Ashburton Courier: July 29, 2021
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SPORT<br />
28 <strong>Ashburton</strong> <strong>Courier</strong>, <strong>July</strong> <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
New MSA Club snooker room awinner<br />
Players in the <strong>Ashburton</strong> Club<br />
andMSA Billiardsand Snooker<br />
Section haveanew snooker<br />
roomabove the Noble 600<br />
restaurant.<br />
Snooker sectionsecretary/<br />
treasurer Al Benfell said it was<br />
abeautiful largeroom.<br />
‘‘It is abig improvementas<br />
the cue would hit awallinthe<br />
previous room.’’<br />
The club currently has<br />
around 20 membersand were<br />
always keen to welcome new<br />
players with coaching offered.<br />
On <strong>July</strong> 17 the snooker room<br />
hostedthe top six available<br />
players from the<strong>Ashburton</strong><br />
MSA, Timaru SA and Kaiapoi<br />
Club.<br />
At stakewas the Plains<br />
Trophy with the<strong>Ashburton</strong><br />
MSAteam winning thetrophy<br />
again this year.<br />
The<strong>Ashburton</strong> team of John<br />
Ruakere, Noel Green,Liam<br />
Young, Al Benfell, Tony<br />
Benfell,and Greg Fattorini all<br />
contributedtothe successwith<br />
the highest breaksbeingmade<br />
by Tony Benfell (35) andLiam<br />
Young (33)<br />
Anybodyinterested in taking<br />
up snooker or billiards can<br />
contact Al Benfellon027 319<br />
2512.<br />
Below: the <strong>Ashburton</strong> MSA snooker team (from left) Tony Benfell,<br />
Liam Young, Alister Benfell, John Ruakere and Noel Green. Right:<br />
The new snooker room.<br />
Study tackles head collision risks for young rugby players<br />
Astudy investigatingheadgear protection<br />
in juniorrugbyplayers kicks offnextyear<br />
amid growing concern abouthealthand<br />
safety in the sport.<br />
The twoyearstudy, beingcarried out by<br />
University of Canterbury education,<br />
health and human development Professor<br />
Nick Draper, has been givenmore than<br />
$100,000 by the Canterbury Medical<br />
ResearchFoundation.<br />
It will look into headcollisionsin junior<br />
rugby andthepotential of World Rugbysanctioned<br />
headgear to reduceimpacts.<br />
Professor Draper,who is an experienced<br />
junior rugbycoach and afather of three<br />
young rugbyplaying sons, saidthe study<br />
was timely due to rising concern from<br />
parents andthe rugby union community<br />
about thehealth risks associated with<br />
head collisions.<br />
“Thereare parents whoare choosingnot<br />
to let their children play rugbyasmore<br />
concussioncasescometolight, and Ithink<br />
as researchers and as auniversity, we have<br />
aresponsibility to the community to find<br />
ways to makethe game safer forour<br />
children.<br />
The new research,starting early next<br />
year, would seek to find out if protective<br />
headgear helped reducepeak<br />
accelerations in collisions.<br />
It will use 40 junior male players from<br />
Waihora Rugby Club during two seasons;<br />
2022and 2023.<br />
Half the players willwear approved<br />
headgear,and theother half without.<br />
There wouldalso be special<br />
mouthguards equippedwith sensors to<br />
measure peak accelerations which occur<br />
duringcollisions at training andin<br />
matches, video recordings andMRI scans<br />
done preseason,postseason and afterany<br />
concussive collision as partofthe<br />
research.<br />
Mid Canterbury Combined (MCC) First XV in<br />
action during the recent Selwyn Schools<br />
Combined First XV match.
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