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The Citizen, 2002-02-20, Page 19The truth about snowmobile safety (©2001 by Craig Nicholson. All rights reserved.) By Craig Nicholson THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2002. PAGE 19. PeeWee Reps begin WOAA playof • series Christopher Jutzi with four goals and McKague and Chris Corbett. Matt McClinchey with two goals.. Goalie Kyle Gibson made some Assists went to Matt White with outstanding saves to keep the three, Jordan Campbell, Brad scoring low. Congrats Jamie Lewis demonstrates some of the style that has helped her earn triple gold (Photo submitted) With determination, patience and skill development, Jamie Lewis from the Blyth Skating Club, has struck triple gold. She began skating with the club 12 Bulletts lose to Parkhill The Bulletts travelled to Parkhill on Monday, Feb. 11 for their first game of the playoffs. The Bulletts displayed a lot of grit battling through a scoreless first and second period. The Bulletts matched up evenly in this physical contest battling the Parkhill squad for possession of the puck and gaining several good scoring chances. Nicki Berfelz was outstanding in this game stretching to the limit on many pad blocker and glove saves. Parkhill would sneak one by however. The Bulletts never let this get them down as they organized an attack on the Parkhill goal and did everything but score the equalizer. The Bulletts pulled the goalie in the final minutes to score but were unsuccessful as Parkhill fired the empty net goal to seal the victory at 2-0. Steiss rink wins January draw Brussels Curling Club winners for the January draw were: first, 52 points, Stew' Steiss, Jo-Ann McDonald, John Dorsch, Marilyn Jones; • second, 49 points, Mike Alexander, Mary TenPas, Madeline Steiss, Brenda McIntosh; third, 36 points, Bob *Alexander, Fran Bremner, Mark Gillis, Jeff Cardiff; fourth, 35 points, Mervin Bauer, Pauline Patterson, Tom Warwick. years ago at the badge level and has been in the test stream for eight years. To obtain the triple gold standing, a crowning achievement for amateur skaters, a skater must complete all tests in three categories - Dance, Skills and Free-,Skate. The categories and levels attained by skaters are based on the national grading system developed by Skate Canada. Lewis completed the last of the 21 dances in 1998 earning her, her first gold standing. The following year, she finished her second gold standing by completing the seven required skill levels. The skating skills replaced the previous compulsory figures and skaters are evaluated on edge quality, ice coverage, ease of motion, correctness of steps, musicality and posture. She then accomplished her Competitive Skills One which is comparison to the previous figure eight. Lewis's final gold standing was achieved on Wednesday, Feb. 6 in Goderich when she skated the last of six free-skates; her Gold Free Skate routine. Skaters are judged on technical merit and presentation. This excellent skate earned her, her last gold standing and a night she won't soon forget. Her coach Michelle Blake said that "Jamie Lewis has earned the right to be a triple gold medalist. She has spent countless hours in many arenas over the years working towards this goal. She is a hardworking, determined young lady with a great athletic ability. Her self-confidence and inner strength have helped her through the good times and the bad over her skating career. Her gold medal in FreeSkate was the sweetest of them all as she had to continually bounce back from disappointment to achieve her goal. She is a true competitor and most worthy of these medals! Lewis noted "Some levels are harder to attain then others and the higher the level the greater the challenge. Skaters can be very hard on themselves and are sometimes "their own worst enemy". "She added "This can be very negative and destructive. It's a sport where you must learn to deal with disappointment along with the many achievements." Although finished with testing, the future of skating is far from over for Lewis. She hopes to •pursue a coaching career in figure skating. "It's always been my dream to complete all three disciplines, says Lewis. I can't believe it really happened" "Skating is a great sport, it builds self-confidence, fosters great discipline and you meet many new friends along the way." She encourages skaters to set goals for themselves, practise hard and most importantly have fun. Thanks to misleading news and unsubstantiated misconceptions, the popular belief is often that snowmobiling is unsafe. There is no doubt that, like any other form of motorized activity, snowmobiling can be lethal when performed recklessly and irresponsibly. However, it is also true that millions of North Americans participate in this family recreational activity each winter — and that the vast majority return home safely and without incident. As with our streets and highways, we don't hear about all the good riders and pleasant journeys. We only hear about the relatively few tragedies, and these are not representative of how snowmobilers in general behave or what they experience while snowmobiling. Snowmobiling itself is no more to blame for foolish choices made by irresponsible riders than cars are for poor drivers. Organized snowmobiling and the snowmobiling industry are doing everything humanly possible to educate snowmobilers to make smart decisions about their riding behaviour. The very small minority of snowmobilers who still persist in riding irresponsibly are not just bad snowmobilers. These risk-takers also make foolish choices when driving their cars and boats. Their unacceptable behaviour is a societal problem, and should not be blamed on any one•sport or activity. Organized snowmobiling is also doing everything humanly possible to provide a safe riding environment. In regions where -trail riding- predominates, statistics clearly show that many snowmobiling incidents do not occur on organized snowmobile trails. In these areas, it is very important to -make a clear distinction between riding sanctioned trails and the dangerous risk involved in riding a sled anywhere else. It is a fine point tHE ITREPIO afgAilitki frequently overlooked in media reports. In trail riding regions, most snowmobiling fatalities involve one or more of the well-publicized high risk behaviours that the organized snowmobiling community constantly warns snowmobilers about. These are riding: under the influence of alcohol or drugs; after dark; too fast; off trail; or on unsafe ice. In the mountains, the main cause of death while snowmobiling is getting caught in an avalanche. Again, there is no shortage of information about how to avoid or deal with these deadly occurrences. Organized snowmobiling has been doing a good job publicizing the smart choices and responsible behaviours that save lives. So much so that there should no longer any reason for being injured or killed, except stupidity. The fact is that there are very few true 'accidents' anymore. An accident is an event occurring by chance or from unknown causes. But we know that most snowmobiling tragedies are actually preventable and even predictable. So let's not continue to imply that somehow snowmobiling itself is to blame by calling them accidents . any more. Participation in snowmobiling has grown steadily in recent years, y/t in most jurisdictions the number of fatalities has stabilized or even declined. So the next time someone Says how unsafe snowmobiling is, tell them our fatality rate is actually decreasing -- and that no one can legislate against stupidity: Until next time remember to be a Safe Rider this winter. For trail condition reports check ofsc.on.ca . Craig Nicholson is a regular contributor to Snow Goer, Canada's Snowmobiling Magazine. The Intrepid Snowmobiler also appears on radio and on Snowmobiler Television. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author SALES AND SERVICE HONDA, YAMAHA, SKI-D00 JOHN DEERE, SABRE TANAKA The Brussels PeeWee Rep team with three goals and two assists, Jutzi, Adam Corbett, Andrew has started the final round of WOAA Matt McClinchey with two goals McDonald, Cory Chapman and playoffs against Tara and have won and three assists, Chris Corbett with Jordan Campbell. both games. two goals and Greg Bowers with one Game two of the•series was played Game one was played last goal and two assists. Friday night in Brussels. The home Wednesday night in Tara. Brussels Other assists went to Chase squad took this one 6-4. won 8-2. Scoring were Matt White Chapman with two, Christopher Scoring for Brussels were Blyth skater achieves gold Like this This was one of several skaters performing on Thursday night for the Brussels Figure Skating Club's said' demonstrations. 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