Suzanne Bertrand's impact on curling continues to echo nearly a year after she passed away.

"She did what she loved,” said her son Chad Cowan, who made multiple appearances at the Tim Horton's Brier, Canada's national men's championship.

"She lived to curl. She lived to compete, she lived to coach and she lived to volunteer, and right up to her last few days, that's exactly what she did, and I'm glad that that's what happened, that's how she did it, because we wouldn't want her to slow down.”

For these reasons, Bertrand will be inducted into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame in the Coach/Builder category at the Sport Yukon Annual Awards Night on Thursday at the Whitehorse Westmark.

Cowan and family members will be there for Bertrand's posthumous induction.

"I'll be pretty emotional about it,” Cowan said.

"Right from the very first day I threw a rock, she was coaching us, my sister and I,” he added of his sister Michele.

"It was a good way to spend time with her. Anytime you can spend time with your parents and get involved in sporting activities is great. I always looked forward to seeing her at the curling club. She was always there to support me.”

Indeed, Bertrand spent countless hours at the Whitehorse Curling Club supporting all athletes, especially the youth.

In 1967, Suzanne moved to Whitehorse to begin her teaching career, and in 1981, began volunteering her time at the old Whitehorse Curling Club.

Her initial involvement as a volunteer was as assistant instructor for the junior curling programs, coaching, mentoring and as an integral part of the fund-raising programs.

There are literally hundreds – if not thousands – of junior curlers that Bertrand's efforts have touched in some way, always ensuring an opportunity to learn the game.

Rose Heisz was one of those curlers impacted by Bertrand's efforts.

Heisz, who played for Bertrand for nearly 15 years, nominated her for the hall of fame induction.

Since retiring from competitive curling in 2005, Heisz wanted to honour her former coach in this way.

"It was like a fleeting-moment thought, then, that it would be nice to have her inducted into the sports hall of fame,” Heisz said. "But life got in the way and I didn't get it done. And then, when I heard that she had cancer and she died, I was devastated that I hadn't done it sooner. It was important for me to get that nomination in this year.”

From the beginning of her coaching career, Bertrand bought into the National Coaching Certification Program, wanting to become as trained and educated about coaching as possible.

Between 1985 and 1994, she trained to become a fully certified Level 3 coach, a Level 2 Master Learning Facilitator and course conductor, as well as the Yukon Curling Association Technical Coordinator.

Between 2005 and the time of death in 2010, she had just four courses remaining to complete her Level 4 NCCP Coaching Certification to become the only Yukon coach in curling – and only a handful in any other Yukon sport – to obtain that level.

"Through all the coaching clinics she had gone to to become a level 4 coach, in the end, it was all mental prep,” Cowan said.

"She was focusing on mental prepping from the very beginning, because she didn't have a lot of size to her: the game of curling doesn't require a lot of strength, it requires a lot of mental ability and concentration and also being able to have stamina, because the games are two and a half, three hours long, and being able to withstand the patience and strategy of the game, which can be very mentally trying.”

Bertrand's focus on mental preparation also influenced Heisz.

"She made me believe that I could make most any shot I wanted in a curling game,” Heisz said, recalling the first time Bertrand held a session for mental preparation at her house: "At that time I had limited experience with that and she totally sold me within an hour. I've been inspired by her ever since.”

Bertrand coached at three consecutive Canada Winter Games (1995, 1999, 2003), three Briers (1999, 2000, 2003), two Yukon/N.W.T. Championships (1993, 2003) and several Arctic Winter Games, winning gold in 1988.

In addition to coaching high-level athletes, Bertrand coordinated and actively instructed numerous programs at the Whitehorse Curling Club, such as test spin, in-school and after-school programs, Tuesday after school league, Little and Junior Rockers Programs and Polar Games, as well as with Special Olympics Curling.

Tracy Bilsky, Sport Yukon executive director, said the Bertrand's induction was a "very easy decision” for the committee.

"When it comes to the amount of time and volunteer hours that she put into a specific sport, and gave selflessly for so many years, all of those people, all of those kids that she worked with – the Special Olympic athletes, the junior curlers and anyone on the Whitehorse Curling Club board or Yukon Curling Association – they see someone who puts in that amount of time and does it, with a lot of enjoyment, when they see that it added so much to her life and to her family's life – it becomes a culture,” Bilsky said.

Involved with the Learn to Curl Clinic since 1986, Bertrand was also the chairperson for the Best Ever Program committee, the mandate for which was to organize as many initiatives as possible for the age-appropriate youth to train for Canada Winter Games and Beyond.

Cowan said his mother's dedication to youth became clearer the older he became.

"You don't really realize it as a kid. The way we realized she was a great coach was probably when we were making it out to the junior championships, her recognition as a coach at that level – being a level 2 coach already – and being recognized by her peers at those competitions,” Cowan said.

"She had a commitment toward teaching kids and educating kids, whether it be on the ice or in the class room.”

Heisz added that Thursday's induction ceremony will mark a special evening.

"For somebody that was only 4'11” tall, she had the roar of a lion and the heart of a giant, and she could just make me believe as an athlete that I was invincible and anything was possible,” Heisz said.

"It was such a loss. I think Trevor Sellars (Whitehorse Curling Club president) said it best…she had little feet, but they were giant shoes to fill after she died. She volunteered endlessly at the curling club. There were probably literally thousands of curlers that have been touched by her in some way. She really believed you get out what you put in.”

And the Yukon's curling community is still getting benefiting.