HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-09-13, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012.Sports
Nichol to train future Olympic volleyball players
He was born in the picturesque
village of Brussels, went to high
school down the highway in
Wingham and now Josh Nichol
could have a say in developing
Canada’s future Olympic volleyball
players.
Depending on how you look at the
task, Nichol – and colleagues across
the country – can only improve
things – especially at the men’s level
where Canada hasn’t had a team at
the Summer Olympics in the past 20
years.
At the world championship two
years ago, Canada finished in 19th
place. At the Pan Am Games, a
smaller international event, the
results were better with bronze
medals – but that was in 1979 in
San Juan and again in Winnipeg in
1999.
Nichol, when he’s not working at
the Ontario Volleyball Association,
is the head coach of the men’s team
at George Brown College.
And when Toronto’s downtown
post-secondary institution had an
opportunity to grab a few dollars
from Volleyball Canada via the
nationally-funded “Own The
Podium” program and establish a
Centre for Excellence in the
country’s largest city, Nichol got the
nod to make some magic.
In other words, work with high
school-age athletes and develop high
performance male and female
athletes.
“It’s certainly a great opportunity
to work on fundamentals and build
our future athletes and programs for
international competition,” said
Nichol, who is also completing his
Level Three of the National
Coaching Certification Program.
“As a country, we have
consistently fallen short and our
men’s teams have made the Summer
Olympics only three times. Now, we
have something special at George
Brown that could improve things -
our goal is to help young athletes
(boys and girls) use this as a
pathway to the National team.”
A left-side hitter when he played
high school and club, Nichol was a
former two-time Huron-Perth area
league all-star, and team MVP in his
senior year at F.E. Madill Secondary
School. Sometime after that, the
focus changed from playing to
coaching – something he has done
for the past nine years.
Nichol, who denied the program
was designed to recruit athletes to
George Brown College, said Canada
has some very talented individual
male and female volleyball players,
but there was a drastic need for
improvement.
Volleyball Canada has set up a
series of Centres, similar to George
Brown, across the country. The
University of Waterloo has the only
other program in Ontario.
Emphasis is put on nutrition,
strength, conditioning and
fundamentals of the sport.
Nichol said open tryouts were
held in June and September. Later
this month, the 13-week program
begins at George Brown with one
for those in Grades 8 and 9 while
another is aimed for students in
Grades 10, 11 and 12.
Nichol said the program is not
only attracting players from the
Greater Toronto Area – but also
from Newmarket and Barrie – and at
least one student is using it as a
school credit.
Lacey Hrynyk lives in Barrie, and
is in her graduating year at Innisdale
Secondary School, and said the one-
hour commute to George Brown
College – twice a week – is well
worth it.
“I hope to play for Canada one
day and when this kind of coaching
is available free – it makes sense to
benefit from it,” said the 17-year old,
a 5-foot-9 left-side hitter and libero.
“I like the strength and
conditioning component, but really
can’t go wrong with the coaching
and in smaller groups. It’s also a
school credit for me.”
Nichol will coach the men while
Matt Harris will deal with the
female program.
“We have lots of work to do – and
the development of great players
doesn’t happen overnight,” said
Nichol. “One day, we hope to do
well at the Olympics and maybe
we’ll be able to look back and say
we had a say in the development of
those athletes.”
By David Grossman
Special to The Citizen
Leading his team
Brussels native Josh Nichol, left, has been coaching men’s
volleyball for years throughout Volleyball Canada and at
George Brown College in Toronto. He began his career in
volleyball by playing at F.E. Madill Secondary School in
Wingham before moving on to higher levels of the sport.
(Photo submitted
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The Wingham Golf and Curling
Club enjoyed a good month of
August and have a full slate of
events scheduled for September. On
Saturday, Sept. 1 Don Edgar kicked
the month off with a hole in one on
the tough par three second hole.
Don’s great shot came from a six
iron from 195 yards. Tuesday, Sept.
4 the ladies held their competition
for the Conron trophy.
The gals played throughout the
day in and out of rain drops with
Gayle Neil taking home the first-
place trophy.
The Wednesday morning senior
men had 31 golfers out on a
beautiful morning. Hugh Clugston
was the big winner for the day
claiming both longest putt prizes as
well as low net. Don Bone’s 40 held
up as low gross and helped give him
second place with Bob Foxton
taking third. Ross Peacock was
winner of the closest to the pin.
The Thursday night men had 65
golfers hit the links. Steve Nixon
fired a 38 for low gross for the night.
The prize winners were: closest to
the pin, Paul Deitz and Brett Martin;
longest putt awards, Greg Crawford,
Lloyd Erb, Ross Gibson, Doug Long
and Harry George; hidden scores,
James Elphick, Ben Blackwell and
Tom Bohman.
Friday night’s wing night was a
big hit as Cheryl served up over 800
large tasty wings. Friday, Oct. 5 will
be the final wing night for 2012.
Saturday the club hosted the Brett
Cameron Memorial tournament.
This close group of friends played
nine holes of golf before joining
together sharing memories and
laughs in the dining lounge followed
by a barbecued steak and chicken
buffet.
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Now taking orders
Don’t want a whole turkey?
Try Hayter’s turkey products,
Norpac beef and
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We also have Jerry Rader
products, Millbank cheese
and ice cream for dessert.
for
Thanksgiving
Otters earn gold at provincial level, silver at national
Teeswater Bantam Boys OASA
team have had an exceptional
season. OASA play began Canada
Day weekend when the boys won
their elimination tournament in
Napanee. Fifteen teams participated
and Teeswater came out on top
qualifying them for the Eastern
Canadian Championship in Nova
Scotia.
Up next was the provincial
championships held in Port Perry
Aug. 17-19. Teeswater faced
Cobourg (a 3-0 win), Grand Valley
(a 6-1 win), Port Perry (a 1-0 loss),
and New Hamburg (a 5-3 win). At
this point of the tournament
Teeswater and Port Perry were the
remaining two teams battling for the
provincial title. With one loss in the
double knockout tournament,
Teeswater would have to beat Port
Perry twice to claim the pennant.
Teeswater and Port Perry did battle
for 13 gruelling innings before
Teeswater was victorious 4-0. This
forced a final and deciding game
where the Otter boys found their
mojo and took it to the Port Perry
Jacks 7-3 and clinched provincial
honours.
Aug. 23-27 the Otters packed their
bags and made their way to St.
Croix, Nova Scotia to face the best
Bantam fastball teams Eastern
Canada had to offer. Three Nova
Scotia teams, two Ontario teams,
and teams from Newfoundland,
Quebec and New Brunswick
rounded out the tournament
competition. In Teeswater’s first
game of round robin play they faced
Nova Scotia 1 – East Hants.
Teeswater was victorious 4-2. Game
two found the Otters taking care of
Nova Scotia 2 – Sheet Harbour
Rockets 16-1. The score against
Newfoundland was 8-3 in
Teeswater’s favour. Next up was
team Quebec Express which fell to
Teeswater 10 -1. The final game of
round-robin play found Teeswater
squaring off against rival Port Perry
Lake Scugog Lumber Jacks.
Teeswater took care of business 9-4
over Port Perry.
Tournament format dictated top
two teams of round robin play met in
the quarter finals with the winner
advancing to the final game. Once
again Otters versus Jacks was on the
docket. This would be the ninth time
these teams had met in competitive
play this season. The Otters had won
five of the previous eight meetings.
This game didn’t disappoint as both
teams had their game face on and the
score remained 0-0 after seven
innings of play. International rules
came into effect as the eighth inning
began with runners on second base
in scoring position. Teeswater sealed
the deal scoring one run in the
bottom of the eighth to send the team
to the Eastern Canadian
Championship Gold medal game.
Port Perry played two extra games
to make their way back to take on
the Otters for Gold. As the deciding
game began, it was very clear that
Chip and a Putt – By Bruce Skinn Continued on page 8