Shannon Spence admired Hines Ward with her family during Pittsburgh Steelers games, but she never imagined the famous wide receiver would one day be honoring her.

The Upper St. Clair High School field hockey and lacrosse player received the Hines Ward Positive Athlete Award during The Hines Ward Show at the end of November. The award is given to high-character athletes in western Pennsylvania to promote the benefits of positivity to young athletes.

Shannon found out she was going to be on the show as she was boarding a plane to go to the Dominican Republic for a community service trip with the high school—one of the many reasons she was chosen for the award.

"I was surprised. It was really awesome," she said. "Just going there and meeting him (Hines Ward). It was the two best experiences of my life (in just a two-week span)."

Shannon revealed that there was plenty of hilarious blooper moments since the show is taped and not live. At first she was nervous, but the crew assured her that Hines Ward—being rather new in the TV business—got nervous, too.

Her favorite part of receiving the award was getting her makeup done by the same artist who worked on The Perks of Being a Wallflower set.

Shannon is now preparing for her last high school lacrosse season and finishing up her college applications. She doesn't know yet if she'll play sports in college, but one thing is for sure:

"I just love sports," she said.

Share your congratulations with Shannon in the comments below.

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook