OBSERVER SPORTS |
Optimist Club road hockey tourney back for year 17
BY: VANESSA MOSS
A 17-year tradition will live on in 2008 as the Elmira Optimist Club hosts its road hockey tournament at Park Manor Public School Apr. 26.
The event normally sees around 50 teams of five members each compete in a double-elimination contest starting at 8 a.m.
Ranging in age from 7-14, the boys and girls will battle it out on six tennis courts in four different divisions with money and medals as motivation.
“I think kids like to play,” Optimist member Steve Bisbee said of the tournament’s yearly popularity.
“Springtime comes and they look forward to it.”
Although the top three teams in each division take home the big prizes, “everybody wins,” Bisbee said.
Each child will receive free hot dogs, drinks and mini-sticks, all on behalf of the 17-member club.
With around 250 players running around, the Optimists rely on help from the Woolwich Minor Hockey Referees Association and student volunteers to keep the day running smoothly and safely.
Teenagers who used to play themselves come back every year to lend a hand, Bisbee said.
“Whenever the government decided that kids needed volunteer hours, it sure made things easier for us.
“It takes a lot of people-power to do.”
Besides making sure they have the proper safety equipment, players are not restricted by many rules, but they are encouraged not to be too physical.
The overall atmosphere on the courts throughout the day is amazing to watch, Bisbee said.
“It’s so much fun. … I meet kids on the street and they’ll come up to me and [say] ‘you’re doing that road hockey tournament again this year, aren’t ya?’”
Martial artists make strong
showing in Elora
BY: MARC MIQUEL HELSEN
They went to Elora ready to compete and came back laden with the spoils of their efforts.
Of the dozen Elmira-area martial artists who competed at the 23rd annual Shiai Canadian Naha-Te Goju Karate championships at Elora Public school on Mar. 30, six came away with hardware.
“We had a pretty good black belt division at the tournament. There’s three of us that were competing (black belt level) and we all came home with trophies,” said sensei Barbara Lamble.
Hosted by the Elora Gorge Goju Karate Dojo, the tournament saw some 150 to 175 students of all ages and degrees performing forms, sparring against competitors of the same age and level, and training.
From beginning to end the competitors were hard at work performing katas, kumite and kobudo. Katas are a set of stylized movements that mimic an imaginary battle scene. Some of these forms are up to 1,000 years old.
Fourteen-year-old Jake Nederend won first place in his kata division.
“Jake actually just got his junior (black belt) in January. So, the fact that he won the adult kata division is actually pretty impressive because that usually doesn’t happen. Usually it is somebody who is more senior,” said Lamble, noting it was the first time that Nederend competed in the black belt division.
The kumite portion of the tournament involved non-contact sparring, similar to a game of tag rather than a street fight: kicks must come as close to the body as possible but without touching – accuracy and precision are of paramount importance.
The third part of the tourney featured kobudo, a weapons-training component based on forms. Kobudo has its roots in farming communities where peasants were prohibited by governments from owning and using weapons. As a result, the rural populations learned to use farming implements as weapons for self-defense, as extensions of the body, Lamble explained.
The big winner in that category was green belt Tatum Wild, 8, who clinched a second place finish in her favourite component of the tourney. Wild competed with her sai in a group that included some 15 students, many of which were significantly older.
Among some of the other tournament winners were Sam Klooster, 10, who competed despite breaking his arm in the playground just days before the event.
“He had been training really hard for this and he actually ended up winning first place in kata, despite his broken arm,” said Lamble, noting that Klooster surprised everybody there: peers, senseis and, obviously, the judges.
“He did very well.”
Although green belt Carmen Graves, 7, did not place in the competition, she competed in a higher age group than her own and did really well, Lamble added.
Rae-Ann Nafziger, 11, won first place in the yellow belt division of kata. Christina Graf-Curtis another black belt, won two second places in black belt kata and sparring.
As for the sensei herself, she also fared well in the competition placing first in the sparring component of the black belt division, and earning two third-place honours in kata and kobudo.
While she emerged triumphant in the sparing component, getting there was no cake walk.
“We actually had to fight each other for the first and second place trophy which was pretty fun actually,” said Lamble, of her bout with friend Graf-Curtis.
“The judges at first said, ‘you guys are really fierce with each other and it’s kind of funny because we’re friends and we spar together all the time and we both really wanted it, so, it’s kind of funny to see us and then we hug at the end and everybody’s like, ‘oh, they are friends.”
“You certainly don’t look like it when you’re in the ring,” she quipped.