Members of Vernon's Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy take part in the Kindness Always Wins fundraiser for the Emily Dahl Foundation Dec. 19 at Kalamalka Secondary. (photo credit: Emily Dahl Foundation)

By Pete McIntyre

Kindness always wins

‘Incredible result’: Athletes rally to raise $2,500 for foundation

Dec 21, 2023 | 12:00 PM

The Christmas Spirit was alive and well in a Greater Vernon school gymnasium this week.

The annual Kindness Always Wins volleyball fundraiser, put on by the Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy, attracted a capacity crowd at the Kalamalka Secondary gym in Coldstream Tuesday night (Dec. 19).

Members of Vernon’s Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy take part in the Kindness Always Wins fundraiser for the Emily Dahl Foundation Dec. 19 at Kalamalka Secondary. (photo credit: Emily Dahl Foundation)

The event raised funds for the Vernon-based Emily Dahl Foundation which promotes kindness, compassion and happiness.

“Kal gym was full of academy athletes along with a capacity crowd of family, friends, and volleyball enthusiasts,” a news release from the foundation stated. “The event committee of young athletes is pleased to announce that the donation to The Emily Dahl Foundation is over $2,500, an incredible result thanks to the many families and friends that came out to support a night of kindness.”

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Group shot of Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy members who took part in Dec. 19 game. (submitted photo)

The game has special meaning for the foundation as its namesake, Emily Dahl, loved playing volleyball and played it at a high level before she took her own life in January 2019 at the age of 18.

Beyond Sport coach Troy Lorenson was Emily’s coach and friend.

Sherman Dahl, Emily’s father and co-founder of The Emily Dahl Foundation, joined Coach Lorenson to address all the athletes, families and friends that came out for the event.

Dahl used the occasion to share the wisdom of former U.S. college basketball coach John Wooden.

“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life,” Dahl told the crowd, quoting the legendary Wooden who guided the UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA basketball titles in the 1960s and 70s.

Dahl added Lorenson and all the athletes at Beyond Sport Academy build their success on character and kindness as the true measure of winning.

Kindness Always Wins fundraiser. (photo credit: Emily Dahl Foundation)

Dahl said he was approached at the game by Jodi Marginson, the mother of Ava Marginson, who just signed with Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.

“And she told me all about Ava’s volleyball journey, and that Ava was team captain and full of compassion for others, like Emily, and how she proudly wears the “kindness always wins” Emily Dahl Foundation shirt at Trent University.

“It is this kind of love the worlds needs in all corners of the globe. Amazing work The Beyond Sport Academy is doing,” Dahl told Vernon Matters.