CHRONICLE 16-17 ISSUE 05

22 The Chronicle November 8 - 14, 2016 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca
Sports
Dempster is top ball coach in OCAA
A wealth of experience
leads to accolades
Christopher Jones
The Chronicle
Coach Sam Dempster was recently
named the Ontario Colleges Athletics
Association (OCAA) men’s
baseball coach-of-the-year. His
team finished with a 13-11 record
after they finished hosting the Canadian
Colleges National Baseball
Invitational on Oct. 28-30, where
they lost to Fanshawe in the semifinals.
Dempster, who has been coaching
Durham since the team first
began 24 years ago in 1992, said
“it’s an honour to get it.”
Dempster didn’t take any of the
credit though.
“The players do everything for
you. Anytime that a coach or a
manager gets an award it’s due to
the players that play for him. That’s
the key. Without the players, nothing
really gets done. It’s all about
the players.”
One such player is Alec Brown,
a pitcher, an outfielder and an
OCAA all-star for the Lords baseball
team this season.
Brown said that playing for
Dempster is “awesome. He knows
a lot of stuff. He’s got a lot of knowledge
in regards to the game. It’s
awesome to have a coach who
knows what they’re talking about
all the time.”
Dempster actually scouted
Brown when he was still a young
ball player in Bowmanville and
brought him to Durham.
Since Dempster helped start the
Durham men’s baseball program
in 1992, the team has appeared in ten
national championships, the first in
1994, only two years after the team’s
inaugural season, the most recent in
2012.
The Lords have also won seven
Ontario championships, the first
in 1999 and most recently in 2011,
when they also won the Canadian
Intercollegiate Baseball Association
(CIBA) title.
On top of his work with the
Lords, Dempster has also been a
scout for the New York Yankees and
the Milwaukee Brewers in the past.
When asked if he met any interesting
players during his time working
for major league teams, he simply
laughed and said, “I saw George
Steinbrenner [former owner of the
Yankees] from about 100 feet away.
Just the back side of him, going into
the complex while I was standing
outside with my gear.”
Dempster is also the head coach
of the Great Britain national team.
Under his guidance, the team
qualified for the 2013 World Baseball
Classic. Dempster said that his
time with the Great Britain team is
the closest he has ever gotten to the
major leagues in the way they were
organized. He said that the level
of talent was at the major league
level. Chuckling he talked about
how his own private office was
three times the size of his current
office at Durham.
Dempster has been on the coaching
staff of the Durham Lords baseball
team since 1992, and while he
was happy to win the coach of the
year, he’s already thinking ahead
to next season.
Lords women's soccer going through major changes
Michael Welsh
The Chronicle
Durham College women’s soccer
team has suffered in recent years.
It has not posted a winning record
since 2013.
But now, the program is on a
new path.
A coaching change late into the
season sparked a fire under a team
that was near the bottom of the
standings and was going through
another poor season.
Alex Bianchi started the season
as an assistant coach for the Lords
men’s soccer team but was named
the women’s head coach with only
six weeks left in the season.
The move came following the
resignation of Ramon Macintosh.
Taking over a team sitting outside
of the playoffs late in the year
may seem like a tough transition
but according to Bianchi it was just
the opposite.
“I went in with an optimistic
view. There was no pressure,” says
the coach. “There was no target
put on us and that was nice. It was
just about getting in there and turning
the program around.”
When Bianchi took over the
team, it had a 2-6 record. The
Dempster helped
start the Durham
men's baseball
program in 1992.
The Lords celebrate a big goal in a key win at home against Centennial College.
Lords needed to pick up wins in
three of their final four games to
make the playoffs.
The team rallied together and
Photograph by Michael Welsh
won the necessary games to make
the playoffs.
According to Bianchi, the biggest
factors in the team’s improvement
were a new energy amongst
the players as well as a change in
formation.
“I think the formation was a
Photograph provided by Al Fournier
Sam Dempster, Durham College's men's baseball coach, on the field earlier this year.
big issue. They were playing very
defensive and I didn’t think they
were very comfortable,” says Bianchi.
“The girls embraced my style
of play that I have used for years
which is more offensive.”
Dave Ashfield, head coach of the
Lords men’s soccer team, was sad
to see his long-time assistant go but
was excited for his new opportunity
and agrees Bianchi is the right man
for the job.
“Congratulations to Alex, he
truly deserves it,” says Ashfield.
“He has been a fantastic coach with
me the past three years. When Alex
started coaching with me I told him
if I could ever help him get a head
coaching job I would and luckily
for Durham it was here.”
The Lords lost a tough playoff-qualifying
match to the nationally
ranked team from Humber
College. Despite the loss Bianchi is
happy with how the game went and
the message it sends.
“Six weeks ago this team probably
wasn’t making the playoffs.
Humber was expecting a different
type of game but we pushed them,”
he says. “I think that was a positive
message to the team and to the
school that this program is going to
get better.”