Running is an act of trust for JonDunkerley.

More than most of us who accept a cer-tain amount of risk each time we step out-side to run along Ottawa's pathways, the2008 Paralympian is dependent on hisguide and the actions of those around him.

“For someone who has been blindsince birth, it is easy to trust,” explains theCanadian national team member who hasLeber's congenital amaurosis, a rare inher-ited eye disease that appears at birth or inthe first few months of life, and affectsaround 1 in 80,000 of the population.

But a recent lawsuit against Dunkerleyquestions whether he is right to train just asany able-bodied athlete might while usingtwo equalizers: a tether and a human run-ning guide. A tether is a cloth rope linkinghim to his guide.

On Jan. 24, 2010, a collision occurredinvolving Dunkerley, his guide JamieStevenson and another runner, Mimi Lep-age, along the Rideau Canal between Pat-terson Creek and FifthAve. It was a typical,busy Sunday morning on the pathway, re-calls Dunkerley, who was in a group of ninerunners that day.

Running at a moderate pace, he andStevenson were the last ones to attempt topass Lepage, Dunkerley says.

“I had no idea what was about to hap-pen. I was just running along – one minute

I’m running and the next I’m running into awoman,” says Dunkerley, a competitor inthe T11-class for runners who have no lightperception in either eye and are unable torecognize the shape of a hand at any dis-

tance or direction.Lepage was struck from behind “with-

out warning” and knocked to the ground,with two larger runners then falling on topof her, court documents filed on Dec. 22,2011 say.

“I understand that she was hurt and Ifeel bad,” Dunkerley says. “I was the onewho hit her.”

Since Dunkerley is blind and becausethe rest of his group had already passedLepage as they all traveled south alongthe canal, only his guide Stevenson sawwhat happened in the moments before thecollision.

Stevenson was out of the country andunavailable for comment at the time of pub-lication.

Lepage’s injuries as a result of the col-lision included soft tissue damage to theneck and shoulder, partial dislocation of hershoulder and labral tears of the right hip,says the statement of claim.

Lepage is suing for $300,000 for painand suffering, plus a yet undeterminedamount to cover lost income (including va-cation and sick days), healthcare costs and

other damages. She also claims $50,000 onbehalf of her nine-year-old son for loss ofcare.

Dunkerley’s older brother Jason, athree-time Paralympic medalist, the OttawaLions Track-and-Field Club, and sevenother unnamed individuals (including bothguides) who were part of the group are alsodefendants in the lawsuit.

The statement of claim says the acci-dent has had a long-term impact on Lepage,resulting in restricted physical activity, hipsurgery, relentless appointments and a con-tinued dependence on medication, whileshe “now has difficulty walking, sitting,sleeping, and has (been) unable to run orrace since January 24, 2010.”

Race results on sportstats.ca indicatethat a runner by the name of Mimi Lepagefrom Ottawa completed a 10-kilometre raceon April 25, 2010 in under 54 minutes, butthere are no results after that date.

Lepage declined the OttawaSportspage’s request for an interview on therecord.

p. 7

NEXT STOP: LONDON OLYMPICS

With mission complete at the qualifyingtournament, Team Canada striker Chris-tina Julien sets her sights on London.

p. 5

SWINGING LIKE SHEWFELT

Several local gymnastics earned berthsto the Kyle Shewfelt Invitational inCalgary at a provincial qualifier.

p. 4

WILD RIDE TO RECORD BOOKS

TheEasternOntarioWildbecame the firstteam in Ottawa ‘AAA’hockey history torepeat as Bantam regular season champs.

p. 3

OFSAA BBALL TO HIT O-TOWN

It’s anybody’s race as many high schoolboys’basketball teams line up for a placein the upcoming provincials in Ottawa.

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LAWSUIT continued on p. 8

Blindlawsuit

2008 Paralympic runnerwho is blind being suedfor colliding with womanon canal pathway

JON DUNKERLEY JON DUNKERLEY (left) is one of the defendants in a $300,000+ claim.

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTOPROVIDED

Balancing full-timetraining with full-timehealth sciences studies atthe University of Ottawacan be daunting at timesfor Shannon Zheng. “Idon’t really have muchtime for other things,” notes the Lisgar CollegiateInstitute grad who is ranked 15th nationally. “2016is maybe a more reasonable goal for me, but we’llsee what happens.”

SHANNON ZHENG

Table tennis hastaken Pierre-Luc Theri-ault to 26 countries be-fore his teenage yearsare even up. “I’ve had alot of opportunities,”says the young talent

who grew up near Rimouski. “Realistically when Iwas younger I didn’t think much about London, Ithought more about 2016, but now I’m here and Ifeel like I have a chance to go.”

Tucked away on a side streetnear Gladstone Ave. east of BoothSt., there is no way anyone passingby would guess that there are world-class athletes training inside thebuilding that houses the Canadiannational team training centre alongwith International Table Tennis Fed-eration headquarters offices.

But for the group that has con-verged on this one room from acrossCanada and around the globe, thespace that resembles an elementaryschool cafetorium is practically agodsend as they try to bridge the gapbetween themselves and the world’sbest table tennis countries.

“It’s extremely important be-cause in Canada, we don’t have thesame type of infrastructure,” ex-plains 33-year-old Xavier Therien,the centre’s most senior player whomoved to Ottawa from Sherbrookeat age 16 to train with Canada’s best.“It’s very important to have the (topnational players) together because itraises the quality of the training,”

The centre has taken on a littlebit different atmosphere of late, how-ever, with the Canadian Olympic se-lection trials approaching in a hurryfrom Feb. 17-19 in Markham. Com-petitors will battle for four Canadianberths in April’s North Americanqualifier, where three Olympic posi-tions will be up for grabs.

“It’s not so nice these days,”sighs reigning Canadian championPierre-Luc Hinse, explaining thatgamesmanship has increased since

training partners will soon becomeopponents in their quest to securetheir coveted Olympic berths. “Ifsomeone has trouble with a certainserve, you don’t want to keep doingit in practice because you want tosave it for the tournament. It’s not thebest, but we don’t have a choice.”

National team coach DuanYongjun expects Ottawa-based play-ers will grab all four Canadian selec-tions on the men’s side. Mo Zhanghas already secured her Olympicberth on the women’s side, while Ot-tawa players Shannon Zheng andolder sister Pei-Pei, along with twinsSara and Stephanie Yuen will chaseCanadian selections at the trials.

Eugene Wang, who recentlyreached a world tour quarter-final inSlovenia, is the clear-cut men’sfavourite as the top-ranked NorthAmerican at #94 in the world. An-

other pair of possibilities are teenagesensations and roommates Pierre-Luc Theriault and Hongtao Chen.

Pradeeban Peter-Paul would alsocertainly be in the mix, but Yongjunis unsure if the 2008 Olympian willcompete at the trials since he’s begunworking in a new field.

It’s a bit of a classic case of lifegetting in the way of athletic ambi-tions – a reality many players face asthey chase their Olympic dreams in alow-profile sport in Canada.

“It’s not so easy to make a livingfrom table tennis,” notes Hinse, whoput his studies at the University of Ot-tawa on hold and spent three monthsaway in Europe and Asia to raise hisgame in advance of London. “I don’tknow how long I’m going to play, soI’m really giving everything for theseOlympics and I’m really hoping I canmake it. I’d give everything for that.”

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Ottawa table tennis stars chase Olympic spotlightBy Dan Plouffe

Without a losson their homefield in over threeyears, the OttawaFury will hopetheir record at theAlgonquin Col-lege bodes wellwhen they chasean elusive USLW-League titlethis summer.

Days after receiving their first Amateur Club ofthe Year honour from the Ottawa Sports Awards,the Fury received an even bigger prize – the rightto host the final four tournament July 27-29.

Since 2000, the Fury are 116-23-16 in W-Leagueplay, but have wound up as bridesmaids each timethey've played in the championship game, includ-ing 2011 when they lost to Atlanta after a perfectregular season.

"Every year we field a team that’s competitiveand has a chance to win the title, and I don’t thinknext year is going to be any different," says Furycoach Dom Oliveri.

This summer's W-League could see a spike intalent with the suspension ofNorth America's top women's pro-fessional league for this season.

Fury to host W-League final four

It’s as close to home asit gets for Ottawa’s CodySorensen. Fresh off aWorld Cup bronze inWhistler, the Canada-1brakeman will competein front of family andfriends in Lake Placid,NY for the Feb. 25-26four-man bobsleigh world championships.

Check SportsOttawa.com forcoverage from Lake Placid andsee the March Sportspage.

Sorensen ready for !home" worlds

They beat the even-tual champions twiceearlier in the competi-tion, but the RachelHoman Ottawa CurlingClub rink fell to TracyHorgan 7-6 in the finalof the Ontario ScottiesTournament of Heartsin Kenora at the end ofJanuary. The defendingprovincial women’s champions posted an unde-

feated record before the deciding contest.

1 provincial loss downs Homan

Xavier Therien is alongshot for an Olympicberth, and he knows it.With three childrenunder age 4 and only somany vacation daysavailable from work at IBM, it’s tough for the 33-year-old to compete internationally at the samepace as his younger counterparts. “Every day is achallenge,” says Therien, ranked 12th in Canada. “Istill have a chance, but it’s a small chance.”

XAVIER THERIEN

Coming off a ca-reer-best world tour re-sult in Slovenia, EugeneWang is ready to fill therole as Canada’s toptable tennis prospect forthe London 2012Olympics. The only thing stopping him at the mo-ment is citizenship paperwork. “I got some positivenews, but they need time to process,” explains theChina-born athlete who moved to Canada in 2004.

EUGENE WANGHaving just returned

from the longest roadtrip of his life in Europeand Asia, Pierre-LucHinse fully expects to beable to claim a Canadianqualification positionand a London 2012 Olympic berth. “It’s difficultbeing away from home like that, but I’m really try-ing everything to qualify for the Olympics,” saysthe defending North American champion.

PIERRE-LUC THERIAULT

PIERRE-LUC HINSE

From China, Hong-tao Chen joined hismother in Toronto in2010, but it wasn’t muchlonger before the 16-year-old moved to Ot-tawa on his own to

pursue table tennis. “I had to come here,” Chensays, explaining he’s driven to give the Olympicshis best shot even against older competitors. “I thinkI can do it. It’s my dream since I was young.”

HONGTAO CHEN

Shannon Zheng grew up practically next door to the national team training centre.

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

The big show is coming to Ottawa March 5-7 forthe OFSAA ‘AAAA’ boys’ basketball championships,but the opening act is sure to provide just as muchdrama, with half a dozen strong teams ready to chasetwo available berths in the national capital high schoolplayoffs.

The web of who’s beaten who would drive anodds-maker bananas, but suffice it to say that just aboutevery team in the top-6 of the ‘AAA/AAAA’ leaguehas at least one win and one loss against the other.

“It’s just a crapshoot,” says Sir Robert BordenBengals coach Dan Case, describing the situation best.“St. Pat’s, Louis-Riel, St. Pete’s, Earl, us, Glebe – anyone of those teams can win it, I think.

“It’s a very tight league. There’s six teams for threespots (including one at ‘AAA’ OFSAA), and you justwant to hopefully get some luck down the line and get one of those berths, and hopefully it’s one of thetwo where you get to play in front of your friends andfamily.”

For the St. Patrick’s Irish – the team that wouldcarry the tag of favourites if one had to be awarded, byvirtue of their 9-1 record in league play – playing infront of the home crowd has been the motivation whenthe current group started playing varsity basketball inGrade 9.

“This is probably the deepest we’ve been in manyyears,” says Tina St. Amour, who is able to coach herIrish like a hockey team by throwing out three lines offive players. “We’ve built this team basically over thelast three years. It seems like OFSAA’s been our goalsince then – and not only just to get to OFSAA, buthopefully finish in the top.”

The other squad that appears to have a bit of anedge on the pack is the Louis-Riel Rebelles, althoughit’s possible they may choose to go to the ‘AAA’ cham-pionships in Windsor if given the choice.

Jean-Guy Morin enjoys having a roster blessed

with speed and athleticism that can work the ball intotheir big men or run a quick game from the perimeter.

“We’re the kind of team that can be super explo-sive,” notes Morin, whose lineup features the likes ofEmmanuel Bolamba and Raphaël Riché. “Our team isvery confident, but sometimes it plays against them.”

With a major logjam in the standings between therest of the playoff-bound teams, coaches weren’t pos-turing at all as they refused to count their squads in orout of the mix – the race is simply too close to call.

“Each team could beat another on a given night,”

states Mario Gaetano, who coaches the St. PeterKnights along with Ashley Coventry. “We could veryeasily surprise people and be that team, but it could beanyone.”

With “great leaders, and great team players” inDaniel Nwosu, Mike Zablocki and Jeremy Azangi, theKnights are strong, although they’ve lost to fellowwildcard Glebe Gryphons. Glebe lost to the Earl ofMarch Lions, who were beaten by St. Peter. Sir RobertBorden lost a close match to Earl, but managed toknock off Louis-Riel.

And the web continues.SSTTRROONNGG OOFFSSAAAA EENNTTRRIIEESS EEXXPPEECCTTEEDD

While it’s tough to determine who it will be, it’s agood bet that Ottawa will be well represented at theOntario championships, having shown they can con-tend with top provincial foes in tournament play thisseason.

Getting the chance to do that would be especiallysweet for the Irish, who regularly enjoy some of thecity’s biggest crowds for home games, and could windup playing matches next door at Ridgemont HighSchool – one of four sites for round robin contestsalong with Mother Theresa, Hillcrest and Longfields-Davidson Heights. The semi-finals and finals will takeplace at Carleton University.

“We’ve had the best support,” smiles St. Amour,who owns previous OFSAA gold and silver medals.“It’d be nice to have OFSAA at home and potentiallydo something like St. Matt’s did in the past – win infront of your home fans.”

TTIIGGEERRSS TTOOPP ‘‘AAAA’’ LLEEAAGGUUEE

The St. Matthew Tigers – who won ‘AAA’OFSAA in 2009 with a deep lineup featuring CarletonRavens star Tyson Hinz – won’t play in Ottawa thistime, but could wind up attending the provincial ‘AA’championships since their student population hasdropped in recent years.

“The goal for us is to always have a chance at achampionship,” notes Jason Wren, whose team hasstrong ball movement led by point guard Mack Wake-field.

The only loss in the 9-1 Tigers’ season came to de-fending ‘A’ city champion Deslauriers, who are in lineto take another shot at an OFSAA title themselves aftera bronze medal win last year.

Hillcrest and Merivale are other strong entries in‘AA’ and if years past are any indication, Lester B.Pearson should not be counted out either.

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HIGH SCHOOLS

The Nepean Knights senior boys’nordic skiing team has just once thing ontheir mind for the OFSAA nordic skiingchampionships Feb. 22-24 in Huntsville –redemption.

It was a heartbreaking defeat by theslimmest of margins last year whenHuntsville edged Nepean at the finish lineby the tip of a ski to claim a relay goldmedal on the Knights’ home course atNakkertok Cross Country Ski Club inCantley.

“Definitely it sucked,” recalls Knightsanchor Ben Taylor. “It bothered me for a lit-tle bit, but we’re at their home course now,so maybe we’ll turn the tables this year.”

Nepean led the way for most of therelay, including up the final hill before adownhill drop to the finish area, but theteam “didn’t play it very smart” by not re-waxing their skis after a race the previousweekend, Taylor notes.

“We figured we could kind of win it onpure strength and talent, and they ended uphaving some pretty fast skiers,” adds the2011 OFSAA individual bronze medalist.

The Knights don’t want to make a sim-

ilar underestimation this year, but they re-alistically view skiers from Thunder Bay astheir top challenger for gold based on re-

sults from the Ontario Cup club circuit sofar this season.

“If Thunder Bay flies down, they’ll be

a tough team,” explains Patrick van Wal-raven. “We were all in Grade 11 last yearand (Huntsville’s skiers) were in Grade 12,

so they’ve moved on and we’re still here.”Having another year’s training and ex-

perience under their belt is another asset forthe team that also includes Chris Mueller,Chris Weller, Grade 11 Jordan McTaggart,and potentially his older brother Duncan,depending on how his recovery from adeep thigh bruise progresses.

“I think we’re obviously all fasternow,” says Taylor, whose team is favouredfor west conference and city titles at theirFeb. 8 and Feb. 15 championship meets.

Huntsville will add a special touch tothis year’s OFSAA as part of the wintersports festival it is hosting that week, whichalso includes the Ontario Parasport WinterGames. The town’s main street will be shutdown to create the finish area for the relays– the first time any of the Knights athleteswill have raced in that type of setting.

“That’s awesome,” says Weller, who istargeting a top-5 or podium placement in-dividually at OFSAA. “That should make itfun. That’ll be really exciting.”

Other strong candidates for top provin-cial performances from national capitalschools include Glebe’s Colin Foley, Lis-gar’s Ben Wilkinson-Zan and Brookfield’sAlexandra Joy.

Top local teams include Louis-Riel and St. Patrick’s, along with St. Peter, Earl of March, Glebe and Sir Robert Borden.

6-horse race for 2 home OFSAA basketball berthsBy Gemma Karstens-Smith & Dan Plouffe

Nepean nordic skiers out to avenge home course heartache at OFSAABy Dan Plouffe

PHOTOS: DAN PLOUFFE

FILE PHOTO

Nepean Knights anchor Ben Taylorled the way on the final uphill of lastyear’s OFSAA nordic skiing champi-onships relay on his team’s homecourse at Nakkertok, but was passedon the downhill and edged to the fin-ish line by Huntsville, who will hostthis year’s OFSAA event.

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COMMUNITY CLUBS

The NHL hasbeen taking on a newapproach to the wayhockey is played.They have struckdown the obstruc-tions of the gamesuch as interference,

holding, hooking and slashing, which all play a rolein impeding the game. These changes are to en-hance the speed and skill of players while allowingthe game to be more exciting, with a plethora ofscoring chances resulting in more goals.

Before this enforcement, it was possible forteams to play trap systems and be able to winchampionships simply by suffocating other teams.

The new rules were to deter this sort of thingfrom happening; and thus the emphasis is placedon the players' speed, stick skills, scoring abilityand overall good hockey smarts, and not on sizeof the player.

As we grow up, our most important develop-mental skill is skating. I grew up power skatingwith Cheri Shaw, a former professional champi-onship figure skater who adapted her skating ap-proach to hockey.

Emphasis was placed on always having properupright body position with deep knee and hip bend,and maintaining weight over skates to increasepower, responsiveness, and stability. Other ele-ments included developing explosive power andacceleration, keeping two hands on the stick at alltimes to be ready to carry the puck (since 90% ofthe time you do have two hands on the stick), anda puck was always used since there's a puck in thegame and we need to know how to skate with it.

At the upper levels of hockey, good skating be-comes almost a baseline and it is those that havethe stick skills that are noticed and continue toexcel. These skills are often overlooked, not taughtin detail, not taught properly, or not taught entirely.Skills like stickhandling moves and appropriatetimes to utilize them in a game, shooting with yourhead up (slapshots too), knowing where to shoot,and as something as simple as stopping at the netwhen there is a possible rebound or pass.

One of the hardest skills to master is separat-ing stick movement from skating. We often havetelltale signs that give away what we are going todo next. For example: we glide and lift one leg toshoot the puck, we stickhandle only as fast as ourfeet move and we pass to where were looking.

Darryl Belfry – the founder of Pro PlaymakersHockey and an L.A Kings performance analystwho has worked with players such as PatrickKane, John Tavares, Dan Girardi, and NathanHorton – was one teacher I had who instituteddrills to accomplish these goals. We would jumpover the dots while stickhandling quickly, we’dstickhandle 2 to 3 pucks while moving backwardsand forwards, shooting while in stride; we did anydrill to speed up our hands faster than our feet.

Thanks to my playing experience in NCAA andthe great teachers I enjoyed in my past, I have anabundance of these concepts as my basis forteaching young, up-and-coming players at theDoc Hockey/Rayvens Development Camp.Come join us at the Ray Friel Complex in Marchand in the summer for fun and learning.

Doc Hockey Corner--By Dr. Shayne Baylis, Doc Hockey

Visit dochockey.ca for more information.

@doc_hockey

doc hockey

Developing for the new NHLDeveloping for the new NHL

Doc Hockey/Rayvens March Break Camp March 12-16, 12-2 p.m., Ray Friel Recreation Complex

The third-annual edition of the Ottawa Icevs Gloucester Devils pink fundraiser gamedrew the biggest crowd yet last month as fanswere treated to a contest decided in the dyingseconds with a Jayme Simzer goal to lift thenow 20-3-1 Ice to a 2-1 win.

“It gets you pumped up for sure,” saysSimzer. “We got to play a good game withfriends, and against friends, and it was for agood cause at the same time.”

Ottawa’s record had them in third place inthe east division as they strive to take the nextstep onto the national podium this season.

“Our goaltending and our defence keep usin every game,” notes coach Al Bateman,

whose squad has given up the fewest

goals in the league.For the 11-12-1 Devils, the winds have

begun to change after an 0-6 start to the sea-son. “I’m very happy with the production,”says Gloucester coach Dave Mainwood.

Just about every local youth hockey teamcarries the purple D.I.F.D. logo as part of theiruniforms, but February is an especially bigmonth for the Do It For Daron cause to pro-mote youth mental health.

The 2012 Power to the Purple Challengeengages schools, corporations and individu-als to raise awareness and inspire conversa-tions, and raise funds to transform youthmental health.

A fundraising dance organized by OttawaSenators and Kanata girls' hockey clubs onFeb. 17 in the Scotiabank Place ColiseumRoom is another event highlight.

The Senators teammates of Daron Richard-son, who took her life in November 2010,were also recently honoured by True SportCanada for persevering on the ice to win aprovincial silver medal and helping promotethe D.I.F.D. cause away from the rink.

Power to the Purple Challenge

Ice snatch pink game win

“An unbelievable ride” is how Ottawa Jr. 67’s MinorBantam ‘AAA’ coach John Robillard describes his team’syear thus far. A quarter-final victory over the top-rankedToronto Marlies en route to a tournament title in Detroit waswhat kick-started it all – three consecutive tournament twinsand a regular season league title then followed.

“We scored five goals against them, and not too manyteams this year have scored any goals against them,” notesRobillard, highlighting team play as the biggest key to hissquad’s success. “It hasn't been one player or another, they've

done it together. We have some exceptional players, but theyplay for each other.”

Nevertheless, the numbers put up by leading scorerWilliam Bitten are simply eye-popping – 30 goals and 27 as-sists through 24 games. It hasn’t been only smooth sailinghowever, with four players missing significant time with abroken leg, a concussion and a pair of broken arms.

“Hopefully we'll get everyone back for the end of Febru-ary,” Robillard adds. “We're looking forward to a great play-offs. These guys believe in each other.”

Wild repeat as Bantam champs

3 tourneys & division crown for Jr. 67"s

The roster remained the same forthe Eastern Ontario Wild as they movedup from Minor Bantam this season, andthe end result was identical too as theMajor Bantam squad captured its sec-ond consecutive ‘AAA’ regular seasondivision title.

“That’s very, very unique,” notesWild coach Steve Malette. “Typically acoach will make changes, but I’m a be-liever that the chemistry is so strong onthis team that I didn’t want to make achange for the sake of making a change.”

Nowhere is chemistry more evidentthan with the Wild’s top line of BrettMcKenzie, Nicholas Hamre and MartinFrechette, who combined for 136 pointsin 28 games.

Eastern Ontario won the points

standings race by nine over the OttawaSenators to become the first team to re-peat as regular season champions at theBantam level in league history.

“It’s very difficult because ‘AAA’hockey in Eastern Ontario is a very, verycompetitive league,” Malette explains,citing capital teams’ high rankings com-pared to provincial opponents.

The other difficulty in repeating isthat other clubs are gunning for the topdogs. That was the case for the Wildwhen they’d been ranked first in On-tario ahead of the Toronto Marlies priorto a competition in Hamilton.

“We were the talk of the tourna-ment, we had the targets on our back,and we didn’t have a very successfultournament,” Malette recounts.

It was a strong run in tournamentplay overall for the Wild, who won asecond-straight title in Peterborough,and also won an event in Burlingtonwhere they downed their arch-rivals, theUpper Canada Cyclones – the team thatupset them in the playoffs last year.

That’s one change the Wild wouldlike to make this season – ending theircampaign with a league championship.And to embrace the spirit of change, theplayers have switched their hair colourto bleached blond.

“It’s hopefully the playoff good-luck charm,” smiles Malette, who hasnot yet joined his troops as a blond. “Tome, I don’t care if it’s blue, pink or gray,as long as they show up to play hockey,I’m fine with that.”

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

The top athletes from the host Ottawa GymnasticsCentre kicked off their Feb. 3-5 meet in style as TaylorJackle Spriggs and Bruno Webster both earned TourSelection berths for the Kyle Shewfelt Gymnastics Fes-tival in Calgary.

Jackle Spriggs was the all-around champion in thenational open category, using strong results on each ap-paratus to clinch his overall gold despite only one in-dividual event crown on the parallel bars.

“I just came here to have fun,” says Jackle Spriggs,crediting a good rings performance – usually his weakevent – for the title against top competitors from acrossthe province. “I wasn’t expecting to get first place, butI had solid routines and it turned out for the best.”

With four hours a day training at OGC – not tomention another two hours in the car – the Grade 12Arnprior District High School student says the rewardis worth the effort.

“It’s a lot of fun. I like being active, and flippingaround in the air is just awesome,” explains JackleSpriggs, who still wants to add new skills to his rou-tines before the season is done. “Hopefully the next

competitions are a lot more like this one.”Webster feels similarly about the end result – a na-

tional youth all-around bronze medal – although hewould change some of the particulars.

“I’m kind of surprised I made (the Calgary team)because I really messed up on my floor routine,” notesWebster, explaining that he accidentally repeated thesame tumbling line twice, perhaps because he was con-cerned about an ankle injury that struck just a few daysbefore the first event of the season. “I’m pretty proudof this considering the injuries.”

The Grade 10 Pierre Savard high school student isthrilled about getting the chance to represent hisprovince at the March 25-27 competition in Calgary.

“I’m really excited,” says Webster, who was verypleased to have the season-opening meet at his homegym. “It’s going to be a fun experience.”

With the most competitors of any club in the na-tional open competition, it was also a successful nightfor Scott McFarlane, Tyler Glavind and Justin Perryfrom the Tumblers Gymnastics Centre as they eachmade their career debuts in the event’s highest category.

“I’m really proudof them,” beamsTumblers coach NickGrimard, emphasiz-ing the tremendousdedication required to

reach the national open level. “These guys train about15 hours a week and they’ve been doing it since theywere eight years old. They’re very committed.”

The Tumblers had 20 athletes in total compete inthe various classes that range from provincial Level 1 to5 up to the national streams. Those type of all-time highnumbers are encouraging to Grimard, who started theTumblers boys’ competitive program when he was inhis final years at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School.

“We’re one of the bigger programs in Ontario, sowe’re pretty proud of that,” notes Grimard, who hascoached most of his national-level athletes for 10 yearsnow. “And every year we’ve been trying to get a littlebetter.”

A number of local athletes hit the all-aroundpodium in various categories, with the top four finish-ers in provincial Level 3 and 4, as well as the nationalstream, earning positions for the Shewfelt meet.

The winners included OGC gymnasts AlexanderGranzer-Guay (second), Sebastien Baranyi (second),Thomas Rado (third), Nicholas Mikhai (second), AlexSt. George (third) and Arryn Jackle Spriggs (third), andAlexander Don (first) and Paolo Nera (second) fromthe Tumblers.

Women’s artistic gymnasts also continued theirroad to provincials with a qualifier meet on the same

weekend in Pickering.Visit SportsOttawa.com for

more gymnastics coverage.

Ottawa Sports AwardsOttawa Sports AwardsSpecial Section onSpecial Section on

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Photo: KATE KATE GOODFELLOWGOODFELLOW

(rowing)Female Athlete

of the Year

Rowing world record holder follows Groves as city’s top female athlete

Ravens basketball sweeps Ottawa Sports Awards male major honours

Morrison earns city’s top female coach honour in 25th season

Homan earns female team of year while in search of other trophy

Firsts, young & old all part of individual sport award winners

Fury earn first Amateur Club of the Year award

Lions maintain share of top amateur club distinction

ODHA director Sennott earns Mayor’s Cup for outstanding contribution to sport in Ottawa

Basketball referee of 60 years receives lifetime achievement award for technical official

Coaching lifetime achievement winner Lyon still adding to career exploits

CTV’s Waldo earns lifetime achievement media award with Brian Smith’s name on it

John Leroux’s son accepts his lifetime achievement award

for volunteerism

Ottawa Police Soccer Mentorship Program receives donation for contributions to community sport

Local gymnasts excel in national open categoryBy Dan Plouffe

Bruno Webster secured a berth in the Kyle Shewfelt Gymastics Festival in Calgary with his bronze medal win at OGC.

A Zan-tastic finish

Former Nepean-Corona gymnast TaliaChairelli earned her country’s best score on thevault to kick off the competition on the rightfoot as the Canadian women’s artistic gymnas-tics team secured its berth in the 2012 OlympicGames in London.

Former coach Agnes Laing says Chiarelli’sstrongest event was always the vault when sheshowed signs of dedication at age 9 that other

athletes didn’t quite match.Visit SportsOttawa.com

to read this full story.

Chiarelli vaults to London

Grade 12 Lisgar Collegiate Institute student Ben Wilkinson-Zan earned second- andthird-place finishes in the junior boys' 7.5 km sprint and 15 km classic events this pastweekend on his home Nakkertok course at the Eastern Canadian cross-country skiingchampionships in Cantley.

PHOTO: GEORGE MCTAGGART

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

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COMPETITIVE OPENTRYOUTS2012 Youth Competitive Teams.Tryouts commence February 15th.

Open to all players

Ottawa’s #1 RankedSoccer Club

SUMMER SOCCER REGISTRATIONSpace is limited... So sign up now!

For full information on our programs and registration visit ourwebsite at www.osu.ca or call 612 692-4179 ext. 114

2012

OTTAWA SOUTH UNITED SOCCER CLUB

Developmental Soccer Ages 4-8Recreational Programs Ages 9-18Youth Competitive Ages 9-18Adult Competitive and Recreational Programs

Julien celebrates London Olympic qualificationIt was mission accomplished for Ottawa-bred

striker Christina Julien and the Canadian women’s soc-cer team as they secured their position in the 2012Olympics by reaching the final of the CONCACAF re-gional qualifying tournament last month in front of ahome crowd in Vancouver.

“We all knew this was it, we had to get it done,Canada was watching us, we needed our redemptionfrom the World Cup – and everything lined up nicely,”details Julien, who played the majority of the tourna-ment alongside star striker Christine Sinclair. “It was acrazy experience. It was an absolutely unreal atmos-phere in Vancouver with 25,000 fans out for our final.

“There were a lot of young kids just going crazy.It was awesome. Probably one of the best experiencesof my career so far.”

Julien came very close to not getting to fully ex-perience it, however. After she got the Canadiansrolling with their first goal of the tournament, the 23-year-old collided head-to-head with an opponent on es-sentially the last play of a 6-0 victory over Haiti.

“I was seeing stars for a bit,” Julien recalls. “It tookabout an hour-and-a-half for me to settle down andkind of realize what was going on.

“From there, they were talking about not playingme for the entire tournament, staying out and being safeabout the whole situation, but I ended up not having thatmany symptoms the next day and kind of expedited theprocess of getting back on the pitch, and I felt fine. Itdidn’t really bother me at all.”

Julien did miss Canada’s second group game, a 2-0 win over Cuba, but returned for her team’s 5-1 victory

over Costa Rica. The Canadians had been dominantagainst inferior opponents through the preliminaryround, but were up against their best challengers yet inthe semi-final, Mexico, in a single game that would de-cide whether or not they’d go to the Olympics.

“We knew we were stronger than them and wecould outrun them,” Julien notes. “It’s soccer – any-thing can happen – but we had a bit of silent confidencegoing into the game.”

Canada jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but suf-fered through a few anxious moments as the Mexicansgot to within one in the second half. Julien had been sub-

stituted out in favour of a midfielder when she watchedteammate Melissa Tancredi send a ball in to Sinclair forthe goal that solidified Canada’s trip to London.

“At that point, I knew we were going through,”Julien recounts. “I was on the bench at that point, andI was not sitting down – the ref was getting mad at meevery five seconds.”

And when the final whistle blew?“I don’t think I’ve ever ran so fast in my life,”

laughs Julien, who can be seen in photos leading herteam’s celebratory charge towards goalkeeper KarinaLeBlanc. “I was really pumped. I was so relieved. Itwas so emotional, especially since all the fans stayed

there afterwards and we did our victory lap. “I pretty much cried at one point. We were so re-

lieved and happy that we’d accomplished what wewanted to do and we were going to the Olympics.”

Although her career only truly began to blossomwhen she took over a starting role during Canada’s goldmedal win at the Pan American Games this past fall, ithas been a long road to the Olympics for the graduateof the Ottawa Fury youth academy who played soccerat James Madison University and studied kinesiologyand business.

“Since I was a kid, I watched the Olympics everyyear,” Julien says. “You see these amazing athletescompeting in their sport and as an athlete, that’s yourpinnacle and where you want to be. I’m so excited toget an opportunity to be there.”

SSWWEEDDEENN--BBOOUUNNDD??

Canada’s 4-0 loss to #1 world-ranked USA in thetournament final served as a “wake-up call” that a lotof work still needs to be done “if we’re going topodium or win a gold medal or do well at theseOlympics,” notes Julien, who currently lives with herparents in Cornwall.

Aside from a Cyprus Cup trip with national teamfrom Feb. 17-March 7, Julien may wind up making herfinal preparations for London while playing profes-sionally in Sweden. That could mark the end of her runwith the Ottawa Fury W-League squad, who have hadroughly half of the women’s national team play forthem at some point in time.

“It’s still a little up in the air,” Julien adds. “If Swe-den doesn’t work out, I might stay here, train at homeand play with the Fury this summer, but Sweden islooking very likely right now.”

By Dan Plouffe

COMPETITIVE OPENTRYOUTS2012 Youth Competitive Teams.Tryouts commence February 15th.

Open to all players

Ottawa’s #1 RankedSoccer Club

SUMMER SOCCER REGISTRATIONSpace is limited... So sign up now!

For full information on our programs and registration visit ourwebsite at www.osu.ca or call 612 692-4179 ext. 114

2012

OTTAWA SOUTH UNITED SOCCER CLUB

Developmental Soccer Ages 4-8Recreational Programs Ages 9-18Youth Competitive Ages 9-18Adult Competitive and Recreational Programs

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PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER /

MEXSPORT

Ottawa Fury youth academy grad Christina Julien (right) started alongside Christine Sinclair for Canada’s big games.

Ottawa Sports Media is veryproud to announce a new componentto our business in time for MarchBreak 2012.

With the support of our partners

at the Tumblers Gymnastics Centre inOrleans, Parmar Sports Training andDoc Hockey/Rayvens Hockey Campsout at Ray Friel Arena, the OttawaSportspage and SportsOttawa.com

will be sponsoring entry for six youthinto each of their week-long sportscamps coming up March 12-16.

With the assistance of local com-munity resource centres, we will

identify kids who are passionateabout sport but may not usually havethe opportunity to participate in campprograms.

This is a program we are commit-ted to expanding as our business con-tinues to grow, and plans are also inthe works to create our own fund tohelp kids participate in sport.

As always, we welcome new part-ners and new ideas as we strive tosupport grassroots sports in the na-tion’s capital, through our publicationand now with this new initiative.

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Her lawyer, Susanne Sviergula, explains there isonly one accepted way for an injured party to gaincompensation in our society and that is with a lawsuit.

“It is not a fair system for either side,” she says.For a successful case, Lepage must “prove that

(Dunkerley) has breached the standard of care of areasonable runner,” says University of Ottawa lawprofessor Louise Bélanger-Hardy. It is up to the court,she adds, to determine exactly what the standard ofcare is for a runner.

Standard of care for a blind runner, or his guide,“has not been fully explored in Canadian law,” Bé-lander-Hardy notes.

PPLLAAIINNTTIIFFFF CCAARRRRIIEESS LLAAWW BBAACCKKGGRROOUUNNDD

Lepage holds a Master’s degree in law and is cur-rently the executive director at the Information & Pri-vacy Policy division at the Treasury Board of Canada,her lawyer confirms.

Living on the $1,500 per month income of acarded athlete and some earnings as a webmaster,Dunkerley is unable to pay for a lawyer himself be-yond three hours of free legal help through ReachCanada – an organization that serves people with dis-abilities – and he feels overwhelmed and helpless.

Dunkerley’s legal aid has told him that becauseof his lack of house insurance, and therefore an abil-ity to pay for a defence and any damages he may be ordered to pay, it is likely the case will focus on hisguide instead.

Dunkerley dreads the ordeal that his friend, alongwith his club and former running buddies, will nowface.

“It's not something that is just going to go away,”says the fourth-place finisher from the 2011 worldchampionships who believes that his guide did every-thing possible to avoid Lepage. “I feel really badly forJamie who was doing me a favour and now he isbeing accused of negligence.”

At the time of the accident, Stevenson had been

guiding the Dunkerley brothers for two years. A guide'straining is led by the runner with visual impairments,Dunkerley explains, noting the more they run together,the better they figure it out. He adds that Stevensonwas an especially good guide since he had lots of ex-perience and was of similar size and stride.

PPAARRAALLYYMMPPIICCSS RREEMMAAIINNSS FFOOCCUUSS

Dunkerley says the lawsuit is frequently on hismind, but that it hasn’t affected his preparations to-wards qualifying for the 2012 Paralympic GamesAug. 29-Sept. 9 in London. With the goal of betteringhis seventh-place finish from the 2008 Bejing Para-lympics in the 400 m, it means that it is time to refo-cus, at least for his workouts.

“It bothers me a lot, I think about it a lot, but it’snot going to stop me from training – let’s put it thatway,” says Dunkerley, who is coping with an ankleinjury at the moment but maintains high goals forLondon. “It would be really nice to podium obviously,if I could.”

LAWSUIT continued from front

JON DUNKERLEYJON DUNKERLEYand guide dog Lars.

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

902 Pinecrest Rd. Ottawa, K2B 6B3

Dan Plouffe Editor613-261-5838 Editor@SportsOttawa.com

Larry RingDirector of Business Development613-293-1730Larry@SportsOttawa.com

The Ottawa Sportspage is printed the firstTuesday of every month by OttawaSports Media, the locally-owned and op-erated publishers of SportsOttawa.comand the Ottawa Sportspage.

Name: Darin BacciagliaSport: BasketballSchool: Sir Robert Borden HSGrade: 11About: The final bucket of Darin

Bacciaglia's 12-point performance in thedying seconds of a high school seniorboys' basketball match on Jan. 16 liftedhis Sir Robert Borden Bengals to a 57-56 upset victory over the favoured Louis-Riel Rebelles.

Name: Taylor PyefinchSport: GymnasticsClub: Ottawa Gymnastics CentreSchool: Mother Theresa CHSAge: 14About: Recently recognized as Ot-

tawa Sports Awards gymnast of the yearfor 2011, Taylor Pyefinch was an EasternCanadian all-around champion last yearand began her current season by toppingher division at a provincial qualifier.

Name: Ben Wilkinson-ZanSport: Nordic SkiingClub: NakkertokSchool: Lisgar CIGrade: 12About: The reigning OFSAA nordic

skiing senior champion, Ben Wilkinson-Zan is off to a blazing start in his club rac-ing season, earning a silver medal in the7.5 km sprint event at the Eastern Cana-dian championships on his home course.

SPORTSOTTAWA.COM JANUARY STARS OF THE WEEK

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Ottawa Sportspage sends kids to March Break camps

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With the type of nail-biters the Uni-versity of Ottawa Gee-Gees and CarletonRavens have produced already during theregular season, fans may need to find an-other way to calm the nerves should theOUA East’s top two women’s basketballteams meet again come playoff and cham-pionship season.

“If we’re the teams that rise to the top,we may face them again,” smiles Ravenscoach Taffe Charles.

The thought of a third matchup be-tween the rivals with high stakes is simplysalivating. The Capital Hoops Classic wentdown to the wire as Merivale High Schoolgrad Jenna Gilbert scored the decisive bas-ket with just over a minute to play.

The return bout at the Ravens Nestwent the home side’s way, although not be-fore the Gee-Gees forced overtime in thefinal six seconds of the contest.

“I’m pretty sure everyone wanted pay-back,” says Ravens forward AshleighCleary, a team leader along with fellow vet-erans Alyson Bush and Kendall MacLeod.

The Carleton win came against the bestOttawa U team Charles has faced in his fiveyears as head coach, he says, noting the ad-dition of guards Teddi Firmi and BessLennox lifted the Gee-Gees to another

level.“You add two fifth-year kids and that’s

a lot of experience,” Charles adds. “They’rewomen. You’ve got women playing thereand it shows in key situations.”

For Lennox, who became the OUA’sall-time leading rebounder in the loss toCarleton, joining a new team isn’t without

its challenges even though there was cer-tainly some comfort in reuniting with herformer coach at Ashbury College, AndySparks.

“It’s hard to build chemistry in a year,which is one of the difficulties we’re con-fronting,” explains Lennox, whose team’s15 consecutive wins does suggest that

something is starting to click, however.“Everyone works very hard, and we’ll seecome the end of the season, but I think wehave the chance to be very good.”

In Sparks’ view, the meetings betweenthe Ravens and Gee-Gees can be “a littlesloppy” since both teams know each otherso well and find ways to defend against the

other’s strengths. But in his mind, the twoOttawa clubs are only pushing one anotherto greater heights.

“I want it to be a positive rivalry,” notesSparks, whose school will be hosting theCIS women’s east regional national cham-pionships qualifier March 9-10. “I coachedat Carleton as well, so it’s not like I don’thave a connection. Ali Bush played for mein club going through. Taffe’s a goodfriend. It’s probably more friendly for methan it is for most people.”

RRAAVVEENNSS MMEENN RROOMMPP OONN

On the men’s side, the Ravens con-tinue to outclass their opponents as theystrive for a perfect season and the perfectgame to satisfy coach Dave Smart.

The Gee-Gees are the only team tocome within 30 points of Carleton in thefirst 10 games of 2012 when they lost byonly 29.

At 11-7, Ottawa held down secondplace behind the 18-0 Ravens.

Raven & Gee-Gee women push to new heightsBy Dan Plouffe

It’s not difficult to pick out the highlight from January inCIS women’s hockey – the Carleton Ravens beat the mightyMcGill Martlets for the first time in school history.

Facing Team Canada Olympic goaltender CharlineLabonte between the pipes for an entire 65 minutes with reg-ulation and overtime, Ottawa native Sydnie MacDonaldscored the game-winner in the sixth round of a shootout togive the Ravens a 4-3 victory and improve their lifetimerecord against McGill to 1-59-1.

Their record promptly dropped to 1-60-1 in the rematch

when McGill blew out Carleton 10-0, but the victory gavethe red-and-black ladies some hope against the squad thathas dominated the Quebec conference for the better part ofa decade.

Besides the Goliaths, err Martlets, of the conference, theRavens are having even more trouble with the Ottawa Gee-Gees, who have only two wins against last-place Concordiato show for the season except for four victories in four triesagainst Carleton.

“Their whole staff used to be with us pretty much, so Idon’t know if that adds a little fire within,” says Gee-Geesleading scorer Fannie Desforges. “As much as I love girls –I play ball hockey with a lot of them, so we’re good friends– on the ice, we both know it’s business.”

With 17 rookies in Ottawa’s lineup, second-year coachYanick Evola is pleased with his squad’s progress as they ap-pear destined for a first-round playoff matchup with McGill.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” Evola explains.“To think that come their fourth year, we’re going to havepretty much the same group, it’s really fun for me.”

Ravens record first-ever win over McGill GGs volleyball close in on top

Former St. Mary'sHuskies coach SteveSumarah will lead theCarleton Ravens foot-ball team when it re-turns to the CIS, theuniversity announced in

January.

Ravens football nets top coach

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees havebeen in the top echelon of the OUA women’svolleyball league on many occasions in recentyears, but haven’t quite climbed to the top.

This season has a bit of a different feelingto it however, says coach Lionel Woods, who’sbeen with the team since 1988 and won OUAbronze last year.

“I’m pumped about where we’re at,” saysWoods, highlighting that his starting six havegelled together very well despite a young corethat’s joined a few established players.

GGEEEE--GGEEEESS HHIIGGHH IINN OOTTTTAAWWAA FFIIBBRREE

Of course it helps having a power-hitterfrom Brazil in Karina Krueger Schwanke, notto mention a deceptive setter in Christina Grailfrom London, Ont., but the rest of the Gee-Geesstarting six are Ottawa-bred talent – middle

Kathryn Weihrer, along with second-year play-ers Kayla Bell Hammond and twins Kelsie andMyriam English.

“It’s been massive” to the team’s successhaving many players from Ottawa, Woodsmaintains. “With so many kids that had playedtogether before, we got a jump-start.”

And when Woods says “jump” start, hemeans it literally, with all players except for oneserving jumpers as aggressively as possible.

Kelsie English agrees that her team has thepotential to break through for an OUA title.

“I’m hoping this year is the year,” says theformer Maverick Volleyball player who wasone of four to join the Gee-Gees from the sameclub in the same year. “The girls are great. Ourcoach always says that we’re the closest teamthat you’ll ever see. We always hang out off thecourt, and on the court we’re great as well.”

Rebound queen: Ottawa native Bess Lennox became the OUA’s all-time leading rebounder when she surpassed the 986 mark on Feb. 4.

AASSHHBBUURRYY DDAAYYSS RREEKKIINNDDLLEEDDThe final chapter of the Bess Lennox-

Andy Sparks story has the makings of thebest one yet as the former Ashbury Col-lege player-coach combo seek a national

title in Lennox’s last year.Read this full story onSportsOttawa.com

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

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PHOTO: UOTTAWA

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“It’s for the kids.”That’s how Orleans umpire Chuck

Dufton explains his motivation for travel-ing to Uganda in January to call a game be-tween Canada’s Little League baseballchampions from Langley, B.C., and theUgandan Little League champions.

“Very, very easy,” Dufton adds. “If it’sfor the kids, and I can do it, it’s done.”

After a huge upset win over perennialfavourites Saudi Arabia in the MiddleEast/Africa regional championship lastsummer, elation turned to heartbreak for theUgandan team when they were denied U.S.entry visas to attend the Little LeagueWorld Series in Williamsport, PA.

Replaced by runners-up Saudi Arabiaat the tournament, Uganda never had achance to play their opening game againstCanada – until recently. After extensivepublicity, Vancouver native Ruth Hoffmanteamed with the charity Right To Play tosend the Langley ball club to Uganda andmake things right.

More than simply a rain-check ballgame, however, the effort carried a missionto leave a lasting legacy for Ugandan base-ball in a country with 15,000 players andonly 700 ball gloves.

Orleans Little League Baseball thengot involved and contacted Dufton aboutflying over and calling the game. OLLBalso provided funding for the Little LeagueOntario umpire consultant’s trip as part oftheir donation to Right To Play.

For a week from Jan. 10-17, Duftonhelped teach aspiring coaches and umpiresin Uganda the intricacies – and for many,the basics – of softball and baseball. Les-sons were often from square one. Onewould-be coach picked up a bat for the firsttime and placed one hand at the butt andthe other at the top of the barrel.

“It was basically Baseball 101,”Dufton recounts.

But once they learned the fundamen-tals, the Ugandans – mostly middle schoolgym teachers learning softball and baseballin order to teach a new curriculum – reallytook to it.

The coach who didn’t know how tohold a bat? A couple days later, he had twohits in the daily softball game.

“They are all physically fit. They’reeager. It’s a new sport for them, but it’s[still] sport,” says Dufton, also a hockeytrainer for the Gloucester Jr. ‘A’ Rangers.“They did soccer, they did cricket. Oncethey understood fair and foul and the strikezone, they picked up a lot very quickly.”

SSOOLLIIDD SSTTUUDDEENNTTSS OOFF TTHHEE GGAAMMEE

Clinics lasted all day. Morning class-room sessions were followed by two hoursof on-field instruction. After lunch, the par-ticipants rotated through coaching and um-piring duties during a daily boys’ baseballgame, Dufton and the other instructors pro-viding in-game pointers.

At 5 p.m., everyone – girls, coaches,umpires, and instructors – played a softballgame. At 8 p.m., they held video sessionsfor 60 people, using 2011 World Seriesfootage donated by ESPN to illustrate um-piring techniques and mistakes. Partici-pants would borrow the training materialfor the night and come back the next day toask questions.

“They soaked everything up like asponge,” Dufton marvels, noting the firsttime the players saw a uniformed umpirewas at the regional championship inPoland.

After a week of instruction, improve-ment was obvious.

“That level of professionalism, theywent from zero, not even knowing whereto stand, up to being able to call a gamewith very little instruction,” smiles theRoyal Canadian Navy Lieutenant.

The young players also benefited fromsome major-league instruction. RetiredToronto Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun andMLB All-Stars Jimmy Rollins and DerrekLee put on a clinic for around 100 youth inthe capital, Kampala.VVIILLLLAAGGEE LLIIFFEE CCOONNTTRRAASSTTSS DDIIAAMMOONNDD

Two blocks from the cardboard basesof that practice field in Kampala were theslums where several players live. OneAfrican player proudly showed off the tin-roofed hut where he lived with his grand-mother and his “brothers and sisters” –perhaps siblings, perhaps cousins.

It was, says the Canadian umpire, “thelargest culture shock that these 12- and 13-year-olds could have ever imagined.”

After their clinic, Rollins hired twobuses to ferry kids to the big game betweenCanada and Uganda in nearby Mpigi. Theyjoined a crowd of more than 200, some of

whom had driven 12 hours from Nairobi,Kenya to take in the event.

After a tight game in grueling 36° Cheat, the Ugandan Little League champi-ons won a thrilling 2-1 final-inning victoryover Canada in front of the largest crowdthe Ugandan coach had ever seen.

Baseball in Uganda seemed to be onsolid ground come the end of the week, butDufton wasn’t entirely certain the impactwould last for ages.

“My one concern is that because it’staking off so quickly with the players, the[8-12] year olds, after the school year theymay not have enough coaches around inorder to keep it going, and that would be ashame,” explains Dufton, who would liketo return in the future. “It was such a re-warding experience, I’m looking at goingback next January. You just get that sense ofaccomplishment when they tell you thatthey’ve learned a lot. I feel very fortunate.”

Orleans ump helps build up baseball in Uganda

Concussed one day before Jesse Winchester, Stingplayer gets insight in note from injured Sens forward

By Ian Ewing

The last time Owen Moore played hockey was notan enjoyable moment. The Ottawa Sting Major Pee-wee ‘AA’ skated in to chase a puck in the corner, gotahead of his Seaway Valley opponent, but was thenpushed from behind, causing him to slide along the iceand into the boards head-first.

“It was one of those ones where the arena just goessilent,” recounts Owen’s father, Paddy, who was in thestands watching the game in Maxville (thankfully with-out his mother). “It was nasty.”

Moore had a headache immediately, but was ableto make his way off the ice without feeling too bad. Butdays later, the headaches got worse, and a visit to a chi-ropractor showed the top two vertebrae in his neckwere displaced.

The neck wasn’t the worst part though, it’s beenthe lingering effects of his first concussion. Six weeksafter the incident, Moore is finally able to occasionallygo to school for half days.

“This is a kid that just does not nap,” Paddy adds.“It's not in his DNA, but when he'd come home from ahalf day at school, he'd just fall asleep for two hours.”

Moore was symptom-free for three days at one

point over the Christmas holidays, but when he triedbiking for 15 minutes, his headaches returned.

“It’s really boring,” says the Grade 7 D. RoyKennedy Middle School student who’s watched someof his team’s games but doesn’t enjoy the noise andlights from the arena. “Most kids in my class are like,‘You’re so lucky, you get to miss so much school,’ butI just shake my head.”

One class assignment Moore does have at the mo-ment is to do a public speech. He chose to do it on con-cussions, and to do some research, he e-mailed JesseWinchester of the Ottawa Senators, who suffered aconcussion one day after Moore’s hit on Dec. 19.

Moore asked what Winchester would like peopleto know about concussions, and how he thinks they canbe reduced in hockey, and wound up with what thefamily found were very thoughtful answers.

“I was surprised (to get a reply),” Moore notes. “Ididn’t think he’d have that much time.”

Winchester says that it is important to remove the“stigma” surrounding concussions and the mentalitythat players should get right back out on the ice.

“I am still battling symptoms despite appearingnormal to an everyday onlooker,” Winchester writes inpart of his detailed message. “Just because I can now

walk around with-out a limp doesn’tmean I am good toplay again, andthat’s an importantlesson to under-stand.”

Winches t e rsays he isn’t surehow to reduce con-cussions in thegame’s current re-ality where playerstrain harder thanever, compete forjobs and play somany games onshort rest. It willtake something toslow the game, orthe invention of“equipment that doesn’t deliver such extreme blows” tomake a difference, he adds.

There was another lesson Moore picked up fromWinchester’s note that he now wants to share with his

classmates.“With some injuries like an ankle, you might just

tape it up and go back on the ice,” says Moore. “Butwith a concussion, you have to let your brain heal.”

By Dan Plouffe

PHOTO PROVIDED

PHOTO PROVIDED

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

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It was a long way to go for a girl who expectedher competitive season would end at the Eastern On-tario Sectionals, and for Elizabeth Comeau, thedream kept on playing itself out from the momentshe arrived for the Skate Canada national champi-onships to the moment she left.

The Gloucester Skating Club athlete wasgreeted by her grandparents, their friends, and auntsand uncles as she arrived for last month’s junior na-tionals in Moncton, N.B., not far from where herfamily’s Acadian roots stem.

And after skating her best-ever long program incompetition, the season that began with a persistentfoot injury ended with a top-10 national finish in thejunior women’s event.

“Everyone in my family, they were all just sohappy,” recalls Comeau, who finished one spot

ahead of Gloucester teammate Jennifer Pettem. “Mygrandma was crying, and everyone was just really,really happy to be there and were so proud of me.”

Probably no one was happier to be at nationalsthan Zoe Gong, however. The Minto Skating Clubathlete originally missed qualifying in the top-18 bytwo positions, but got a last-minute invite when twoskaters withdrew due to injury.

“I was really happy that I got to go,” says Gong,who was planning for next year and hadn’t beentraining her program until she got the call one weekaway from nationals. “My mom went online andbought tickets to Moncton right away.”

The Grade 9 Earl of March Secondary Schoolstudent made the best of her opportunity on the bigstage – where the young athletes got the full startreatment with a kiss-and-cry area – as she placedseventh in the novice women’s competition.

“I was pretty happy with it – to move up 13spots from Challenge,” smiles Gong, who placedtwo positions in front of her good friend Lisa Nasu-Yu, also a Minto representative. “It was really fun.”

The Minto novice ice dance team of SamanthaGlavine and Jeff Hough earned the top result for localathletes by winning bronze in their competition – onespot below the surprise silver the won at the previousevent, Skate Canada Challenge.

“I was really happy to win a medal – I like na-tional medals obviously – but I still wanted to win, soit was a bit of a mixed feeling,” explains Hough, who

enjoyed the atmosphere at the same venue the seniorskaters used. “There’s the pictures of Tessa and Scott,and Patrick Chan all over the place. It was a lot of fun.”

Other local results included Hough (15th novicemen), Gloucester's Sarah and Steven Clarke (15thjunior ice dance), Gloucester's Benjamin Guthrie(18th senior men), Nepean's Alaine Chartrand (ninth,senior women) and Minto's Hélène Letourneau andKevin Boczar (13th senior dance).

Figure skaters prosper at nationalsBy Dan Plouffe

Muay Thai becomes life for new OAMA starThere’s no question the fight game is

a bit different than many other sports. “In the fight business and in promot-

ing, there is a lot of slimebags,” says NickCastiglia, who has put on local Throw-down Muay Thai kickboxing and WreckMMA events for five years. “That’s whyI got into this. I just got tired of that.”

But for the Ottawa Academy of Mar-tial Arts instructor, yes, promoting eventsis about putting on a good show and run-ning a business, but it’s also about provid-ing development opportunities in a sportwhere they are few and far between.

For the amateur fighters who will taketo the ring on the Feb. 25 ThrowdownGatineau event at the Casino du LacLeamy, having the chance to test them-selves against competitors from outsidetheir own clubs is crucial to progressing.

“It’s huge,” Castiglia adds. “So manyamateur athletes are working full-timejobs and trying to train as much as theycan, some go to school and some havefamilies.

“It just makes it harder for themwhen they have to travel to fight.”

Castiglia’s vision for his events seriesis to provide a local feeder system togreener pastures such as the UltimateFighting Championship.

“I want it to be a hotbed,” describesCastiglia, who invites athletes from manyOttawa clubs such as Ronin, N-1 and Vic-tory to his events along with out-of-towners. “I want people to say Ottawa hassome of Canada’s best fighters, whether

that’s from this gym or any gym.”Last month, that goal came to fruition

when Ronin-bred athlete and WreckMMA veteran Nick Denis made his UFCdebut and earned a $45,000 knockout ofthe night bonus when his standing elbowstook out his opponent in 22 seconds.

“Nick Denis I think relit the fire ineveryone,” notes Castiglia. “It definitelygets everybody jacked up.”

For some fighters on the Throwdowncard, it will be their first trip inside the ringfor a real bout. And then there are otherslike OAMA’s Frank Koffii, who was soimpressive in his December debut thatCastiglia has the 190-lb. 29-year-oldpegged to be part of the night’s best fightwhen he takes on N-1’s Joel Cunningham.

“If there is a fight to watch for, I candefinitely say right now that these twoguys are going to put fireworks out there,”Castiglia promises.

For Koffii, who joined OAMA thispast June and immediately became one ofthe club’s hardest workers, he’s found asport that he says has transformed his life.

“Before I used to be impulsive. I usedto get really mad for no reason,” detailsKoffii, who learned discipline and respectfor teammates, coaches and opponentsthrough Muay Thai. “I don’t go out. Ihave no life. It’s all Muay Thai.”

The security worker will spend aminimum three hours at OAMA five daysa week, while doing weights or sprintsfrom his house if he misses a sixth, check-ing out new techniques on his computerthe one day he has off, and working onmental preparation when he’s on the bus.

“It’s hard because you have to cut outfriends, you have to watch your diet, youcan’t drink – you have to stay focusedevery day,” Koffii adds. “I’m trainingvery, very hard for this fight.”

By Dan Plouffe

Elizabeth Comeau cracked the nationaltop-10 in Moncton.

Zoe GongFILE PHOTO

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

PHOTO: DAN PLOUFFE

OODDHHAA NNEETTSS DDOONNAATTIIOONN FFRROOMM AALLLL--SSTTAARR WWEEEEKKEENNDD

Steven Stamkos was the star attraction at the grand open-ing of RBC’s new Montreal Road branch in Beacon Hill.

Their minor hockey players were dazzled by StevenStamkos’ presence at the new RBC branch on MontrealRoad, and the Ottawa District Hockey Association wasjust as pleased about potentially bringing more young-sters into the game after the event on All-Star weekend.

The ODHA was presented a $5,000 grant it had ap-plied for through RBC’s Play Hockey program to helprent storage space to house equipment it will give toyoung players who can’t afford it.

“Skates are expensive, so with their program, it'sgoing to assist kids in this community, and in other communities too,” notes ODHA executive director RickSennott. “It's a great cooperation between the local part-ners to get these kids on the ice.”

RBC staff collected many of their own used skatesand received 10 new pairs from Figure 8 skate shop.

“It was really well supported by everyone in-volved,” says RBC branch manager Richard Levesque,who praised Stamkos for this enthusiasm. “We had agreat turnout from the community, and now they knowwe are here.”

FrankKoffii of

the OttawaAcademy of

Martial Arts willbe in a premiere fight

on the Saturday, Feb. 25Throwndown Gatineaucard against N-1’s Joel

Cunningham.

Carolyn Waldo from CTV – on how toget your athletes/sports into the media.

It’s one of eight sessions designed forleaders in Canadian sport to share practi-cal information that can be applied in thecommunity sport system in particular.

Other topics on the agenda include: Sport Excellence At All LevelsHigh Performance Athletes Giving BackCanada’s New Sport Policy, Putting a

Focus on Community SportPositive Youth Development

Through SportChallenges of training and retaining

coaches and officialsSport as a Tool to Build CommunitiesMaximizing Your Club's Participation

and Excellence ProgramsCGC CEO Brian MacPherson says

the conference could be particularly ap-pealing to people involved in commu-nity sport as a parent of an athlete, a clubadministrator or volunteer club presi-dent, and local coaches.

It is the first such conference CGChas organized, but they hope the Ottawaevent will act as a model for similar con-ferences across the country.

The idea for the conferencestemmed from the international organi-zation’s primary role besides putting onthe Commonwealth Games, which isbringing sport opportunities into devel-oping Commonwealth countries.

CGC wanted to do something of asimilar nature within Canada, althoughthe difference in Canada is that a net-work already exists for athletes to be in-troduced to sport through schools andclubs, so they shifted the focus a littlemore towards sport excellence in a com-munity setting, MacPherson explains.

“We looked at a different way tohelp out community sport,” adds the for-mer Canadian Paralympic Committeedirector general. “Our niche is trulyCanada's best athletes and coaches in-volved in the Commonwealth Games, solet's use them and link them to the com-munity level.”

Around 100 of the 150 availablespaces are already filled for the eventthat runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. onFriday and 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday.The cost to attend is $199 ($99 for stu-dents). Registration can be done onlinethrough www.commonwealthgames.ca

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OSU Force 98 Boys were crowned the 2012Ontario Indoor Cup U14 Champions at the finalscompetition held Jan 28 & 29 at the Ontario Soc-cer Association headquarters in Vaughan, Ont.

The Force 98 went 3-0-0 in Group B play, pro-ducing scores against Whitby Iroquois, Rich-mond Hill Raiders, and Thunder Bay Chill of 3-0,

3-0 and 7-0 respectively. In the semi-final game,the team faced Mt. Hamilton and the Force won5-2 and berth in the Cup finals.

The championship game was a rematchagainst Thunder Bay and the Force sealed the championship with a convincing 6-1 win.Congratulations boys!

In 2011, OSU organized the collection of uni-forms and equipment which were provided to theCanadian Forces personnel serving inAfghanistan.

The picture above shows a child in Pashmull,Afghanistan receiving an OSU donated uniform

from a member of our Canadian Forces.OSU will be collecting again used uniforms

and equipment at our walk-in registrations. If youhave anything to donate please bring them withyou at our registrations and we will put togethermore care packages to send overseas.

The Force Academy ZoneOSU Force Academy ’98 Boys’ Indoor Ontario Cup ChampsOSU Force Academy ’98 Boys’ Indoor Ontario Cup Champs

OSU supports Canadian efforts in AfghanistanOSU supports Canadian efforts in Afghanistan

Commonwealth Games Canada conferenceseeks to build community sport excellence

The upcoming CommonwealthGames Canada (CGC) conference enti-tled “Where Sporting Excellence andCommunity Meet” will bring some bignames in Canadian sport to the RA Cen-tre on March 2-3.

Some of the high-profile speakersduring the day-long sessions include the

Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of Statefor Sport, the new CEO of Own thePodium, Ottawa’s Anne Merklinger, andthe CBC’s Scott Russell.

Russell will lead a panel along with apair of Ottawa Sports Awards lifetimeachievement winners in media – MartinCleary from the Ottawa Citizen and