Derek Smith – Athlete / Builder / Meritorious Service
Derek Smith is a rare individual who has accomplished so much, and affected so many things, he is a triple inductee as an athlete, builder and for meritorious service.
As a competitor Derek Smith excelled in volleyball and softball at many levels. In volleyball he was a stand out for the St.Mary Marauders and Prince Albert Toppers club team. He helped the Marauders to Provincial gold in 1994. Smith and the Toppers won Provincial gold and Canadian silver in 1995 with Derek being named to the All-Star team at nationals. He would go on to red shirt with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies volleyball team.
Smith was a dominant pitcher in softball starting with PA Minor Softball in the Squirt B division in 1988 winning B Provincials with the MacDowall Monarchs. There were numerous accolades for Smith through the 1990’s in softball including gold at the Midget Canadians in 1995 with the PA Ken-Gar Selects where he was named tournament MVP. Smith was named the Softball Saskatchewan Athlete of the Year and adding his volleyball prowess, he was named the Kinsmen/900CKBI Athlete of the Year for 1995.
More softball honours came his way in the late 90’s including a Canadian championship with the PA Northern Business Selects in 1996, Junior Canadians Silver with the Saskatoon Junior Merchants in 1997, pitching again at Junior Men’s nationals in 1998 and finally an appearance in the Australian Men’s Fastpitch championship in 1999. The year 2000 saw Smith help the Prince Albert Aallcann Astros to the Senior A provincial title and an appearance at nationals, followed by various Senior A, National and International Softball Congress appearances with the Saskatoon Merchants.
Derek Smith then pulled back some from playing to get into coaching and mentoring, in a big way. That success in competition built the foundation for a coach that also has accumulated a stellar resume in volleyball and softball.
In softball, Derek Smith has been coaching since 2005, starting, like in his playing days, with PA Minor Softball. His success reflects his knowledge of the sport and ability to teach skills to young athletes. He followed his boys Riley and Ethan through the age classes with success including U12 Provincial gold (2012), U14 Provincial and Western Canadian Gold (2015), U14 Silver (2016 & 2017), U18 Provincial Silver & National Bronze (2017) culminating with the 2017 Softball Saskatchewan Coach of the Year Award in 2017.
His volleyball, coaching also is rather decorated, starting in 2013 with the Smashing Bananas program. He lead his team to a Nationals appearance for U16 in 2016 and won Provincial Bronze with another appearance in Nationals in 2017 and a Provincial Bronze in 2018.
For all of the tremendous successes Derek Smith has had as an athlete and coach, he is also a go-to organizer. He organized and has been President of the Prince Albert Community Basketball Association since 2010. He has grown that program from a couple of dozen young players in it’s inception to hundreds learning the sport of basketball. He administers the entire association including organizing coaches, gym times, registration, website, tournaments and more.
In softball he has been on executives of PAMSA and ADFO and one of the key organizers of Project Triple Play, which saw Derek Smith as the co-chair of the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championships in July 2018. According to WBSC, that event was one of the best ever at the World level. Smith and Co-Chair Felix Casavant were named the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club/Daily Herald Citizens of the Year for 2018. The event left a lasting legacy of 2 world-standard diamonds as well as hosting the first ever World Championship in Prince Albert that will be remembered for decades.
Derek Smith will be inducted as an Athlete, Builder and for Meritorious Service.
