Regina football player wins NFL Canada Way to Play award
Sienna Berns, a 16-year-old defensive back for the Regina Victorias, has become the first female recipient of the NFL Canada Way to Play Award.
The award is presented weekly during Canadian NFL broadcasts on CTV and recognizes players across the country who exemplify proper play and technique on the field.
Berns, who also plays for Saskatchewan’s provincial U-18 female tackle football team, was chosen for the award during this past week’s set of games.
"I was very grateful and very surprised as well,” Berns said. “My mom is kind of a bad liar. So she was trying to get me to watch this commercial. I was so confused that I didn't know why.”
Berns grew up playing soccer but was drawn in by a different kind of football.
“I always saw boys playing football at recess and always tried to play them, I was not very good,” Berns said. “And I decided to get better, you know, I wanted to play."
She did get better – especially after she joined the Victorias at the earliest possible age.
“She played DB because she was a little bit small. So that kind of put her out on the outside of the field where we tend to put our smaller players,” said Aimee Kowalski, who coaches Berns on the Victorias. “But you know, she's actually grown into a stronger, faster athlete.”
"There's a spot for everybody. It doesn't matter your body type or how, like what your athleticism is,” Berns said.
Driven not by size, but hard work and strong technique, Berns now plays a variety of positions on the defensive side of the ball including linebacker and even defensive line along with special teams.
“She's not a big person, but she can handle that assignment because she does everything, you know, the way that she should be doing it and always at 100 per cent,” Kowalski said. “She's a great form tackler as well as a great ball carrier.”
The Way to Play Award also comes with a $3,000 equipment grant for Regina Minor Football.
Berns hopes her win will inspire other girls to try football. She may be the first, but she doesn’t want to be the last.
Must Watch
Top Videos
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Trudeau says not 'a snowball's chance' Canada would become part of U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 'there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,' on the same day U.S. President-elect Donald Trump declared that he’s open to using 'economic force' to acquire Canada.
1 hour ago
Los Angeles residents flee fire as potentially 'life-threatening, destructive' winds gain strength
Firefighters scrambled to corral flames churning along Los Angeles hillsides as winds gained strength Tuesday across Southern California.
1 hour ago
UPDATED | Patient dies in waiting room at Winnipeg hospital
An investigation is underway after a patient waiting for care died in the waiting room at a Winnipeg hospital Tuesday morning.
42 min ago
Canada has a navy ship near China. Here's what it's like on board
CTV National News is on board the HMCS Ottawa, embedded with Canadian Navy personnel and currently documenting their work in the East China Sea – a region where China is increasingly flexing its maritime muscle. This is the first of a series of dispatches from the ship.
3 hours ago
DEVELOPING Threat against New Westminster courthouse triggers evacuation
A threat against the courthouse in New Westminster triggered evacuations in the city’s downtown Tuesday morning, according to authorities.
29 min ago
B.C. 'childbirth activist' charged with manslaughter after newborn's death
A British Columbia woman who was under investigation for offering unauthorized midwifery services is now charged with manslaughter following the death of a newborn baby early last year.
1 hour ago
UPDATED | Man who exploded Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI, police say
The highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday.
27 min ago
UPDATED | David Eby among premiers heading to Washington to tamp down Trump tariff threat
The 'state of the federal government' following the announcement that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would resign means Canada's premiers are taking the lead in the fight against threatened tariffs from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, British Columbia Premier David Eby said.
56 min ago
Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.
3 hours ago