2021 KCTA Junior Sportsmanship Award

Past Recipients

2007: Aaron Dobie & Julie Hutton 

2008: Nick Jacobs & Carly Tucker

2009: Tyler Thoms & Lily Schuler

2010: Blaine Davenport & Zoe Tucker

2011: David Perez & Isabel Donaldson

2012: Tim Roe & Carlee Henderson

2013: John Matthew Flores & Taylor Touchstone

2014: Zach Gomez & Grace Booth

2015: Jack Han & Madeline Kuney

2016: Raguvir Kunani & Madison Swaney

2017: Moses Jiminez & Erica Paradise

2019: Juan Contreras & Tiffany Chau

2020: Tyler Howard and Sofia Zaletel

2021:  Sage Nguyen and Monika McKenna

2021 KCTA JUNIOR SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

CONGRATULATIONS

Sage Nguyen (Liberty High School)

Monika McKenna (Bakersfield High School)

Robert Limpias, Yesenia Gil, Monika McKenna, Lauren
Buetow and Tracy Macnair Burrell

Robert Limpias, CJ Gimena, Isaac Capiz, Patrick Blaine, Sage Nguyen, and Hank Pfister (not pictured - Jake Nahama)

Kern Community Tennis Association recently recognized winners and finalists for its annual junior sportsmanship awards with plaques and scholarships.  KCTA has presented these awards to high school senior student athletes for 15 years, but this is the first time they were named in honor of two local tennis icons.  Tracy Macnair Burrell and Hank Pfister are both lifelong Bakersfield residents who distinguished themselves as players, coaches, and servers of their community.  Candidates for these awards are evaluated based on their conduct as a player/teammate, involvement in their school, service to the community, academic performance, and court accomplishments.  Tracy emphasized the importance of these awards, “Tennis is the rare high school sport where the participants are also the referees; integrity and fairness matter greatly.”

This year’s winner of the Tracy Macnair Burrell Sportsmanship Award is Monika McKenna.  Monika is a graduate of Bakersfield High School.  She is an excellent student who also shined outside the classroom.  Amongst her many activities, Monika served as the ASB President, was active in Virtual Enterprise, and participated in Ford Dimension Dream Builders.  Monika was the BHS Girls’ Tennis Team Captain.  Coach Bailey Williams shared the number of times parents of younger players had praised Monika for the example she set on the court and the kindness and guidance she provided to their daughters.  Also recognized as finalists for this year’s award were Lauren Buetow of Bakersfield Christian High School and Yesenia Gil of Shafter High School.

Sage Nguyen was selected as the winner of the 2021 Hank Pfister Sportsmanship Award.  Sage graduated from Liberty High School with a 4.5 GPA and was involved in numerous school clubs and activities.  He also donated many hours of service to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.  While CIF sports were suspended, Sage worked independently to improve his game and placed fourth in the Valley this spring.  He shared those skills by mentoring younger teammates.  Coach Stephanie Ollivier complimented Sage’s investment in others and contrasted his stoic demeanor on the court with his enthusiastic support of his teammates.  Also recognized as finalists for this year’s award were Patrick Blaine of Garces High School, Isaac Capiz of Foothill High School, CJ Gimena of Centennial High School, and Jake Nahama of Bakersfield High School.