.”
Excellence in community and on the field
Recently, Hannah was named Canada West Women's Soccer Player of the Week after leading the Trinity Western Spartans to their 10th Canada West championship this past weekend in Vancouver, B.C.
The Spartans are now headed to the U SPORTS national championship in Kingston, Ont. It is the Spartans' 14th appearance at the national championship.
TWU will open up against the Queen's Gaels in the fourth quarter-final on Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. (PT). All championship matches are streamed live on CBCSports.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby and women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 Canada West team championships.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is a global Christian liberal arts university. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has campuses in Canada in Langley, Richmond, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Instagram @trinitywestern, Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.