Cochrane athlete and former Bow Valley High School Bobcat Landon Murphy was named the Olds College Broncos Male Rookie Athlete of the year during the school's annual sports awards banquet on April 5. Murphy has excelled for the Broncos, competing mainly for the Olds College's soccer team but also excelling on the badminton and futsal teams. Futsal is a Brazilian form of five-on-five soccer that is played on a hard court, smaller than a soccer pitch and mainly indoors. "I originally went to Olds College just on a soccer scholarship and knew they had a badminton team as well. I figured I would focus my time on soccer and school and if I was able to keep my grades up I would pursue badminton as well. I only really played badminton at Bow Valley ... I wasn't sure how I would do as I only ever really played for a couple months a year during the school season and never had time to join a club team. I wasn't sure if I was at the level to play and compete in the Alberta Collegiate Athletics Conference (ACAC)," Murphy said. It turns out he was good enough and was able to land a spot on the team. "All year long, I saw major improvements from working with my coach and really look forward to seeing how I will fair next year," he said. "As for Futsal, I knew it was something the soccer team competed in during the off season (winter) to keep fit and keep our touch and me personally not being the most skilled player I wasn't sure how I would adapt to the fast-paced game." "At the start of the season, I was really thinking about dropping out of the Futsal program and just focusing on working out and improving myself physically but luckily my coaches convinced me to stay and play. I was really glad they did, it helped me develop so much as a player. "Helping the team bring home a silver medal in the ACAC championships – the first in the history of the college – was amazing. I never thought that at the start of the season when I was debating about dropping Futsal that by the time the season was over I would be named to the ACAC Futsal First Team All-Star Team." Murphy said he enjoyed his first season in the ACAC competing for the Broncos on the trio of squads he joined, while being named Rookie of the Year was a pleasant surprise. "The experience of getting to play and compete in the ACAC was fantastic. I'm really grateful Olds gave me the chance to do so as it helped bring a good balance into my life and the sports were such a great stress relief after being stuck in the class room all day. Personally, I don't think academically I would have done as well as I did if I wasn't playing sports while in school," the young Cochrane athlete said. "Winning Rookie of the Year was awesome. We had a ton of really skilled athletes in all sports and to be named among all of them was a real honour." Like all student-athletes, Murphy will now finish any remaining exams before taking off for summer break. He will use the time to train in order to achieve a couple goals he has set for himself for when he sets foot back on Olds campus in Sept. "For next year, I'm just really looking to go back as fit as possible because all of this year I was battling constant injuries and I wasn't quite as effective as I felt I could be," Murphy said. "I think I will also have to go back next year and play an important leadership role as we are losing quite a few of our long-time veterans and both of our captain,s but we can definitely expect a very competitive outdoor season and should be in playoff contention."
