ETOBICOKE, Ont. - Humber Hawks veteran first baseman Jess Raymond was just selected as the winner of the Claude Deschamps Memorial Award.

The Claude Deschamps Memorial Award was established in 1984 in honour of a former Executive Director of Softball Canada, Mr. Claude Deschamps. This bursary is nationally administered by Softball Canada and is awarded annually to a female and male recipient towards their education. The recipients for this award receive $1000 each and are chosen from the region hosting the annual Softball Canada Congress (formerly known as the Annual General Meeting).

Jess, a media student at the University of Guelph Humber, has not only been the most influential individual and driving force behind the women's fastball program at Humber College, she may just outrun any athlete or coach ever at Humber with her efforts.

As they say often in sports, "let's go to the video replay", here are a few of the things she has accomplished at Humber.

Three years ago she not only introduced and lobbied for the addition of women's fastball to the slate of varsity programs at Humber, she almost single handedly recruited the entire roster. Her drive was to provide all women on campus to have the ability to play collegiate ball.

The first year saw the Hawks advance to the OCAA provincial final, branding a silver medal when the season ended, and earning a trip to the CCSA nationals in Regina the next year.

The second year was very much of the same, but even more passion for "team". She took a lead role in the team building, involving the team in a number of initiatives. For her efforts she was named captain, and was so proud to accept Humber's first-ever OCAA championship banner and trophy in just their second year of existence. By the way, she played the entire season with an arm that had been surgically repaired, and played in pain throughout.

This current season, not surprisingly, she has elevated her efforts yet again. She organized the first annual Humber College Classic bantam girls tournament. This event was more than successful, and the "thank you's" that came back were just glowing. This tournament has spawned both a bantam and midget event next summer.

Humber also hosted two skills clinics in the fall. The first being an all-inclusive weekend clinic in which the entire team will acted instructors to teach and promote the game of fastball. The second, an elite one to provide an even higher level of instruction for players over the age of 16.

Proceeds from the tournaments will support Humber's "Spring Training" trip to South Carolina in February. The Hawks will play a number of NCAA D-I, D-II and NAIA teams, thereby exposing Canadian talent to the U.S. based schools, and yet again provide for our players an opportunity to elevate their game. In fact, Humber played NCAA D-I teams Niagara University and Canisius this fall in the Buffalo area.

Her fastball initiatives go on and on, but it is her other commitments to athletics are also remarkable. She is an employee in athletics, and fills the role as our senior sports photographer, providing quality images for web and print. Here she also leads, handling the scheduling and quality care for all of our sports information staff.

Simply put, she has put women's fastball on the map at Humber, a team that has flourished with her leadership and passion. And Humber has responded by putting all of our efforts into the growth of the sport, with financial and event support.

She has made a difference!

Source: Humber College