Janine Helland (2012) - Sports Wall of Fame

Sports Wall of Fame

Janine Helland

Class
Induction

2012
Sport(s)

Pandas Soccer

• Four-time All-Canadian, CWUAA Player of the Year and Panda MVP as a soccer player.
• Won the Universiade scholarship and the Bakewell Trophy as the U of A's most outstanding female athlete in 1992.
• Captain of Canada's national soccer team, playing 47 international matches over 10 years.
• An Alberta All-Star of the World Championship ringette team.
• Involved in soccer with FIFA at the international level for World Cup and Olympic qualifying tournaments.
• Named to Canada’s top 11 all-time women’s national team soccer roster
• Inducted into City of Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame

Janine was born in Edmonton and attended Ross Sheppard high school where she was a prominent member of the soccer team and a standout community ringette participant. At the University of Alberta Janine played for the Pandas soccer team from 1988 to 1992, during which time she helped lead the team to a Canadian university championship in 1989. Among the many honours achieved in Janine’s stellar University of Alberta athletic career were Canadian championship most valuable player (1989); four-time women’s university soccer all-Canadian; Canada West women’s soccer player of the year (1991 and 1992); Panda soccer most valuable player (1991 and 1992); academic all-Canadian (1990 and 1991) and Universiade scholarship recipient, and she won the Edna Bakewell award as the University of Alberta’s female athlete of the year for the 1991-92 season.

Janine was an Alberta team member at the under 18 Canadian championship in 1987 and with the under 23 team in the 1993 Canada Summer Games. Following her Pandas playing days Janine captained the Canadian women’s soccer team at the 1993 Universiade Games held in Buffalo NY. As a ten year competitor with the women’s national soccer program, Janine played in 47 games, during which time she was a team captain and a leader in minutes played. Major international events at which Janine represented Canada include the CONCACAF championships in Haiti (1991) and Montreal (1994) and World Cups in Sweden (1995) and the United States (1999). As part of the Canadian Soccer Association’s centennial celebrations, Janine was selected by fans as a starting defender for the all-time Canadian Women’s soccer team. Janine also played semi-pro soccer in Germany for Brauweiler in 1997-1998.

Janine was a member of the elite amateur Edmonton Angels Soccer club for over ten years, captaining national championship teams in 1995 and 1999. In addition to her celebrated soccer playing career, Janine served as co-head coach of the Grant MacEwan Griffins women’s soccer team (1993-1996) and head coach of the Edmonton Aviators of the United Soccer Women’s League in 2004. For her body of work in women’s soccer, Janine was recognized as one of the Alberta Soccer Association’s top female players during its 2009 Centennial celebrations.

Although ringette was not a university sport when Janine attended the University of Alberta, she represented Edmonton and Alberta at numerous provincial and national championships. Janine was an all star member of the world ringette championship winning team in 1990 (this team has since been inducted into the Alberta Sports Wall of Fame).

Janine continues to serve women’s soccer in an administrative capacity at the national and international levels. She is a FIFA women’s committee member (2004-2012); she was a member of the organizing committee for the FIFA World Cup in China (2007) and Germany (2011) and the under 17 women’s World Cup in New Zealand (2008). She was the Match Commissioner for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament (2008) and the CONCACAF under 20 World Cup Qualifying tournament (2008). Janine is also a continuing member of the Canadian Soccer Association’s women’s committee.

Janine has also worked with KidSport Edmonton, an organization devoted to providing underprivileged children with opportunities to participate in sport.

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