Okanagan Hockey Academy student athlete Tyler Musgrove has been named the recipient of the 2020 CSSHL Male Humanitarian of the Year.
Musgrove, a product of Fort St. John, B.C., gave back to a South Okanagan Women in Needs (SOWINS) family leading up to the Christmas season.
The 17-year-old, four-year CSSHL student athlete, got his team together to help a family of three – a single mother with two boys aged 12 and 14.
The winner of the Humanitarian Award, both male and female, are chosen by an independent panel.
Check out this feature on Tyler from earlier in the season:
Tyler Musgrove had two motivators in helping out a South Okanagan Women in Needs (SOWINS) family leading up to the Christmas season.
The first is that Musgrove realized at this time of year, less fortunate people need help.
The second is that as an assistant captain on Robert Dirk’s Okanagan Hockey Academy (OHA) Midget Prep Black team, he was looking for a way to get his team going again as they have been struggling recently. It’s a way for the team to bond in a team-building exercise. Musgrove, who grew up in Fort St. John, B.C., got the team together to help a family of three – a single mother with two boys aged 12 and 14. The team was connected after Musgrove emailed SOWINS stating they wanted to help out.
The team is filling two hampers – one with food and the other with gifts and toys. Musgrove asked each teammate to give $30. However, his teammates went beyond that.
“It’s been awesome,” says Musgrove. “People have donated way more than I have asked. It feels good to give back to people less fortunate.”
This is the first time Musgrove has taken on such an initiative and says they are fortunate to be hockey players and do what they do.
“We need to realize that and realize that people aren’t as fortunate as us,” he says. “We need to help them.”
Dirk says it’s very mature, very selfless of Musgrove to do this.
“That’s the type of kid he is and his family are. He is just a phenomenal person.”
Dirk added that most of the student-athletes that come through OHA and their families are doing well financially. Other families make financial sacrifices to have their sons or daughters in the academy. Sometimes the players lose sight of how privileged they are, or what their parents do for them.
“At some point in time we all think it’s about us,” adds Dirk. “It’s our world. This is hopefully going to open their eyes that it isn’t always about them. It’s about being a good person and helping people in need. That is what being a good person is about. Giving them hope and giving the world hope.”
Dirk says people like Musgrove are the type they want at OHA. They want people that want to help in the community.
“We’re not just about developing hockey players, we’re developing people,” he says.