The Ivan Velan Award was presented at the Annual Awards Banquet to Winnipeg's own ANN THATCHER. The Ivan Velan Award is presented annually for "outstanding contribution to Racquetball in Canada".

Ann is certainly a very deserving recipient of this prestigious award, having served for the past 3 years as Manitoba's representative to the CRA Board of Directors and Secretary on the CRA Executive, the past year and one-half on the Recreation Committee, and is currently CRA's representative on CPRO's Executive and Chairperson of CRA's new Membership Committee. Ann has also contributed on no small scale to the Manitoba Racquetball Association's success in the past few years, being a diligent worker, excellent spokesperson and a great resource person through her contacts at the Manitoba Sports Federation.

Ann is known across Canada for her friendly manner, diligence, efficiency, and most of all, her unique Racquetball stroke.