02 July 27, 2002 - ObserverXtra

JULY 27, 2002 • SPORTS&LEISURE • WOOLWICH OBSERVER 17
17
Area youth win medals at summer games
By By Hugo Hugo Rodrigues
Rodrigues
OBSERVER STAFF
For many local
athletes the Ontario
Summer Games
was the closest they’ll ever
get to an Olympic medal
podium – but 12 young
athletes got a taste of that
feeling last week when
they medalled in their
sports.
Leading the pack at the
games held from July 18 –
21 was the gold-medal
Niagara Region Under-19
women’s rugby team,
where three players from
the Elmira District
Secondary School (EDSS)
women’s rugby team
played in key positions –
with Krista Kraemer
scoring the winning try in
the game.
The girls were invited to
The other day I was
in town for the
purpose of
enhancing my live bait
collection when I noticed a
young family discussing
the purchase of their first
tackle box. Well, actually,
the wife was discussing.
The husband and boy just
stood there listening,
dumb-founded and caught
up in the spirit of equality.
Mother, who obviously
didn’t put the right amount
of priority on fishing,
strongly recommended a
tiny one-tray affair better
suited towards storing
beads than fishing tackle.
It was sleek, colour
coordinated, affordable,
made great use of space,
easily carried and
ultimately practical. No
wonder it had remained on
the shelf for so long. From
my vantage point down the
aisle, I watched in horror
as her timid husband
stumbled, trying to gently
persuade her of the folly of
this purchase.
“What’s wrong with it?”
she responded, far too
firmly. Quite frankly, it was
embarrassing. Her poor
spouse was being asked to
resort to logic when
explaining a matter of the
heart.
Now, normally I’m not
heroic, but I realized that
if I didn’t act and didn’t act
fast, a poor little boy would
be scarred for life. And so
would his young son too.
“Where are you going to
store your son’s educational
reading material?” I piped
up, knowing instinctively
that no mother in the world
could resist an opportunity
to continue the torment of
educating her offspring
even long after the school
Young women dominate in field sports at games held in K-W
play on the team by their
EDSS coach Heather
Seiling, who was one of
two coaches for the
summer games team. The
final match went Sunday
to the Niagara team in a 3-
0 match against Toronto.
“It’s fantastic because
you’re bringing a group of
girls together who haven’t
really played before but
because their level of play
is so good they’re able to
come together as a team,”
explained Seiling. “We
were really impressed
with what we had out on
the field. We had girls from
this area – from the EDSS
team – but then there were
girls from Hamilton and
Stony Creek and the
Niagara area.”
The task of coming
together in such a short
time span and winning the
THE-NOT-SO-GREAT
OUTDOORSMAN
BY STEVE GALEA
system had given up for the
year.
“Oh,” she blushed, “I
hadn’t thought of that.”
A quick conversation
summed up the situation.
The woman had never
fished a day in her life but,
naturally, assumed to
know more about it than
her husband. And, by the
way she kept changing the
term fisherman to angler,
I knew I was dealing with
a card-carrying feminist.
Dear God, it was worse
than I imagined. As drops
of sweat beaded on my
ample forehead, I searched
for the right words.
“It’s a common mistake
that men and women
usually make equally,” I
stuttered insincerely. “ But
what would a fishing trip
be without the chance to
teach a boy respect for
women’s issues, political
correctness and genderneutral
phrases?”
“You are right,” she
smiled as she walked down
the aisle for a larger tackle
box.
“Thanks, man,” blurted
out her young husband.
I patted him on the
shoulder. Yet, though the
battle was won, the war
was clearly not over. She
returned with a tackle box
that, though larger, was
still far too easily carried.
gold resulted in friendships
though, something
that the players expressed
in interviews after
the games
ended July
21.
“ W e
shared
s o
much
stuff
a n d
we get
along
so well
and it’s
different in
rugby than
any other sport
that I’ve played. Everybody
just gets along so well
and we had good laughs
and we just connect on a
different level than I ever
have in any other sport,”
said fly-half Anne
Saving tackle boxes
“The bottom
compartment will hold the
entire Gloria Steinem
collection!” she exclaimed
happily.
“Thank Goddess,” I said,
“but what about the tackle
needed to catch those male
fish that exploit their
female counterparts?”
“Exploit?” she said
reddening.
“What else would you
call abdicating all parental
responsibility after the
young are born? Look, just
because they’re lower
forms of life doesn’t give
them the right to be
chauvinists, right? While
she tends to the nest, he’s
out there frolicking with
younger, better-looking
spawners at the gravel
bar.”
Furious, she rushed over
to the Cadillac of tackle
boxes and promptly threw
out her back muscles
trying to move it. Had she
stopped to read the
cautionary signage, she
would have put on the
accompanying weightlifting
trusses as
suggested. And the wheels
were a dead giveaway.
Before any further
damage was caused, her
husband quickly came to a
gallant rescue — of the
tackle box. The way he
easily carried it down
towards the cashier was
my first indication that he
did indeed have a
backbone. “Bass pro
circuit 1984,” he winked.
Just then, she limped
towards him, winced and
said, “Just so you know,
anything you can do I can
do just as well.”
“Of course,” he smiled.
“Now pay for this, would
you?”
Hatherton. “I don’t know
of one person whose
played rugby and said they
haven’t liked it…
that experience
with
the girls
a n d
then
getting
to
know
them
over a
couple
o f
weeks to
see how
much alike
we are and how
different we are as well.”
Just the experience of
being at the games made a
difference for many local
participants – athletes and
coaches – who had never
participated in an event of
this magnitude before.
“There were more people
than I expected, more
sports involved, more
people, more athletes than
I’d originally thought. I
was just kind of surprised
with how many athletes
are actually involved with
the whole Ontario
Summer Games,” added
Hatherton, who was
echoed by her teammate
Chrissie Schill in
describing her entrance at
the opening ceremonies
held in Kitchener on July
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“It felt really cool
because this is probably
the closest to the Olympics
that I’ll ever get. It’s not the
same feeling that an
athlete would go through
walking into the opening
ceremonies at the
Olympics, but that’s
almost how I felt,” said
Schill. “You’re so excited
about it and everybody’s
watching you walking in –
it’s just a really neat
feeling.”
With about 2,000 tickets
sold for the ceremonies it
truly did bring the same
reaction to women’s field
lacrosse silver medallist
Robin Taves – who at 11
years of age was also one
of the youngest players at
the games.
“It was exciting. I was
nervous at first but then
once I was out there I was
just there and it wasn’t
that bad… I figured out
that there was around 2,000
tickets sold so the thought
of that many people kind
of set me off,” said Taves.
“…There was the 2,000
people in the stands and
then there was probably
quite a few people
watching on TV. When I
was walking along I was on
the inner side, so the
camera was right there.”
Cameras from Rogers
(SEE STRONG PAGE 18)
ONTARIO
SUMMER GAMES
Medals for
local atheletes
Gold
Girls Rugby – Under 19
Krista Kraemer, Elmira,
Anne Hatherton, Elmira,
Chrissie Schill, Wallenstein
Girls Basketball
Rebecca Moss, Conestogo
Track and Field
Corin Metzger, Elmira
Sailing
Conestoga Lake Sailing
Club A Team; Jared Bakelaar,
Listowel, Don McKenzie,
Waterloo
Silver
Field Hockey
Bronwyn Hurlburt, Elmira;
Kate Norrish, Conestogo
Basketball
Johnathan Stypa,
Conestogo
Field Lacrosse
Robin Taves, Heidelberg
Bronze
Archery
Griffin Keller, Conestogo
Other results
Sailing
6 th – Conestogo Lake
Sailing Club B Team;
Alison Pace, Waterloo;
Devon McKenzie, Waterloo
7 th – Conestogo Lake
Sailing Club B Team;
Ben Millard-Martin, Glen
Allan; Saskia Gijsen, Kitchener
11 th – Conestogo Lake
Sailing Club A Team;
Jessie Millard-Martin, Glen
Allan, Graham Moogk-
Soulis, Waterloo
3 rd overall – Conestogo
Lake Sailing Club
Greenbrook
Demonstration
Garden Tour
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