Ottawa Sportspage

“I wish some day that I can pay allof them back.”SOCCER JOURNEY LEADS TO BRAZIL

The Ottawa Fury U16 player mayhave taken the first step in that quest thispast September when he was invited totrain with the U16 squad of the CruzeiroEsporte Clube – a historic soccer club inBelo Horizonte that plays in the topBrazilian league.

Woodroffe soccer team’s connectionwith the two-time Brazilian leaguechampions started in 2009, when an ex-change student who played for the Tigers

turned out to be the son of Cruzeiro’sclub president.

The Woodroffe Tigers went on a 10-day trip to visit Cruzeiro later that year,and while Yoseke was too young totravel on that occasion, Nelson – theGrade 10 student’s older brother and soc-cer mentor who used to dress for OttawaSouth United – was a Tigers player at thetime, and got a taste of the Brazilian soc-cer life.

Two years later, it was the youngersensation’s turn to fly out to South Amer-ica. Initially, Yoseke was only supposedto train with the club for two weeks, but

after impressing the Cruzeiro coaches,his Brazilian stay was extended to fourmonths.

“He’s maturing and he still has a lotto learn, but the basic premise I got fromCruzeiro was that he has a lot of poten-tial,” explains Blackwell. “They’re pre-pared to give him the opportunitybecause they see in Nevello a personwho is a team player. He’s calm, willingto listen, and is intelligent on the ball,which are key ingredients to make it as aprofessional soccer player.”

p. 2

TEENS MAKE CASE FOR 2016

Canadian Olympic swim trials bronzemedalist Karyn Jewell missed out onLondon, but set the stage for a run at Rio.

p. 5-6

GIANT GYMNASTICS CHAMPS

Many local gymnasts are top contendersfor the biggest Ontario championshipsever, set for April 19-22 in Ottawa.

p. 10

LIFELONG WISH GETS CLOSER

Deaf-blind speed skater Kevin Frost willrace in an event strongly endorsed by theInternational Skating Union in Scotland.

p. 4

FURIOUS FINISH FOR ODWHA

Goals with 1:05 and seven seconds leftlifted Nepean into an overtime thrilleragainst Ottawa with the title on the line. YOSEKE continued on p. 8

From war-torn Sudan throughEgypt and eventually here toCanada , Brazil is now the lat-est stop in Nevello Yoseke’slife as a budding soccer star.

From a young age, Nevello Yosekeknew he wanted to become a professionalsoccer player.

And if the 16-year-old’s recent four-month stint with a Brazilian Série Aclub’s youth team is any indication, it’s awish that could become a reality.

“Soccer is like my girlfriend,” smilesthe amicable Woodroffe High School stu-dent. “It’s my everything. I love it.”

That Yoseke is able to talk about a ca-reer as a soccer star stands in stark con-trast to the first years of his life inwar-torn Sudan.

“Back in my country, there are a lotof great players, but they have a miser-able life and can’t go anywhere,” notesYoseke. “I’ve been given a great oppor-tunity.”

When he was three years old,Yoseke’s mother escaped from Sudan toEgypt, where she raised her five childrenin an environment that proved to be justas tough. As a single mother working asa housekeeper, she had to leave a fullday’s food on the table for her young kidsbefore leaving for work at 5 a.m. and re-turning late in the evening. She remem-bers stones being thrown at her family.

NEW LIFE BEGINS IN OTTAWAIn 2006, the Yosekes’ lives finally

took a turn for the better – their refugeeapplication to Canada had been acceptedat last. The hard road didn’t stop then forYoseke’s mom as she worked multiplejobs for cleaning companies, but thestrong desire to give her children thechance at a bright future appears to becoming to fruition – on top of the poten-tial for a soccer star, her oldest daughter isstudying at the University of Ottawa,with aspirations of attending medicalschool and working for Doctors WithoutBorders.

“Nevello’s mom is an amazingwoman with a great work ethic,” high-lights Woodroffe Tigers soccer coachMatthew Blackwell. “She’s done so muchfor her family, to bring them to Canada.”

Yoseke feels fortunate to be where heis at the moment, explaining that nothingwould have been possible without thecontributions of many along the way.

“I really appreciate everyone who hashelped me,” says Yoseke, who receivedassistance to pay for his flights fromBrazil. “Obviously, coach [Blackwell], hehas been like a second father to me. Andmost of all, my mom, she has alwaysbeen there for me.

April 2012Vol. 7SportsOttawa.comThe HeartbeatHeartbeat of the Ottawa Sports Community

Global Talent

Sudanese soccer sensation Nevello Yoseke spent four months training with a Cruzeiro Esporte Clube youth team in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

By Jaehoon Kim

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

sportspage-april12_Layout 1 3/4/12 8:37 AM

Randy Turner is a warrior – in hisday job, and also during the nighttimegig that is playing a bigger and biggerrole in the mixed martial artist’s life.

From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Turnerteaches unarmed combat for the Cana-dian Forces. In the evening, the 33-year-old spends the majority of histime training at the Ottawa Academyof Martial Arts, plus he travels toMontreal twice a week to wrestle.

“It’s pretty good. I’m fighting al-most full-time,” notes Turner, whobegan training at OAMA in 2007 –his first formal exposure to the sport.

Turner sees many parallels be-tween his work career and his buddingMMA career – it’s a similar psycho-logical challenge, and both require dis-cipline and strong physique.

“In order to do well in mixed mar-tial arts, you’ve really got to commit alot of time, and sacrifice certain thingsto practice all the disciplines,” explainsthe soldier of nearly 15 years. “In themilitary, there’s a lot of sacrifices to bemade, and sometimes unfortunatelyit’s the ultimate sacrifice.”

The veteran of numerous tours ofAfghanistan understands that realityfirst hand, having lost several friendsin battle.

“They help motivate me duringtraining camps, getting prepared,”Turner adds. “I sometimes think about

them, and if I’m having a bad day or alazy day, I think, hey, if those guys werehere, they would do anything to be inmy shoes and be given the opportunity,so it kind of kicks me in the butt.”

Turner will take part in one of thefeature fights on a Friday, April 20 cardat the Casino Lac Leamy, where he’llcompete for the Wreck MMA ban-tamweight (135 lb.) title – the short-term objective he’s set for himself.Turner’s long-term goal is to fight inthe Ultimate Fighting Championship,and Wreck promoter Nick Castigliabelieves that very well could happenwith a strong performance in Gatineau.

“To be given that opportunitywould be incredible,” smiles Turner,thanking sponsors, army friends,

OAMA instructors and students for theirrole in his success. “At the same time,I’m staying realistic to the fact there’s alot of talented fighters out there.”

Turner is expecting a tough fightfrom reigning champion Eric Perezsince he knows his opponent’s home ofWinnipeg breeds tough individualsafter living there six years himself.

Some of the other headline fightson the Wreck card – part of The ScoreFighting Series – include Ottawa’sMark “Boots” Holst battling fellowUFC veteran Gideon Ray, local fighterNabil “The Thrill” Khatib facing de-veloping prospect Brandt Dewsberry,and Score Fighting Series commenta-tor Robin Black taking on Chris Myrafor a second time.

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ELITE

There were no Olympic berths wonby local swimmers at the Canadian teamtrials March 27-April 1 in Montreal – adifficult result to swallow for 26-year-oldMatt Hawes, but for a pair of Ottawateenagers, coming within a sniff of a tripto London hinted at their strong potentialto land a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

“I’m really excited for the next fouryears,” said 18-year-old Karyn Jewell,who won a bronze medal in the women’s400-metre individual medley swimmingout of Lane 8. “I never really thought2012 was an option. I was always told2016 is my shot, and I still believe that,but it was amazing that I could come inhere and get this experience.”

The Grade 12 St. Peter Catholic High

School student finished 3.01 secondsback of first place in her signature event,scoring a personal-best time of 4:45.26 inthe biggest race of her life, not to mentiona likely trip to Barcelona and France atthe end of May for top junior athletes.

“I was so happy that I ended upthird,” smiled Jewell, who loved havingher family in stands along with GatineauPhénix clubmates that sported her namepainted on their chests. “I did not wantthe girl to out-touch me because it waslike, ‘There’s a trip to Spain on the line!’”

The athlete Jewell edged to the finishline was Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson ofthe Nepean-Kanata Barracudas, butnothing was about the mask the elationshe felt after improving her personal-besttime in the event by four seconds – a featshe also achieved in the preliminaries toreach the Olympic trials final.

“I’m kind of in awe right now,”beamed the 16-year-old John McCraeSecondary School student who alsoplaced fourth in the 200 m IM, finishingonly 1.61 seconds away from first place.“Just the fact that I was even at this meetwas so exciting, and then when I madethe final, I was even more excited.

“I went in there and did my best, and

I’m really happy with it.”HEARTBREAKING MEET FOR HAWES

Racing in some of Canada’s mostcompetitive events, a pair of backstrokebronze medals offered little consolation toHawes, who was gunning for nothinglower than a London 2012 Olympic berth.

“It’s not very good. I was expectingto do a lot better,” said Hawes, who worethe colours of his father’s Ravens of Car-leton Swim Club at the trials. “At the endof the day, I gave it my all and fell short.”

Hawes had taken a unique ap-proach leading up to the event, elect-

ing to train at the University of Sydney inAustralia shortly after last year’s worldchampionships.

“I’m 26 years now and I’ve beengoing the same time for awhile now, so Ithought take a chance in a big year, maybelearn something new and hopefully some-thing great will come of it,” Hawes ex-plained. “Australia is known worldwideto have the best swimmers. I feel like I im-proved tremendously, but I just fell short.”

Hawes failed to crack the two-minutebarrier in his signature 200 m backstrokeevent – well off his 2009 national recordtime of 1:57.34 – to place third, while

University of Ottawa Gee-Gees athleteAdam Best also swam in the ‘A’ final,placing eighth.

Meagan Michie, a club teammate ofBest’s with the Greater Ottawa Kingfish,also laid a bit of groundwork towards the2016 Games by competing in the Para-lympic team trials and earning a per-sonal-best time in her first race.

“I got a best time, so I’m prettyhappy. You can’t go anywhere wrongwith that,” noted Michie, who wasn’t se-riously expecting a trip to London was inthe cards. “It’s an awesome event. I re-ally loved being here.”

Teens narrowly miss London, set stage for RioBy Dan Plouffe

Career as soldier drives Ottawa fighter in MMA

She only squeaked into the ‘A’final as the last qualifier, butKaryn Jewell rose to the chal-lenge in the women’s 200 m IM,placing third at the CanadianOlympic team swim trials in Mon-treal at Olympic Stadium .

NKB swimmer ErikaSeltenreich-Hodgson.

PHOTO: DANPLOUFFE

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

Canadian Forces soldier RandyTurner will fight for the WreckMMA bantamweight title April20 at Casino Lac Leamy.

By Dan Plouffe

PHOTO PROVIDED


The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees track-and-field team enjoyed unprecedented success atMarch’s Canadian university national champi-onships, but the Ottawa Lions club athletes havenow already shifted their attention to a bigger prize– securing London 2012 Olympic berths.

The Gee-Gees relay men turned some heads atthe university nationals by winning the 4x200 me-tres – in national record time – and then repeatingthe gold medal-winning performance hours laterwith the same 4x400 m lineup of Michael Robert-

son, Devin Biocchi and Tolu and Segun Makinde“You don’t see that often, for sure, but it just

shows the versatility of these athletes,” says coachGlenroy Gilbert, who was expecting nothing less thanwhat they accomplished, however. “With a brutalschedule as well, they were able to get the job done.”

Individually, Gee-Gee Jennifer Perrault won1,000 m gold and 600 m bronze, Robertson took 300m silver, and Sekou Kaba earned 60 m hurdles gold.

Despite the impressive feat of winning a uni-versity title in his first try as a CIS rookie, Kaba’sOlympic prospects are still a little up in the air sincehe is still waiting to receive his Canadian citizen-ship. The Guinea native who came to Ottawa fouryears ago from the U.S. recently wrote to his Mem-ber of Parliament in hopes of moving his applica-tion along, although he’s managed to adopt a mostlystress-free attitude towards the situation.

“If it comes, then it comes,” states the third old-est of seven Kaba siblings, explaining that he does-n’t want to lose focus on his training by worryingabout citizenship issues. “It’s a blessing to be in thisposition to be mentioned as a candidate to representthe country. It’s the biggest thing ever in any sport.So hopefully I make those standards, and hopefullyget my passport as well.”

OLYMPIC ROAD MORE DIFFICULTDespite the young talent in the club, Lions head

coach Andy McInnis isn’t sure that will translate intoany Olympic berths.

“If this were 20 years ago, I’d say we have a greatchance,” McInnis reasons. “But since the dollarsshrunk, or Own The Podium thought Olympism is

not about making good people better people and theonly reason you go to the Olympics is to step on thepodium, then no, I don’t think our chances are good.”

McInnis “strongly disagrees” with the country’scurrent approach, highlighting Gilbert as a prime ex-ample of someone who took three Olympics “to get itright” before winning 4x100 m relay gold in Atlanta.

Despite being eligible for the more accessible“rising star” criteria, Robertson would prefer to avoidany politics and simply go out and win the Canadiantrials at the end of June in a world-class time.

“I’m going to go for the next (Olympics) too,but things are looking positive,” says the 22-year-old future uOttawa human kinetics masters studentwho was recently recognized as Gee-Gees male var-sity athlete of the year. “Right now I’m on the pathto give myself the best chance. I just have to keepthat mentality until the summertime so big thingscan happen.”

The other best bet to make a run at London out

of the Gee-Gees is Segun Makinde. The 20-year-oldran a 20.72-second 200 m race into a headwind atlast September’s World University Games – not toofar off the ‘A’ and ‘B’ Olympic qualification stan-dards of 20.55 and 20.65.

“It’s a really great opportunity for me,” says theColonel By Secondary School grad. “I mean, fouryears ago, I was in high school. Seeing how I pro-gressed and all the work since then, now I actuallyhave a really good, real chance to make the team.

”It’s exciting and sort of scary at the same time.I hope it works out.”

A few more veteran Ottawa Lions carry betterodds at reaching the Games. Sprinters Esther Akin-sulie and Seyi Smith were part of Canadian relayteams at last year’s world championships, whilehammer thrower Sultana Frizell is a sure-fire bet forLondon, having just shattered her Canadian recordof 72.24 m in March with a 75.04 m toss that ranksher second best in the world for 2012.

3

OTTAWA SPORTSPAGE –APRIL EDITION

UNIVERSITIES

Ottawa has fast become the basket-ball capital of Canada.

The Carleton Ravens men’s team haswon eight university national titles in thelast 10 years, including this year’s utterlydominant perfect season that ended withan 86-67 victory over Alberta in thechampionship final last month.

The University of Ottawa Gee-Geeswomen capped an exceptional season bywinning bronze in March at the CanadianInteruniversity Sport championships.With a team that coach and players thinkcould have won it all, only a last-minuteloss in the semi-final cost them the chanceto prove it.

The Gee-Gees men, meanwhile,have consistently been second in theprovince only to Carleton, and are oftenthe only team to challenge the Ravensduring regular season play.

Long the humble kid sister to themen’s team, the Ravens women had wontwo OUA East titles in a row before fin-ishing second to the Gee-Gees this year,while maintaining high national rankingsthroughout the season.

Algonquin College is getting in onthe act too. National college silver medal-ists in 2011, the Thunder women won theOntario title this year and made it to thenational tournament before losing in thebronze medal qualifier, while the Thun-der men finished second in their division.

“It’s somewhere where you want toplay now,” Gee-Gees women’s coachAndy Sparks explains succinctly.

Carleton professor Joe Scanlon – aformer coach who just may have watchedmore Ottawa university hoops over theyears than anyone else – says it all startedwith Ravens men’s coach Dave Smart.

“To attract good players, you have tohave a good team. And to have a goodteam, you have to attract good players,”outlines Scanlon, explaining that Smart’sroots as a club coach helped him con-vince several of his young athletes to joinhim at Carleton. “That helped them get ateam that was competitive, which thenmade the team more attractive.”

The coach then built on that earlysuccess by creating a team-oriented sys-tem and developing players who boughtinto it, Scanlon adds.

Building from club basketball is acommon theme in Ottawa’s small-townatmosphere. Sparks has used a similarstrategy with his Gee-Gees women. Thisseason, the well-known long-time Ottawaclub basketball and high school coach re-cruited several upper-year players, in-cluding fifth-year standout Beth Lennoxand fourth-year star Jenna Gilbert, totransfer and play for him – a proposal thatwas successful in large part due to theirpast experience together.

Gilbert was at La Salle University, an

NCAA Division I school in Philadelphia,where she had a full athletic scholarship,but the Merivale High School grad de-cided to return to Ottawa when the LaSalle program didn’t wind up being asstrong or competitive as she’d expected.

“I’d played for Andy Sparks in thepast,” the nursing student notes. “So Iknew that if I came back, I was going tobe playing for a good coach, who wasvery competitive and wanted to win –which is what I want to do.”

Familiarity with their coaches is onlyone of the attractions for top players. Ath-letes coming to Carleton and U of O have

an opportunity to learn from the best onthe court too.

“Five days a week, the practice guysare getting a chance to practice againstsome of the best players in Canada,”Scanlon notes, highlighting the impor-tance of those committed practices in lay-ing the foundation for ongoing success asformer practice players become the newleaders each year.

“A lot of people think Carleton haspretty poor opposition through the sea-son,” Scanlon adds with a smirk. “Whatthey fail to realize is that they have verygood opposition, except on weekends.”

Ravens men spur Ottawa college hoops success

GGs track athletes smell Olympics after strong CI’s

By Ian Ewing

By Dan Plouffe

Hockey player Fannie Desforges took her blades toa more adventurous setting last month. The Univer-sity of Ottawa Gee-Gees assistant captain cruiseddown the icy Plains of Abraham slopes in front of over100,000 Red Bull Crashed Ice spectators in QuebecCity and came away as the women’s event champ.

FIILE PHOTO

uOttawa’s Queen of Crash

FILE PHOTOSegun Makinde.

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE


When Nakkertok Nordic Ski Clubwon the club banner at the Canadiancross-country skiing championships forthe third year in a row, it was the onlything familiar about the competition.

Race organizers chose the third weekof March for the Quebec City event atMont Ste. Anne in order to make the na-tional team's presence possible. The teammembers stopped in for one more weekof racing after a long five-month WorldCup season in Europe.

Competing alongside the Nordic skiworld's equivalent to rock stars – as wellas record-breaking temperatures in the 20s– made the experience one the athleteswill never forget. Dehydration and poorlyplaced puddles were among the chal-lenges facing the 52 Nakkertok skiers.

In addition to unprecedented sun-tans, the athletes returned home withphotos and autographs from some ofCanada's most successful athletes:Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, ChandraCrawford, Len Valjas and Nakkertok-bred Perianne Jones.

“It was so nice tocome home to be at na-tionals,” noted Jones,who grew up skiing onthe club’s trails in Cant-ley. “Our national teamhas been so successfulthis year. There werelineups of a hundredkids to see Alex andDevon.”

During this sea-son’s World Cup loop,Jones won a team sprintbronze in Italy and alsoenjoyed a career-best 12th-place individ-ual result. The 27-year-old followed thatup by winning the overall seniorwomen's title at nationals.

“It was crazy,” Jones said of the un-expected weather. “I never skied in +25[degrees Celsius] weather before.”

Katherine Stewart-Jones said shenearly quit during her 10-kilometreskate-skiing race when the temperaturerose to 20 degrees, making the snow dif-ficult to negotiate.

“It was really hot and I was thinkingof quitting but I kept at it because I don'tlike to not finish a race,” explained Stew-art-Jones.

The Nakkertok racer ended up witha 10th-place finish, paving the way to ajunior women’s aggregate title. But it

was a Canadian hero rather than her re-sults or the national title that made herbest memory of the Canadian champi-onships.

“Devon [Kershaw] gave me myaward,” Stewart-Jones beamed. “I wasso happy.”

Lisgar Collegiate Institute studentBen Wilkinson-Zan of Nakkertok re-membered a particularly tough 10 kmclassic race the most due to the condi-tions, although it was his first-place skatesprint result he appreciated most on hisway to third place in the junior boys’ ag-gregate standings.

“The classic race was not great but Ihave to say the sprint race was,” Wilkin-son-Zan recalled. “It was a day wheneverything connected. My mind and

body worked perfectly together. When Iarrived in the stadium, no one was close.It was a good feeling.”

Nakkertok coach Kieran Jones hasattended seven nationals over the courseof his career as skier and coach, butthought this year’s edition stood out be-cause of the national team’s presence.

“These guys are the best that theycan be and for the athletes to see them skilike that at nationals made a huge differ-ence,” added coach Jones. “It definitelyshowed in their enthusiasm.”

Nakkertok skier SebastienTownsend also placed third in the juniormen's aggregate competition, while othertop finishers from the club includedMichelle Workun-Hill, Emilie Stewart-Jones and Dominique Moncion-Groulx.

Afterbecomingthe firstteam towin back-t o - b a c kr e g u l a r s e a s o ncrowns atthe Minorand MajorBantam levels, the Eastern Ontario Wild captured the prize that eluded them last yearby winning the Ontario East Minor Hockey League 'AAA' championship with a 7-3 series points victory over the Ottawa Senators in the playoff finals.

The Ottawa Jr. 67's Minor Bantams started with a loss and three ties in their cham-pionship series with Ottawa Valley, but won the final two games 5-3 and 4-2, while

the Minor Midget Jr. 67's also prevailed over Ottawa Valley with atie and three wins.

Visit SportsOttawa.com for more coverage.

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The final blow of the Ottawa Sen-ators’ Provincial Women’s HockeyLeague season certainly carried someserious sting behind it.

Staring down elimination twice inthe first playoff round against Whitby,the underdog Senators advanced to thenext round with a pair of 2-1 victories.

Facing a bigger 0-2 hole againstan even more powerful opponent witha monster between the pipes, Ottawaclimbed back with a pair of road vic-tories to force a deciding game in thebest-of-five series.

With the score tied 1-1 thanks to agoal by leading scorer Jessica Harveyand a berth in the league final four onthe line, it was an Aurora marker with

20 seconds left that knocked out the10th seeds from the nation’s capital.

“We showed a lot of character,”says Senators coach Luke Richardson.“All the girls made a great effort.”

The Sens dropped off a little aftera hot 6-1-1 start to the season as theystruggled with injuries and then offen-sive production, but rounded back intoform near the end of their 14-14-6 reg-ular season.

“With the way the girls respondedat the end of the year, (the playoff run)didn’t surprise me, but I was reallypleased,” notes Richardson, adding thatthey were a dangerous team riding anunderdog feeling. “It’s a joy to coachthis group. These girls are great.”

Richardson expects that every oneof the graduating Senators will get the

chance to play university or collegehockey, with eight or nine out of 11 al-ready committed to schools and theothers still assessing options.

“This league does a great job pro-moting both NCAA and CIS paths,”highlights Richardson, whose daugh-ter, Morgan, will attend Cornell andplay for the Big Red. “It’s a great wayto go. You can play high-level sportsthat you love and get a great educationat the same time.”

The Nepean Wildcats also have anumber of players moving on to thenext level. Nepean stole one gamefrom heavily-favoured Stoney Creekin their first-round playoff series be-fore bowing out. The BluewaterHawks wound up winning the PWHLchampionship.

Wild ride continues for Eastern Ontario Major Bantams

COMMUNITY CLUBSPlayoff stinger for PWHL Sens

Nakkertok cooks up 3rd-straight title at toasty XC ski nats

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

By Dan Plouffe

By Anne Duggan

Nakkertok’s Katherine Stewart-Jones cools off at cross-country ski nationals where temperatures hit +20 C.

PHOTO PROVIDED

PHOTO: GEORGE MCTAGGART

With her career as an OttawaSenators PWHL defendernow in the books, captainCydney Roesler will continueher career with the QuinnipiacBobcats in Connecticut.

of goals, assists, and other accomplishments foreach season. My dad, being a sports psycholo-gist, knew the benefits of developing mental ex-ercises to achieve better performance.

Having clear goals is often something we thinkwe have, but really they are vague and not de-tailed. Have you ever said or wrote down howmany goals you would like to score this year? Didyou also consider how many shots you need totake each game, or where on the ice you wouldtake these shots to have the best scoringchances, or how you can improve your practiceplay to make you a better scorer?

I can remember when I was playing for NiagaraUniversity, we had a person come in and set goalsfor us for a game. If we wanted to get a shutout,he had us say we were not going to allow anyshots, along with how many blocked shots wewould have. This may be a little extreme, but aslong as you keep striving for the goal, you have abetter chance of coming close than not settinggoals at all.

My goal for the summer is to have an even moresuccessful August 20-24th Doc Hockey Camp fordeveloping players than I did in March, and I havethe mindset and the goals broken down to do it.

“Wow did you seethat goal? That wasa highlight reel goal,goal of the year!”

“Ya dad/mom – Iwant to score goalslike that and I wantto play in the NHL!”

It may not always play out this very way butmany times there is this hope for both parent andchild to have the opportunity to play and live thelife of an NHL player. The question is how?

A good start would be goal setting. This topicvery much piggy-backs my previous article re-garding mental preparation. In my meeting withDoug Smith, he reminded me how I was taught toset preliminary goals that would enhance andhopefully fulfill my ultimate goals.

When former NHLer Doug Smith was first diag-nosed as a quadriplegic, his goal was to becomeambulatory again and to go home and be with hisfamily. He started with mental visualization andmeditation, and received help from others.

The first goal was to get some movement, andyes the small toe movements came. Next he wasable to sit up on his own, and furthermore, catcha ball off a wall. He was not without setbacks: doc-tors wrote in his chart that they did not feel hewould regain his full body function, and later thepassing of his mother was also discouraging. Al-though, with established goals clear in his mind,he would successively regain full body functionand his family life again.

As I was growing up, my father implementeddetailed objectives with me for a certain number

Doc Hockey Corner

--By Dr. Shayne Baylis, Doc Hockey

Visit dochockey.ca for more information.

@doc_hockey

doc hockey

GOALS and DREAMS: GOALS and DREAMS: How will you get there?How will you get there?

Doc Hockey Rayvens Summer Hockey CampBob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex - Orléans, Aug. 20-24


The enthusiasm at local clubs has reached aboiling point as Ottawa gets set to host the biggestOntario artistic gymnastics championships in theprovince’s history from April 19-22 at the new CECentre near the airport.

The host club is the Nepean-Corona School ofGymnastics, who turned a long-standing desire tosee a combined event between the men and twogroups of women into a reality.

“Every year we send kids to three differentprovincials,” explains meet director Penny Fife, not-ing the travel costs and time required to send staff to

three events was a burden. “We thought, wouldn’t itbe nice to go to one event? We thought it would bea great thing for the province to do.”

So the Nepean-Corona team embarked on an“amazing adventure” to recruit upwards of 400 vol-unteers and to coordinate the setup of three separategyms in one site, which will require three transporttrucks’ worth of SA gymnastics equipment to ac-commodate around 800 girls and 300 boys for thefour-day event with a total of 15 sessions.

“We’re really excited for it, and what’s anothergood word? Terrified!” Fife laughs. “The enormityof this has never been done in Ontario. It’s huge. It’slike a big jigsaw puzzle we’re piecing together, andwe want it a really memorable event for our gym-nasts at a beautiful facility.”

Provincials is the major highlight of the seasonfor many of the young athletes set to compete in cat-egories ranging from provincial levels 5 to 9 andfrom age nine to 14+ for the girls, and provincial

levels 1 through 5 on the boys’ side.MASSIVE PREPERATION WORK FOR ATHLETES

There are also the national and high-perfor-mance streams, which will feature Nepean’s starproduct Sam Zakutney, last year’s Canadian cham-pion in the argo division who’s now moved up tothe tyro category. Zakutney puts in 22 hours a weekat his club, on top of physical training.

“It’s the only sport where you can just challengethe human ability,” says the well-spoken Grade 8Franco-Cité high school sports-études student whowould likely make a killing setting up an arm-wrestling booth at provincials, judging by the size ofhis biceps. “I never thought that I’d be so flexible orhave so much muscle. I’m really impressed at whatthe sport does to you. It gets you into taking on chal-lenges and new skills.”

Zakutney isn’t letting the pressure of being thetop performer from the host club get to him.

“Even if there’s more people watching, I’ll stillbe comfortable,” adds the athlete who missed anElite Canada competition earlier this year due to aback injury. “I’ll feel at home so I won’t be asstressed.”

Others such as Nepean-Corona’s Danielle Doan

welcome not having to travel as far as last year whenprovincials were in Windsor.

“It was 10 hours away and I got sick that com-petition, so it wasn’t the best,” the Grade 8 Pierre-Savard high school recalls. “Having it in Ottawa isso exciting. It’s going to be really big, and reallycool.”

Scores of local gymnasts have the chance atwinning medals at provincials, including AnnaMeech and Dianna McAllister, as well as JamieLeFort and Manisha Blasketvich, who already owna trio of first-place finishes from provincial qualify-ing meets.

“It’s not hockey, but we like to call it a hat trick,”smiles LeFort, a Grade 8 Mother Theresa HighSchool student. “I want to keep doing well andmaintain my ranking. I’m pretty nervous, but I’mexcited too.”

5OTTAW

A SPORTSPAGE –APRIL EDITION

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The 'AA' goldm e d a l - w i n n i n gGisèle-Lalonde girls'volleyball team ledthe national capital'scontingent of highschool sports teamsin March’s OFSAAchampionships.

“Our players will surely remember this forsome time to come,” says coach Marcel Martin,whose seniors will have a chance to go 4-for-4 intheir OFSAA volleyball careers next year.

Grade 10 Samuel-Genest student Theresa El-Lati won an OFSAA wrestling silver, as did St.Paul’s Torin MacFadyen, whose older brother Adamcaptured gold, while Hillcrest's Patrick Barton (sil-ver), South Carleton’s Kailan Clark and Bell’s SaayaMachino (both bronze) were swimming medalists.

West Carleton's Hannah Schmidt and SouthCarleton's Allison Leeming both won multiplemedals in alpine skiing, the Canterbury girls' rinkof Kimberly Gannon, Mary Valair, MargaretBrennan, Sara Goodkey and Tatianna Hywarrenearned curling bronze, and the St. Joseph Jaguarstook antique-bronze for fourth place at the‘AAA/AAAA’ girls' hockey championships.

The national capital association also staged anoutstanding OFSAA 'AAAA' boys' basketballchampionships early in March. Both local entriesfrom Louis-Riel and St. Patrick's reached the quar-terfinal round of the high school provincials.

FIILE PHOTO

Gisèle-Lalonde repeat goldleads Ottawa OFSAA chargeJonathan Arse-

nault is a fairly quietteenager, but themoment the Grade 9Béatrice-Deslogeshigh school studentjumps on a trampo-line, he's as expres-sive as can be.

“He's pretty mo-tivated and he obvi-ously loves the sport.He's always improv-ing,” says SpringAction coach Heather Ross-McManus, whose clubhosted an invitational event March 31-April 1 foraround 20 of their own athletes and 50 visitors. “Hehas all of his basics and build-up ready, so as soon ashe's perfected one skill, he's ready to learn the next.”

Arsenault, who placed first in both of this sea-son's Ontario Cup events, sometimes finds himselfin the same competition as Olympic silver medal-ist Jason Burnett.

“Sometimes it can feel a little intimidating.Olympians are competing against you,” smiles the14-year-old whose long-term goal is to reach theOlympics, like his coach did in 2004. “But you justtry to have fun.”

Along with other top teammates such asKarine Halpenny, Amelia Palidwor, Kelly Bran-nen and Steven Wade, Arsenault will also competein May's national championships in Saskatchewanwith an eye on representing Canada at October'sIndo Pacific Championships in Australia.

Springing for the top of Canada

After 2-decade absence, Ottawa to host largest provincials ever

Locals shine at Shewfelt meet in CalgaryMirroring the man after

whom the event is named, threeOttawa gymnasts came homewith gold medals from the KyleShewfelt Invitational near theend of March in Calgary.

Taylor Jackle Spriggs of Ot-tawa Gymnastics Centre placedfirst all-around in the nationalopen category, while OGCteammate Bruno Webster wongold on vault en route to fourthall-around in the national youthdivision, and Paolo Nera of

Tumblers Gymnastics Centrewon the pommel horse andplaced third overall in the Level3, 12-and-under class.

It was a big show put on byformer Olympic gold medalistShewfelt, and a memorable ex-perience in front of a big crowdfor the participants.

“My vault was beingrecorded on the big screen, so Ikind of saw myself running outof the corner of my eye, whichkind of psyched me out,” recallsWebster. “I was proud to actu-ally land it. I was kind of sur-prised. Usually my vault is alittle crooked.”

When asked for his feelingson the gold medal win in Cal-gary, Jackle Spriggs’ first thoughtwas that his rings performancecould have been better.

“My floor wasn’t that greateither,” adds the Grade 12 stu-dent who travels daily to West-boro from Arnprior to train atOGC, explaining that the con-stant quest for improvement iswhat made the difference inwinning the pommel horseevent. “That was just from

preparation and practice.”Despite a gap of around two

full points on his nearest com-petitor, Jackle Spriggs’ pommelhorse routine was in fact “a littleshaky at the end,” says OGCcoach Colin Richardson, whogot to lead the Ontario team atthe event thanks to his athlete’svictory at the provincial qualify-ing competition earlier this sea-son at OGC.

“He can still score higher,”notes Richardson.

PHOTO PROVIDEDFILE PHOTOPaolo Nera.Bruno Webster.

PHOTOS: DAN PLOUFFE

By Dan Plouffe

PHOTO:DAN PLOUFFE

GYMNASTICS PREVIEW continued on p. 8


Over 380 gymnasts competed at thepopular Tumblers Classic meet in Or-leans, but there was only one athlete whocould lay claim to a full sweep of goldmedals in all four apparatuses.

Tumblers athlete Makiya Plante wasvery thankful it was a competition at herown club not far from home since shenearly missed her first event, thinkingshe was in a later flight.

“The judges asked me if I was readyto go because I was a little late, and I saidyes,” recounts the Grade 8 Louis-Rielhigh school student who began her stringof gold medals on the uneven bars in theLevel 6, Age 13+ category. “I think I didreally good job. I didn’t think I was goingto get all gold on everything.”

There was one other gymnast whocame close to equaling Plante’s cleansweep – Lily Ditomasso from the OttawaGymnastics Centre, who placed third onvault and first in the rest in the Level 6,Age 11/12 all-around competition.

“I was starting a new level and I was-n’t expecting (any medals), so when Iheard my name, I was like, ‘What?’” re-calls Ditomasso, whose surprise was evi-dent as teammates gave her a loud ovationatop the podium. “It’s my fourth yearcompeting, but it’s never been that loud.”

Ditomasso’s success also came

against long odds – the Grade 7 studentat W. Erskine Johnston Public School inKanata battles scoliosis (a curvature ofthe spinal cord), although she notes thatgymnastics can be more therapeutic thanburdensome.

“It’s actually the best for it,” saysDittomasso, who wears a brace at night,and another when she’s competing. “Ithurts my hips sometimes, but otherwiseit’s good. I love gymnastics.”

The event had different stakes fordifferent athletes. For some as young asfive in the development levels, it was achance to put their training on display in

front of an audience, while the top ath-letes used the invitational as practice fora bigger event to come April 19-22 forthe provincial championships.

“It’s still important to them and theywant to try and make sure they’re hittingeverything as solidly as they can,” high-lights Tumblers coach Karl Balisch, whosaw a few tears on top of smiles fromsome of his gymnasts when events didn’tgo according to plan. “They care a lotabout their performances.”

There were many “strong” showingsfrom Tumblers athletes, who topped thestandings in seven categories, and the

12th edition of theClassic also enjoyed

a big boost from the community, localbusinesses and restaurants.

“That kind of support from thecommunity is so important to a non-profit organization such as ours,”adds Balisch, whose event filled upearly and had a record number ofparticipants this year. “We try to keepa good balance between fun and se-rious competition. It’s an enjoyableevent for the athletes and the judges.”

The first club to sign up with 48of their own gymnasts was OlympiaEurogym from the opposite end oftown between Stittsville and Kanata.

“There’s always big, establishedclubs coming to this meet,” notes

Olympia coach Nausikaa Muresan,whose athletes took on competitors fromas far as Toronto, Burlington and Sudbury,on top of many Ottawa clubs. “It’s a well-organized competition, and it’s local, sofor the younger ones and those in the ear-lier competitive levels, it’s a chance forthem to come and bring their families.”

For Muresan’s trio of provincials-bound gymnasts – Sara Miller, MeghanHeer and Emily Urbisci – their coachmade them reach for some tough goalsat the Tumblers meet, which theyachieved by occupying the podiumplaces in every Level 5, Age 13/14 event.

“It was a good little bit of pressure inpreparation for provincials. I’m reallyhappy that the girls did well. I know it’sa bit harder, but I hope it’s a good signfor provincials.”

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Unlikely Tumblers Classic wins for 2 gymnastsBy Dan Plouffe

6

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TUMBLERSFalia Pantieras

Alexandra CameronSophie Paquin

Eloise De GrandpreJulie-Anne FisetErica Fowlow

Emily FauchonOLYMPIA

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Olivia FengAlison OvertonAnastasia Olsen

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OGCHaley Turcotte

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2012 TUMBLERS CLASSIC LOCAL ALL-AROUND CATEGORY CHAMPIONS

PHOTOS: DAN PLOUFFE


The Bytown Storm triathlon clubwill kick off its 2012 season in style.Parents of the junior-age triathletesweren’t entirely disappointed to hear thelocation of the first big meet of the sea-son on May 5 – Huatulco, Mexico.

The race is the North American jun-ior championships, where four Stormcompetitors will be looking to earn aplace on Team Canada for the PATCOPan American juniors later this seasonin Edmonton.

“All four athletes I think have a re-ally good chance of qualifying forPATCO,” says Storm coach GregKealey, whose athletes can earn a guar-anteed berth to the event by being one ofthe first three Canadians at the NorthAmerican meet and finishing in the top-12 overall. “It’s just going to be howwell-prepped we are, a little luck on raceday hopefully with some not-so-hotconditions, and I think we’ll do well.”

But in case the temperatures do soarhigh, the group will at least have donesome training for the heat, even if themercury hasn’t risen too high in Canadaby that point.

Samantha Klus, Elyse Charrier,Patrick Smith and Alex Maxwell haveall started “heat protocol” – a prepara-tion method that might shock others intheir homes.

The triathletes setup theirbikes in the bathroom, close allthe doors and windows, blast aspace heater, turn on the showerto create some steam, and thenspin away for 30 minutes to anhour in a sweltering setting.

“The idea is to raise yourcore body temperature and getused to that over the course ofa couple of weeks,” Kealey ex-plains. “When they get downthere with the heat and humid-ity, it’s not like an environmen-tal shock. They’re sort of usedto their body being under a bitof duress.”KLUS EYES WORLDS TEAM

It’s an especially big sea-son for Klus, the Storm’s topjunior athlete as she tries tokeep a bit of a club traditionalive by qualifying for theCanadian junior world cham-pionships team.

The Grade 11 Bell High Schoolstudent will be up against older com-petitors, but her coach senses that theformer competitive soccer player isready for a breakthrough season.

Another goal for the Storm thisseason is to continue boosting the re-gional high-performance training cen-tre it created in partnership with Own

The Podium and the Greater OttawaKingfish swim club.

The initiative has allowed theStorm to offer programming at theUniversity of Ottawa on top of theirtraditional Kanata grounds, and to hireformer Olympic triathlete Sharon Don-nelly as a coach.

“The addition of Sharon into thecoaching crewhas been amaz-ing,” Kealeyhighlights. “Ithink I’velearned more inthe last three orfour monthsworking withher than I havein the last fiveor six years.Together Ithink we’reprobably build-ing one of thebetter pro-grams inCanada.”

The Force Academy Zone

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7OTTAW

A SPORTSPAGE –APRIL EDITION

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Spring is in theair and althoughmost people arejust starting tothink about sum-mer soccer, this isnot the case for

Dante Cobisa of OSU's U15 Force 97 OYSLteam.

After being the only male player in Ottawa to beselected to the Team Ontario U15 ProvincialTeam, Dante has not had time to think of anythingbut soccer. With a rigorous practice and gameschedule which sees him in Toronto every week-end since October, this young player has his goalsset high – not unreasonable, just high.

With the best of the best players in the provinceon this team, this year’s U15 Provincial team isbeing touted as the best U15 team OSA has seenin a long time. So far this team has won gamesagainst the older U16 Provincial team and even acouple of U17 OYSL teams.

Now Dante's dream is simple – stay on track,practice hard and try to make the final cut of 18that will go to the Quebec games in April and theNationals in July.

In the meantime, the team will travel for twoweeks in March to the home of the best team inthe world, Barcelona, Spain. There, the U15Provincial team will be involved in some high level

training and play four games vs. Academy teamsfrom Gerona FC,Espanyol FC, St. Gabriel FC andBarcelona FC.

Along with the soccer, the boys will have somefree time to enjoy the beautiful city of Barcelonaand also take in a professional LA LIGA game!This is sure to be a memorable experience for allplayers on the team but more so for Dante sincehe has family in Barcelona who are eagerly await-ing his arrival.

With all these Academies in attendance at thegames, one never knows what the future holds forthis young OSU Force player! Good luck to theteam and Dante in Spain!!

In February, 2012 Brian Stratton, who works forthe RVCA, was part of a WaterCan group that as-sisted in the construction of a fresh water projectfor the Lugaaga Umea Primary School in Uganda.

Brian commented that, "after chatting with oneof last year's study tour participants, Andrew Wil-son of Manotick, I have decided to also bring soc-cer balls for this years’ tour. My job of collectingthe soccer balls was easy thanks to the gen-erosity of the Ottawa South United Soccer As-sociation who donated two large (hockey sized)bags of used soccer balls and also two team sets

of used jerseys and shorts."Students from Kars Public School and St.

Francis de Sales (Smiths Falls) kindly signed sev-eral of the soccer balls as a special gesture forthe African kids. The results of the visit are shownby the grateful faces of the Ugandan children.

Please remember that OSU provides you withthe opportunity to return your used soccer uni-forms and equipment (this includes cleats) sothat less fortunate children have an opportunity toplay soccer thanks to the time and effort put inby organizations such as WaterCan.

OSU Force player kicking it in Barcelona, SpainOSU Force player kicking it in Barcelona, Spain

OSU Soccer Balls for UgandaOSU Soccer Balls for Uganda

Elyse Charrier is one of four Bytown Storm triathleteswho will compete at a May 5 meet in Mexico.

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During his four months in Brazil,Yoseke was indoctrinated into theBrazilian style of soccer training. In a

country where soccer fans expect theirnational team to win the World Cup ona regular basis, training sessions are in-tense and demanding in order to weedout the pretenders from those with realpotential to become pros.

“The kids there are crazy good.They’re all about soccer, 24/7. Wetrained every day from Monday to Sat-urday and Sunday was the only day wegot off,” recounts Yoseke, who workswith Parmar Sports Training locally.“They taught us about improving yourskills, your movement, your touches,your understanding of the game, andwhere you are supposed to be on thefield at all times.”

Working with some of the best soc-cer coaches in the world at Cruzeiro –many of whom played with legends likePelé – it was mostly business in Brazil,although Yoseke did have a little bit of

fun as well being a tourist.“I got to watch a Cruzeiro game and

I got to see the new World Cup stadi-ums,” recalls Yoseke. “They toured mearound where the pros live and showedme what they do before games. Now,I’m dying even more to become a pro-fessional player.”

Blackwell has observed a “night andday” difference in his young player nowcompared to when he first went toBrazil.

“His understanding of the game hasimproved so much,” explains the coachwho organized the 11th edition of thepopular Woodroffe Cup tournament inMarch at the Coliseum soccer dome.“You need to be able to play the systemthat the coaches put together and he’svery good at understanding what it takesto do that now.

“There’s a certain devotion youhave to have if you want to become aprofessional soccer player, which a lot

of kids don’t have. Nevello certainlydoes.”

Yoseke’s long-term goal is to playalongside his soccer heroes, Xavi andSergio Busquets – star players for FCBarcelona of La Liga in Spain.

NEXT STEP UP IN THE AIRYoseke has also been invited back

by Cruzeiro to spend more time in theiracademy with their U17 squad. The onlything holding him back at this point is aBrazilian government policy change

with respect to young foreign soccerplayers; Yoseke has been waiting pa-tiently for his Brazilian visa to be ap-proved, as is an American friend of his,but hopes it will come in time for a Junereturn.

“The coaches there would talk to meafter games about what I needed to workon, and I trained every day to improve,”adds Yoseke. “I know I’m not the bestyet, but I hope to become the best bytraining hard, and hopefully, I’ll make itto the big leagues.”

It’s an excitement that runs through-out the local gymnastics community.

“Friends and family that normallycannot attend now have the opportunityto cheer on their athlete,” notes OttawaGymnastics Centre women’s coachTobie Gorman. “I can’t even rememberthe last time provincial championshipswas held in Ottawa. This is a real treatas we get to stay at home, sleep in ourown beds and not have to travel.”

Luckily, there is one person who re-members the last time an Ontario cham-pionships were held in Ottawa quite

well. Now the men’s coach at OGC,Colin Richardson was the provincialnovice champion when his club hostedthe event back in 1995.

He can’t come up with the exactdate for the last time the men’s andwomen’s provincials were held together,but there is one memory that sticks outin his mind that helps place the approx-imate time.

“I remember getting awards fromGlass Tiger,” Richardson smiles. “It waspretty cool, but if you can judge by theera, that was awhile back.”

Richardson believes his OGC menhave the potential to win two or threeprovincial titles, while a pile of OGCwomen are highly ranked in their cate-gories, including Rebecca Richardson,Sarah Hu, Adrianka Forrest, BradeyRosettani, Nathalie Joanette, Sofia Bag-gio, Meaghan Smith, Brielle Johnsonand Bella St. George.

Other top contenders from localclubs include Sophie Paquin, SabrinaGroleau and Beth Webster of TumblersGymnastics Centre, Cassandra Belangerfrom Les Sittelles and Olympia Euro-gym’s Emily Urbisci.

“I’m sure they all dream to be on thepodium,” says Olympia coach NausikaaMuresan, whose five-year-old club issending athletes to provincials for justthe second time. “It would be an amaz-ing result for any club to be on thepodium, but it would be especiallyamazing for us as a small club withoutmuch equipment or staff.

“We’re excited. And we can neverstop preparing, but I think we’re readyfor it.”

EDITORIAL

902 Pinecrest Rd. Ottawa, K2B 6B3

Dan Plouffe Editor613-261-5838 [email protected]

Larry RingDirector of Business [email protected]

The Ottawa Sportspage is printed the firstTuesday of every month by Ottawa SportsMedia, the locally-owned and operated publishers of SportsOttawa.com and the Ottawa Sportspage.

Name: Torin MacFadyenSport: Wrestling & JudoClub: Takahashi Dojo & Tsunami

AcademySchool: St. Paul CHSGrade: 10About: Also a champion judoka,

Torin MacFadyen has earned plenty ofsuccess on the wrestling mats thismonth. Fresh off an OFSAA highschool provincial silver medal, Torin didone better at the Ontario Winter Games,taking home gold in Collingwood.

Name: Kiera HughesSport: SynchroClub: Gloucester Synchro ClubSchool: Emily Carr MiddleSchoolGrade: 8About: A double-medallist at the

Ontario Winter Games, Kiera Hugheswon a gold medal in the figures eventand joined her Gloucester SynchroClub teammates to win silver in theteam competition.

SPORTSOTTAWA.COM MARCH STARS OF THE WEEK

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WITH SPRING IN THE AIR, IT'S TIME TO TEST YOUR LOCAL SOCCER KNOWLEDGE WITH APRIL'S OTTAWA SPORTSPAGE CROSSWORD.The answers to the clues are either: the names of soccer clubs' teams, or the names of the soccer domes located in given parts of the city.

Examples: Clue Answer Clue AnswerClub: Ottawa (four letters) Fury Dome: Stittsville OZ

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Visit SportsOttawa.com and click on Ottawa Sportspage to find answer key.

YOSEKE continued from front page

GYMNASTICS PREVIEW continued from p. 5

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

Name: Erika Seltenreich-HodgsonSport: SwimmingClub: Nepean-Kanata BarracudasSchool: John McCrae Secondary SchoolGrade: 11About: At age 16, Erika Seltenre-

ich-Hodgson recorded two fourth-place finishes at the Canadian Olympicteam swim trials, knocking eight sec-onds off her personal-best time in the400 m IM and then touching the walljust 1.61 seconds out of first place inthe 200 m IM.

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It sounds like just about the mostcorrupt soccer tournament in the world –participants are actually encouraged tobribe the referee.

But in reality, it’s the complete op-posite. At the Kicking Cancer’s Butttournament organized by the OttawaFooty Sevens league, the proceeds fromthe scandalous actions all go towards acharitable cause, the Ottawa RegionalCancer Foundation.

“You pay five bucks to the ref and

you get a penalty shot,” explains FootySevens manager Andrew Park, notingeach team can only use the ploy once pergame. “It’s a little tweak on the rules, butit keeps things casual and gives everyonea laugh.

“And it gives a little bit of strategy toit too – when do you use it? Do you do itfirst or second, at the start or near theend?

“All the money goes to the cancersociety, so it’s great.”

The third annual edition of the coed7-on-7 event is set for Saturday, May 26

at the Louis-Riel Dome, which con-tributes the field time free of charge tosupport the cause.

EVENT HAS RAISED OVER $16,000With a minimum $250 donation to

enter a team, the event raised around$6,000 the first year and over $10,000last year, which is the target again for thecoming event. With the referees andsetup staff all volunteering their time,every dollar donated goes straight to theCancer Foundation.

“It’s our way of giving back to a

great communitythat’s helped sup-port us and seenus grow,” says thedirector of thethriving four-year-old recreationalleague that hassoccer games fivenights of the weekand also offers recvolleyball sixes.

“Cancer is something that’s touchedbasically everyone,” Park adds. “That’s

our cause and we’re extremely happy todonate our time.”

Soccer Hornets buzz to Barcelona

Kicking Cancer’s Butt soccer sevens tourney hits Louis-Riel Dome May 27By Dan Plouffe

It was a long time in the making, but by all accounts theGloucester Hornets U13 Level 3 boys’ trip to Barcelona wasmost definitely worth the wait.

“We love playing in Canada, but we know in terms ofcompetition, there is nothing better than Europe,” says coachIbrahima Sow, noting that the players of his defending-cham-pion team realized they need to enhance their games, espe-cially in speed, to get to the top. “Those lessons will stay withthem forever.”

The Hornets trained each day of their stay from March8-17 with coaches from the Espanyol and Barcelona clubs,while testing themselves against some standout academyteams in friendlies.

“Everything they do, you can tell it’s world-class,” mar-vels player Michel Salloum, a Grade 8 Franco-Cité highschool student. “The soccer over there is really intense andit shows how good the Spaniards are at the game, and howmuch they play.”

It wasn’t an enormous surprise for the Hornets to loseeach of their matches against opponents that train day-in andday-out in a professional club system.

“We played some serious teams in Spain,” recounts Sow,whose team carries Spanish logos on the arms of their jerseysthis season. “But what really impressed me was the boysnever, ever had their head down. No matter who we playedor the size of the opposition, they just loved being there.”

A couple major highlights in the players’ mind was tour-ing the nearly 100,000-seat Camp Nou Stadium – home ofFC Barcelona and many Hornets’ soccer hero Lionel Messi– and seeing a La Liga game between Espanyol and RayoVallecano, which the home side won 5-1.

“The atmosphere and being able to see a game like thatthere was amazing,” describes Ricky Comba. “The fans are

crazy. You can’t hear anything but the fans.”The team also fit in sightseeing – the city’s art history in

particular impressing the young boys who are keen on cre-ating their own masterpieces on the field this summer.

“Wanting to learn is one of the qualities I really relish inthem,” notes Sow, whose team sold spots on a calendar tolocal businesses as a fundraiser and also raffled off a trip tosee a Manchester United game as part of their tour com-pany’s package. “It’s been a dream to coach these boys be-cause of that. Every day they’re enjoying themselves.”

That much is quickly evident in the high energy the teamdisplays for a cold March evening practice. Sow has no doubthis group most definitely emerged stronger from the trip.

“I found it was a really great bonding experience for thisteam,” adds Comba, a Frank Ryan Catholic School student.“Just to go to Spain, play together and see what the world’slike, it was a great experience for all of us.”

With many new players joining the squad from otherclubs, Barcelona acted as the perfect tool to foster cama-raderie for the Hornets.

“Before I went, I did feel like I was a part of the team, butafter I felt I was really bonded with the team,” highlights ColinCampbell, a former Cumberland United player. “Everythingwas really amazing there. I hope I can do this again.”

By Dan Plouffe

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTOPROVIDED

PHOTO PROVIDED


After a run to the Canadian Soccer League championship game in its inauguralseason, Capital City FC will not get the chance to chase the title in 2012, electing inMarch to withdraw from the semi-pro loop due to concerns with the league's vision.

“I have a great deal of pride in what Capital City was able to!accomplish on andoff the field in 2011 and I don’t want to see that!end,” president Neil Malhotra saidin a club press release. “However, we are not convinced we can accomplish all of ourgoals!in the Canadian Soccer League at this time.”

The club will sit on the sidelines this year while assessing future options, it says.

COMMUNITY CLUBS‘Impossible’ champs head to nationals

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Ottawa whitewater paddlers Jamie and Adam Cutts were on pace toclaim an Olympic qualifying position for Canada at March's Pan-Ameri-can Championships through the final gate of the course in Brazil, but tooktoo aggressive of a line towards the finish and suffered a major time loss.

Ottawa River Runners athletes Thea Froehlich and Cameron Smedleyplaced third at the event. Edmonton's David Ford earned an Olympic quotaposition in the men's K-1 competition, which River Runner John Hastingswill have a chance to steal at this month's Canadian Olympic team trials.

The Gloucester Skating Club wrapped up its main competition seasonin style last month with numerous top results. Hayley McGuire, AnnikaMajcher, Shaanen Willbond, Chantal Prouse, Kaitlyn Butterfield andMichaela Feibel all finished on the podium at the Eastern OntarioSTARSkate Invitational Championship, while Phillipe McGuire, HaileyFournier, Josh Allen and the dance pair of Chelsea Sheridan and Alex Gun-ther competed at the Ontario Winter Games.

The club's synchronized skating teams also placed well at a competitionin Innisfil as the Gloucester Fine Line, Quest and Green Machine teams allearned second-place finishes, while the youth Kaleidoscope team also achieved its best score in four years.

The Nepean Raiders swept their first-round Central Canada Jr. 'A' Hockey League serieswith the Smiths Falls Bears in similar fashion to their dominant regular season, but the five-time defending league champs were ready to give them all they could handle in Round 2.

The Pembroke Lumber Kings evened the score in the third and then won both the firsttwo games in OT before Nepean fought back with a 4-2 victory in Game 3. The Raiders hostGame 4 on Wednesday, April 4 and would also have home ice for a Sunday, April 8 Game 7.

It was an uncommon and intriguing event for a high school, butit's not every day that a former player goes on to enjoy the type of ca-reer Courtnay Pilypaitis has in the basketball world, so the St. PeterKnights pulled out all the stops for a ceremony to retire her #3 jersey.

Hundreds and hundreds of St. Pete's students and staff attendedthe afternoon event and cheered loudly for the 24-year-old Olympichopeful who now plays professionally in Lithuania after starring atthe University of Vermont.

“It was unbelievable. I didn’t expect that,” said Pilypaitis, whograduated before any current students started at the Orleans school.“I expected to go up there and them be like, ‘Who is this girl?’ I’mhonoured to come back and see that everyone still cares so much.”

SPORTSPAGE SNAPSHOTSCAPITAL CITY FC PULLS OUT OF CSL

ST. PETER RETIRES PILYPAITIS' JERSEY

Ottawa's Marc Dorion won a bronze medal with Team Canada at thesledge hockey world championships March 25-April 1 in Norway. The 24-year-old had an assist in a 4-1 victory over the tournament hosts to helpCanada to a 3-0 pool record, but his team fell to USA 2-1 in the semi-finalbefore claiming bronze with a 2-0 win over Czech Republic.

DORION TAKES BRONZE AT SLEDGE WORLDS

OTTAWA WRESTLERS RULE THE NATIONSeveral Ottawa grapplers distinguished themselves on the mats recently, led

by Ilya Abelev, who won the 66-kilogram class at the junior national wrestlingchampionships and was the outstanding wrestler at the OUA championships enroute to a university national title for the Western Ontario Mustangs.

The University of Calgary's Erica Wiebe won a senior Canadian champi-onship in the 72 kg category and also won the university nationals, while SteveDelayen was part of the Concordia Stingers men's national champion team.

Younger wrestlers from the area are preparing for their big event of the year,the cadet/juvenile nationals April 12-15 in Fredericton, N.B.

CUTTS BROTHERS JUST MISS LONDON BERTH

GLOUCESTER GRABS FIGURE SKATING PRIZES

Canada's national rugby sevens teams will both play in the nation's capitalthis summer with a world championships berth on the line Aug. 25 and 26 atTwin Elm Rugby Park in Richmond.

“We are really excited to have the opportunity to host in Canada and to bringan event to Ottawa,” Rugby Canada CEO Graham Brown said in a press release.“The Ottawa rugby community always gets behind its players.”

Ottawa native Julianne Zussman is one of the top players for the #1-world ranked Canadian women'steam and should be in the lineup when they take on the top North American and Caribbean nations at theevent. Seven-a-side rugby will join the Olympics in 2016.

RUGBY 7S WORLDS QUALIFIER TO HIT OTTAWA

RAIDERS IN TOUGH AGAINST PEMBROKE

They belted out Kelly Clarkson’s What Does-n’t Kill You Makes You Stronger at the top of theirlungs in the dressing room after winning the finalgame of the Ontario ‘A’ Ringette Championshipslast month, and for the U19 Nepean Ravens, therecouldn’t have been more appropriate lyrics.

After starting the tournament 0-2 and then 1-3,Nepean had to win a pair of games just to reach amini-game tiebreaker to get into the playoffs, whichthey won 2-1 before knocking off the top seeds inthe semis and then prevailing 5-0 over Waterloo.

“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Strongerwas our theme song,” smiles Samantha Kerr, whoearned her first trip to the national championshipsin her final year of youth ringette. “After the Fridaynight, we pretty much thought we had no chanceand everyone was crying together. We thought wewere done. And then we pulled through.

“We made the impossible happen.”The victory was particularly special for coach

John Packman, who’d coached many of the play-ers since age seven but had never won better thansilver with his team at provincials.

“It’s a great group of kids,” highlights Packman,who had several wounded warriors on his squad.“I’ve seen them grow up into young women.”

Samantha Flavell led the tournament in scor-ing with 19 points in eight games, while MelodieHebert-Heydra was the top goal scorer for theRavens, who won the title in front of family,friends and other Ravens teams on their home rinkat Nepean Sportsplex.

They will now join their fellow Nepean ‘AA’provincial champions to represent Ontario at theCanadian ringette championships April 8-14 inBurnaby, B.C., along with the U14 Ottawa Ice.

Also headed to B.C. is the Ice’s Open ‘AA’team, who are targeting a place on the nationalpodium after knocking off the Gloucester Devilsin the National Ringette League playoffs.

Nepean started the provincial championships 0-2 and 1-3 before winning gold.

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE


Ottawa athletes enjoyed tons of suc-cess at March’s Ontario Winter Gamesin Collingwood, with synchronizedswimming 13-15 figures championKiera Hughes and 54-kilogram wrestling

champ Torin MacFadyen earning two ofmany gold medals.

“It was a really great experience,” re-counts Hughes, who enjoyed interactingwith other clubs in the multi-sport setting.“I really felt like I swam my best figures.I didn’t just come out with a good result,I was really happy with how I did.”

Hughes wasn’t alone in placing wellin the figures event as her GloucesterSynchro Club teammates occupied posi-tions four through six and plenty morehigh finishes in the 48-competitor field.

“My teammates are really greatcompetition for me,” adds the Grade 8Emily Carr Middle School student. “Ilike to see my teammates do well too be-cause it feeds into our team event. If myteammate beats me, that’s great for them,and it’s great for us.”

Gloucester’s silver medal win in theteam event shows that was just the trickfor Leena Barisa, Chloe Cook, Marie-Eve Dorval, Sarah Healy, Deanna Masur,

Angelica Tilli and Emilie Caron, whoalso won silver in the 13-15 solo event.

BACK-TO-BACK MAT MEDALSFor wrestling champion Torin Mac-

Fadyen of Tsunami Academy, the WinterGames gold closely followed hisOFSAA wrestling silver medal – somuch so that the Takahashi Dojo athletewho is also a judo standout had to wres-tle in a higher weight class with no timeto slim down between competitions.

“It was my last year I could do (On-tario Winter Games), so I really wantedto go,” explains the Grade 10 St. PaulCatholic High School athlete whosnagged a ride from Peterborough withanother high school provincials competi-tor headed to Collingwood. “I was prettyhappy. I really wanted to do better thanOFSAA. I was a bit disappointed.”

Ottawa athletes brought home lotsmore gold from the 27-sport event that fea-tured over 3,500 participants. Gloucester

Concordes Benjamin Yang and JamesMcGuire, along with Jessica Robitaille,won speed skating relay gold, Zoe Gongof Minto Skating Club was also golden, aswas Channel Villeneuve in kickboxing,and Quinlan Walker of the National Capi-tal Wrestling Club won his 76 kg category.

The Ottawa and District BadmintonAssociation topped the men’s singles 2and women’s doubles 2 team events,Alyssa Baker was on the gold-medalwinning girls' hockey team, and the East-ern ringette and sledge hockey teamswere also golden.


11

Kevin Frost is one of the most determined peo-ple you’ll ever meet. The father of three is one ofthe fastest long-track speed skaters in the world. Healso competes in rowing and track. He helps trainthe Ottawa Police, and gives motivational presenta-tions to area schools. And every year, he helps dis-advantaged youth in third-world countries get thehearing aids or vision operations they need.

He’s also blind. And deaf.To the best of his knowledge, he’s the only Cana-

dian deaf-blind speed skater. His dream is to com-pete in the Paralympics. But to date, his quest haslargely been a one-man battle in Canada – a parasportskating governing body does not yet even exist.

For now, the Orleans resident mostly races againstable-bodied athletes. At the few international meetsfor athletes with visual impairments that have beenheld in Russia, Frost was utterly dominant, makinghim unofficially the fastest blind speed skater in theworld – at age 44, no less. But the distinction means lit-tle without sanctioning from the International SkatingUnion, a blessing that the events have not yet had.

But that may soon change. In May, Frost willtravel to Scotland for a competition organized by Im-paired Skating and sanctioned by the National IceSkating Association of Great Britain. The event thatwill follow ISU rules also received strong supportfrom the ISU, although it stopped short of endorsingit with its full sanction. Frost is nonetheless thrilled to

compete in Scotland and gather support for theParasport skaters’ cause.

“It’s probably one of the largest leaping stonesthat I’ve encountered,” notes the Gloucester Con-cordes athlete. “It’s an unexpected turn.”

To date, he sighs, there has been some verbalsupport within the speed skating community for Par-alympic inclusion, but very little action. Part of thereason is that there aren’t yet many athletes com-peting in the discipline.

“We don’t really know [how many athletes thereare], because there’s no venue for them,” reasonsFrost’s coach, Mike Rivet. “If there’s no venue forthem, how are they going to participate? Unless youactually start that movement going, you’re not ac-tually going to know if there’s people doing it.”

The International Paralympic Committee hasminimum criteria for adoption of a new winter sport,including widespread practice in a minimum ofeight countries – that is, they hold sanctioned na-tional championships regularly – and having held aminimum of two world championships, explainsRob Needham, the Executive Director, Sport at theCanadian Paralympic Committee.

Frost’s frustration with that potentially lengthyprocess is apparent.

“What’s stopping me from joining in? If I’mnumber one in the world, why wouldn’t Canada bethere [supporting me]?” he asks, highlighting the po-tential for support from a program like Own ThePodium. “You’re looking for medals – why aren’tyou jumping on board more quickly?”

Frost wants Canada to push harder for inclusion.“I can understand Kevin’s frustrations, and we

respect his accomplishments,” Needham adds. “Wedo work with sports to support their growth, andtheir governance, so they can grow and become el-igible to be a Paralympic sport down the line.

“Unfortunately, at this point, in terms of indi-vidual investment or support for athletes and sportsthat aren’t on the Paralympic program, that’s notwithin the scope of our mandate.”

Speed Skating Canada has not taken on the roleas official governing body for the sport either, al-though similar to the ISU’s position internationally,they remain supportive of Frost and have providedCanada gear and travel funding in the past.

Without the potential to compete in the Para-lympics, Frost is not eligible for Sport Canada card-ing either. Rivet currently works with Frost for free,while most of his travel and expenses are paid forthrough fundraising and sponsorships.

On long-term disability, Frost faces an addi-tional hurdle compared to able-bodied athletes whoalso struggle to work and make ends meet.

FAST TRACK TO SHORT-TRACK GLORYFormerly a long-time hockey referee, Frost

began skating short-track after his 2002 diagnosisof Usher Syndrome – a degenerative condition thatgradually reduces his vision and hearing. By 2007,he won a race in the Ontario masters’ championshipagainst able-bodied athletes.

After approaching Rivet about coaching him,Frost switched to long-track – a safer form of racing,especially for somebody who describes his range ofvision as “like looking through a drinking straw.”With the help of a hearing aid and transmitter, hiscoach can talk him through races.

The upcoming ISU-supported event in Scotlandis on a short track and also falls at a conflicting timefor the masters world championships for able-bod-ied athletes in Germany, but there wasn’t muchdoubt which event Frost would attend in the end.

“It’s better you go to Scotland,” Rivet told Frost.“That’s what you’ve been pushing for.”

Rivet now wants Frost to be the best in theworld in both long-track and short-track – some-thing that’s never before been accomplished inspeed skating, says the veteran local coach, but a re-alistic target nonetheless.

Even more than personal accomplishments,though, Frost says he’s trying to pave the way forfuture Parasport skaters.

“If I can get a guy who’s 14, 15, who’s visionimpaired and loves to skate, I’m setting the pace forhim,” he explains. “If I go to Scotland and finish last,that’s OK. Because I want the sport to be recog-nized.”

Frost is unequivocal when asked if he thinksspeed skating will be in the Paralympics – yes, itwill, he says, someday. But Frost is 44 years old –far older than most top athletes in his sport and hisvision continues to deteriorate.

It’s not rhetorical when the champion asks,“How much longer do I have to wait?”

COMMUNITY CLUBSParalympic inclusion closer for deaf-blind skater

Gold aplenty for local Ontario Winter Games athletes

By Ian Ewing

By Dan Plouffe

Kevin Frost has been a bit of a one-manarmy in Canada to see speed skating forathletes with a disability included in theParalympics. Another step in that quest willcome in May when he competes in anISU-endorsed race in Scotland.

Tsunami Academy’s Torin MacFadyen won OFSAA silver to go with Winter Games gold.

Gloucester’s Kiera Hughes won in synchro.

PHOTOS: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTO PROVIDED


The Atom ‘AA’ Nepean Wildcatsand Ottawa Ice saved their most excitingfinish for the championship game. It wasan overtime thriller that set the bar earlyfor the Ottawa District Women’s HockeyAssociation Championship Day, heldMarch 31 in Kemptville.

With 1:05 remaining in the third pe-riod and Ottawa up 3-1, Wildcats captainEmma Michalicka scored her second ofthe game after a scramble that one par-

ent described as a “rugby scrum” in frontof the net. The clock read only 7.0 leftwhen Nepean’s Emma Beaudette tied thegame up by tapping a perfect pass fromBrooklyn Whitford past the outstretchedleg of the Ice goaltender.

“I’m a little surprised we gave upthose two goals late,” cringed Ottawacoach Tim Belanger, “but I’m not sur-prised that they battled back.”

Wildcats coach Brandon Whitfordcommended his girls for the late come-back. “The main thing is that they didn’t

give up.” His team had won theprevious three championships.

In overtime, though, it wasthe Ice in control, as they hadbeen much of the game. Afterchances both ways, defenderZoe Lamoureux fired a wristshot from the point. The puckfound its way through a crowdand into the back of the net 2:07into OT for a 4-3 Ottawa victory.

“It was really nerve-wrack-ing,” recalled the former Wild-cat. “I’m just really happy.”

Both teams will now attend theprovincial championships in April.

“We’re going to have to win it now,”Lamoureux giggled.

Full results from championship daywere not made available as of press time.

COMMUNITY CLUBS

Youngest ODWHA finalists put on dramatic show

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By Ian Ewing

James Ferguson (above) outlasted Carlo Zambri 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-final round of the March 25-April 1 Rideau Indoor Open tennis tournament. Ferguson faced Galin Nizortchev in the men's singlesfinal, while Jenny Sheng took on Olivia Peisachovitz in the women's final. Results were not availableas of press time.

With a purse of over $1,500, the event at the 100-year-old Rideau Tennis Club was the only opentournament hosted in eastern Ontario over the winter season.

The Ottawa Ice celebrate Zoe Lamoureux’s overtime championship-winning goal in their ODWHA Atom ‘AA’ final vs Nepean on March 31.PHOTOS: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

Jennifer Wakefield (left) was one of 11players under the age of 23 chosen from alate-March selection camp in Ottawa tocompete for Team Canada at the 2012women's world hockey championships inVermont.

The hero of the Vancouver 2010 goalmedal final, Marie-Philip Poulin, setup fel-low 21-year-old Laura Fortino for the lonegoal in Canada's 1-0 exhibition match vic-tory over USA on Saturday, March 31 atthe J. Benson Cartage Centre at Lans-downe Park, while goaltender ShannonSzabados recorded the shutout as she didin Vancouver.

Set to go for gold April 7-14 in Burling-ton, Ottawa fans got a live look at some ofthe new generation of talent that will be ondisplay when the nation's capital hosts the2013 worlds April 2-9.

Ottawa native Stefanie McKeough hadbeen named to the evaluation camp rosterbut was unable to attend. Media reportssaid the 21-year-old defender suffered asuspected concussion during her Wiscon-sin Badgers' run to the NCAA champi-onship final, where she scored a goal in a4-2 defeat. The St. Mark Catholic HighSchool grad still has a chance of wearingthe maple leaf at next year's worlds.

Young guns

Back in thespring swing

lead Canada


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