Maya Bukovcan

• Charismatic
• Confident
• Responsible
• Independent
• Driven

In a team, I typically act as a motivator and energy booster. During games, I am always vocal on the court, hyping up my teammates when they make good plays and reassuring them when they make mistakes. When I am on the bench, I stay engaged in the game and am sure to be loud, supporting my team. At practice, I always show up excited and ready to play, motivating the team through my energy. Off the court, I love to have fun with the team and share some laughs.

An athletic highlight that sticks out to me is when I won the Junior Girls Athlete of the Year award at my high school in 2023. The main emotion I felt after receiving the award was pride. I was so proud of myself that all of the early morning and after school practices of tennis, track and volleyball had all paid off. Overall, I was extremely happy, knowing that I had left an impact on athletics at my school and was recognized for it.

Outside of sports, some of my interests include travel and music. I love traveling because it gives me the opportunity to learn first hand about different cultures and social norms, and to appreciate our similarities and differences. I love listening to a wide variety of music and I enjoy live music too. Music allows me to express myself in a way unique to myself.

Some of my role models include Sam Ojie, Michael Jordan and my mom. My coach Sam inspires me to follow my dreams, as he is living proof that one can achieve whatever they set their mind to. Sam was born in Nigeria, and through his determination and hard work, he made it out of his home country to play professional volleyball in Europe, then moved to the US to coach NCAA. His story and his words truly inspire and motivate me to chase my dreams and make them a reality. Michael Jordan is a role model to me because he exemplified excellence. MJ was a true champion with a win at all costs mentality. He always tried to make his teammates better and even in loss, he would still act professionally and congratulate his opponents. My mom is also a role model to me because she exemplifies what it means to be supportive. She has always supported me in everything I do and loves me unconditionally.

As much as my heart is with volleyball, involvement in other sports is very important to me as it keeps me a well rounded athlete and teaches me skills to succeed on and off the court. Two of my secondary sports include track and tennis.

On the track team, I compete in high jump, hurdles and discus. High jump helps me to refine my jumping technique, allowing me to jump higher on the court. Hurdles help me to boost my speed, as well as improve my footwork, from doing track drills, which helps with my blocking and defensive speed and agility on the court. Discus helps me with my shoulder strength, allowing me to hit harder on the court. Tennis helps me with endurance, lateral movement on the court, as well as cognitive training, learning how to read the opponent and find the open space.

The true importance of playing extra sports for me is what goes on in the classroom and at home. With limited time outside of sports, I’ve had to learn to be extremely productive, using all the time I have in class and after school to the best of my ability, to get work done as efficiently as possible, to my standard of quality. It can lead to some late nights here and there, but in the end it always pays off getting marks that I am happy with.

Overall, playing multiple sports not only helps with my physical literacy, but it also helps with my time management skills.

An academic highlight is the academic awards ceremony that happened after my grade 9 (freshman) year. Going into the ceremony, I knew that I would be on the honour roll with distinction (90% or higher average), but what I didn’t know was that my 96.7% average was the highest in the entire school. I was over the moon when receiving the award for the highest average. It was an amazing feeling knowing that all of my hard work and late nights of studying after sports practices had paid off.

I would like to attend a Health Sciences, Biology or BioMedical Sciences program in university, with the long term goal of potentially pursuing Medical School, or working in the pharmaceutical industry.

I envision my life in university to be very busy, yet very balanced between academics, athletics and time with friends. I thrive off of being busy and have developed good time management skills throughout high school. I’m very excited to have a positive and rewarding university experience!