Adrenaline April 2010

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April2010

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April Features

04 Warm-up

05 Y’er WelcomeFailure On Ice

06 In Regina2010 Esso Cup

10 WCP Cup

15 All AboutExposing Media Myths

16 Co-operators Centre

20 Focus OnEquestrian

22 Event Calendar

TABLE OF CONTENTS

18 Forever & TodayDaisy JunorDaisy Junor was part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that caught the attention of the nation before she came home and continued on a sporting career in golf and bowling.

10 Get to KnowKelly DownesAfter a life-changing accident, playing hockey again revitalized Kelly Downes. Now a player and a coach, goaltending remains his passion.

8 Russ ClarkeRuss Clarke’s free time is basketball. Whether he’s coaching RCBA, high school, or Hornets club basketball, there’s nowhere he’d rather be.


When it comes to a map of Canada’s top sports and recreation centres, Regina is now highlighted along with other major cities such as Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto.

With revitalized facilities and a calendar full of national events, when our city submits bids to host events, it’s hard to say no. The City of Regina is working on revitalizing all recreational facilities. Since 2005, the Credit Union EventPlex has hosted major events, most recognizably soccer, and Evraz Place now also includes the Co-operators Centre, which holds six arenas, including a 1,500-seat showcase rink. It makes the perfect place for large events, and also local community programming.

Sport and recreation play a major role in the lives of both children and adults in Regina. So much so that our leagues are constantly looking for more time on the fields, rinks, golf courses, and in the pools and gyms. It’s a good problem to have, and one that the city is addressing.

This month we take a look at the new facility at Evraz Place along with two of the events that will be taking place there in April – the WCP Cup, a three-week long event, in which soccer players throughout the city play off at the Credit Union EventPlex; and the Esso Cup, in which teams from across the country will play in a week-long event to become the Canadian Midget AAA Female Hockey Champion.

As the snow melts, let’s make the most of the last of our winter sports and look forward to the fresh air of spring!

Cheer hard,

Julie FolkEditor

FROM THE EDITORAdrenaline: Regina Sports

Issue 7: April 2010

Published by: Adrenaline: Regina Sports

Editor-in-Chief: Julie Folk

Administration Manager: Allie Folk

Sales & Marketing: Ashley Kasdorf

Contributors: Bob Hughes, Maurice Laprairie, Jay Roach, PG Germain, Cory Horsburgh, Wade Boan

Printing: Impact Printers

Distribution: Canada Post

ISSN: 1920-4698

Contact:Adrenaline: Regina Sports(306) [email protected]

To advertise: [email protected]

Website: www.adrenalinereginasports.com

Cover design: Jay Roach/ AdSpark

Copyright covers all contents of this magazine. No part of the publication may be re-used or copied without the expressed written consent of Adrenaline: Regina Sports.

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Warm up to April


The season that never was ended with a thud. And yet, in the same breath, a career that was brilliant and inspired ended on the highest of personal notes. Then, the questions and the concerns, the anger and the rage, the steady stream of frustrations mounted with each passing day.

The Regina Pats are the one true enigma on the city’s sports scene. It’s almost

incomprehensible to grasp that a junior hockey franchise so steeped in a magnificent history can also be wrapped in the gloom and doom of failure on ice. But that’s the way it’s been the last two Western Hockey League seasons; seasons in which the Pats had some of the country’s most talented and celebrated players and still couldn’t make the playoffs. Go figure.

How, now that you asked, could the Pats have a player like Jordan Eberle, a 50-goal scorer, a hero in consecutive world junior championships, not even come close to making the playoffs? How, now that you brought it up, could a franchise that plays out of one of the greatest hockey cities in the country before some of the most devoted fans not even really figure in the playoff race?

Eberle, a first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League, came to play virtually every night. He finished off his storied career by scoring his 50th goal in a 3-1 loss in Brandon to the Wheat Kings. He mesmerized fans and opponents alike throughout his career with dazzling moves and plays that put him right up there with all the other great Pats of years gone by – Billy Hicke, Fran Huck, Dennis Sobchuk, Doug Wickenheiser and so on.

Jordan Eberle was everything the Regina Pats weren’t in the last two pathetic seasons.

That’s why they have become what they became. He had talent and he had heart. Not enough of the rest of them did, and so the

franchise paid a price for putting on the ice a team that just didn’t have the guns it needed.

The Pats have been owned by the Parker family since 1995. Father Russ, a Moosomin native, bought them and installed his son Brent as general manager. Russ is one of the most decent, intelligent, kind people I have ever met. I first met him in the early 1970s when I was working in Calgary and he owned the Alberta Junior Hockey League Canucks and a Triple A baseball franchise known as the Hitmen.

Through their ownership time with the Pats, the Parkers have accomplished a wonderful array of good things. They are by far way more involved in the community than any previous group of Pat owners ever were. They operate a first-class business with a wealth of talented and successful people. Yet, they can’t win on the ice. They can’t dominate. It has become too much of the same old, same old, and it’s starting to take a toll.

There are those who have called for the Parkers to sell the franchise. I’m not among that crowd. You will not find a better owner than Russ Parker, and Brent has done a lot of good things in steering the Pats. But the time has come for the Parkers to sit back and take a look at the whole operation.

The most successful franchises in junior hockey are those that are guided by people who are experienced in the way of the sport and who know how to find the kind of talent they need to win. There is no reason why the Pats should not be contending for first place in the WHL every season given their location and their great tradition.

But it will not happen until one huge change is made. Brent Parker’s forte is not finding talent and building a champion. That’s no criticism. It’s just not what he’s built to do. I have nothing but respect for Brent’s ability to manage and direct the Regina Pats. But he should step away from a hands-on approach to building the talent level, and appoint a hockey guy as general manager and coach. And Brent should step into a role similar to that of Jim Hopson, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

It would be a win-win situation for everybody. The Parkers would still own the Pats. But somebody else would be building a winner.

Y’er welcome.

Failure On Ice By Bob Hughes

Y’ER WELCOME

Column photo by Maurice Laprairie


IN REGINA

The Regina Rebels are ready.

They are ready to host five teams from across Canada who have won the right to represent their regions at a national championship. They are also ready to go from the host team to national champions.

“When we play our game, we’re unstoppable,” said Jenny MacKnight, a senior and assistant captain on the Rebels. “It’s better to be the underdogs and go in with people not really knowing who we are. We always play better when we’re there to prove ourselves.”

MacKnight and the rest of the team have had over a month to prepare for the championship, working out every day on and off ice, and continuing to build that team cohesion and excitement for the event.

“We have the ability to win the national championship,” said Doug Folk, head coach of the Regina Rebels. “There are no guarantees we are going to win it, but I can guarantee we’ll be well prepared, we will play with a sense of urgency, and we’re not going to quit, ever. We’re a tough team to play against.”

It’s been a long but quick road to the Esso Cup, the female AAA midget hockey Canadian championship, which will be held in Regina at the new Co-operators Centre at Evraz Place from April 18 to 24.

This is only the second year of the Esso Cup, which was first held one year ago in Calgary. In the fall of 2008, the process began to hold an event of this calibre in Regina.

A committee put together a bid which was first endorsed through the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League as well as the Saskatchewan Hockey Association. From there, Hockey Canada received the bid along with three others. By March, the committee learned they were successful.

“We had a really strong bid,” said Lynn Tulloch, chair of the 2010 Esso Cup. “The facility (Co-operators Centre) is second-to-none. It’s awesome and it’s going to be perfect for this size of event. And I think we did do a really good job with the bid... The City of Regina and our reputation for hosting events and our volunteer base probably played a part in it too.”

Ryan Robins, manager of marketing events and services at Hockey Canada, agreed the size of Regina, the history of the strong volunteer base here, and the support played huge roles in selecting Regina.

“There’s a strong host team in the Regina Rebels as well as the strength of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League, so we really saw this as an opportunity to take it back to Saskatchewan and showcase it in front of a strong league in Canada,” said Robins. “In Saskatchewan, what they’ve done rather successfully is mirror the male midget AAA league and try to replicate that in terms of the team and regions.”

After winning a tight playoff series against the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats, the Regina Rebels lost in the second round of playoffs to the Notre Dame Hounds, who went onto beat the Saskatoon Stars in the league final.

For the Rebels, leading up to the seven day event meant five weeks of preparation, including fitness and skill building, rejuvenation, and exhibition games.

A host of champions

“When we play our game, we’re unstoppable.”

- Jenny MacKnight

Photos by Wade Boan


This is the fourth season of the SFMAAAHL, and the league and the Rebels have continued to grow each year. The Rebels have increased the strength of their off- and on-ice programming, and have made it into a program young hockey players strive to play for.

Due to the strength of the SFMAAAHL and the games the Rebels have played over the season, Folk is confident Regina will compete just as strongly as any of the regional representatives.

“We’ve had a chance to play a number of the western provincial champions in tournaments over the course of the year,” he said. “We’ve played the BC champion and beaten them in a tournament. We’ve played the Manitoba champion and beaten them in a tournament. So throughout our tournament play we have shown we have the ability and we’ve been telling our players that they are definitely at this level... We have improved over the course of the year in skills, understanding of the game, hockey sense, and fitness-wise we’re stronger and faster. Our biggest hurdle has been our consistency. That’s our goal here – to play our Rebel game, which is really a skating, hard-checking style of a game, for the entire tournament.”

There will be three games a day in round robin play, between teams representing the Atlantic, Ontario, Quebec, West (Manitoba

and Saskatchewan), and Pacific (Alberta and BC) regions, as well as the Rebels, which will then result in semi-finals and final games.

The Esso Cup will be the first large event showcased in the Co-operators Centre. What makes an event like this successful is the host committee of approximately 10 people, and in turn, the committees they have recruited. By the actual event, there will be about 200 volunteers.

“The interesting thing about it is some (volunteers) have ties to the Rebel organization, but many of them are not people who have direct ties to the Rebels,” said Tulloch. “Many of them are other volunteers who have an interest in female hockey that might go back to having had their own daughters play years ago, like me, or some people who have younger daughters coming up in the system... It’s

really neat to see. I think that’s one of the things that’s been exciting to me, to see the way female hockey has grown and the fact that people are interested in helping to host this kind of event. Now people see this as an event with the scope and magnitude on par with the male events as well.”

The tournament is held with the support of volunteers as well as financial support from city, provincial, national, and Hockey Canada’s sponsors. The financial legacy of the tournament will be split four ways – a small portion will go to an award for the Female Midget AAA League level, and the majority will be split between the SHA’s female scholarship programs, Hockey Regina’s female development fund, and the Rebels’ legacy fund for the team itself.

In addition to the games themselves, there will be many other events taking place during the week, including an Esso Fun day for kids, an educational school program, and the opportunity for Regina teams to have hockey windups at the rink, all to help young players become more interested in the tournament and the Rebel program.

“I definitely commend the volunteer efforts of Lynn Tulloch and her host group,” said Robins. “It is a significant time the committee puts into this, and they’ve done a first class job and have been an exceptional host group to work with. There’s a lot of excitement.”

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Rebel captain Patricia McGauley; honorary chairpeople Fiona Smith and Pat Fiacco; Rebel head coach Doug Folk


SPORTS PERSONALITIES

Russ Clarke’s life revolves around basketball. And that’s exactly how he likes it.

His evenings and weekends are spent coaching junior boys high school basketball, an RCBA team, and three club basketball teams. But that time is also time with his family – all three of his children play basketball – and social time with the parents and players he coaches.

“Our reward is the people who spend time coaching, and the relationships, the friendships, and the camaraderie of being involved with people in the community,” said Clarke from behind his desk at Athabasca School, where he is the principal. “I like the relationships and I like seeing kids grow. You see the growth in kids, and it’s all about work ethic, and the kids who work hard.”

That type of growth and development is the major reason Clarke coaches basketball. Many players have come his way and left better people and players after being coached by him. Clarke coaches at many different levels; this season a Girls Grade 7 & 8

Regina Community Basketball Association team; Grade 7 Girls, Under -15 and Under- 17 Boys club teams; and the junior boys basketball team at Campbell. Every level is a different experience.“I like building foundations at the community level. With the RCBA you can sit back and relax and watch the game and do some teaching,” said Clarke. “With the high school, you pick up the challenge of getting these kids to perform; that in itself can be a reward. And coaching high school pushes your mind a bit. It challenges you to think and sometimes after a loss you have to sit back and reflect on how you could have changed things.”

Clarke’s coaching start came at the high school level. He played basketball in high school, and had an excellent coach who provided him many opportunities such as going to camps in the United States in the summer. Clarke was taking his physical education degree at the University of Saskatchewan when the dean approached him to coach at Bedford Road, a high school that needed a coach. Clarke went there and jumped right into it; he’s been coaching ever since.

Coaching and teaching has taken Clarke to Saskatoon, Estevan, Raymore, Moose Jaw, and Regina. When Clarke came to Regina, he was coaching at Johnson Collegiate, where they had a lot of success.

“Some of those kids are still in the community and have become community friends,” said Clarke. “That’s one of the reasons why you coach. If you coach long enough, some of the players are now 35 years old who have families, and you’re running into the children of those you coached. That’s kind of nice too, to go full circle.”

Clarke was part of the staff who opened Winston Knoll Collegiate. He worked on developing the athletic programs there and started becoming involved in community basketball. His oldest son, Mitchell, was in Grade 4, while his niece, Nicole Clarke (now playing for the University of Alberta and in the Junior National Program), was in Grade 5. Russ and his brother, Brent, began coaching at the RCBA level. Then Russ, Brent, and a collection of parents decided to put together a program to provide their kids with more gym time and more touches on the ball. From this, the club program, the Hornets, began. Many of these kids are now

Foundations to success

“I like the relationships and I like seeing kids grow... it’s all about work ethic.”

- Russ Clarke


playing at a higher level, but that wasn’t the purpose of the program.

“It’s a result,” said Clarke. “I don’t think our kids are necessarily the ones who should make up the provincial teams. They’re just a bunch of good kids, they enjoy the games, and they’re good families who get along.”

From here, Clarke hopes the players will continue to stay involved in basketball – through playing, reffing, or coaching – and that they understand what it means to give back to the community.

“His coaching certainly illustrates his dedication to the community; it’s more than just basketball,” said Steve Powell, who has coached for many years with Clarke at the RCBA level. “If there weren’t coaches at the RCBA level, there wouldn’t be high school players or college players. It gives kids the foundation to go further with basketball, but first and foremost it gives them the opportunity to play basketball.”

Clarke and Powell coach in a partnering system; Powell said with Clarke, basketball is always a fun experience.

“He’s a very good communicator,” said Powell of Clarke. “He takes the breadth and width of knowledge he has about basketball and manages to shape it into digestible chunks.... He takes the complex basketball skills and techniques and practices and makes them understandable and gives the why behind some of these things.” For Clarke, basketball also means family. Mitchell plays on the Hornets and also refs basketball. Russ’s son Kyle plays on the Campbell Tartans junior boys team, who Russ coaches, as well as a Hornet’s team. Russ’s youngest, Lauren, plays RCBA, for her school team, for a Hornets team, and she’s involved in Basketball Saskatchewan programs.

“I have a wife (Jill) who keeps our schedules together,” laughed Clarke about his family’s busy lives. “We work together and go. It’s a matter of long term planning, organization, and making sure you have the supports in place.”

Clarke’s basketball schedule runs from October all the way until May, when the Hornets end the season by hosting a multilevel tournament. It’s a lot of time, but Clarke said the time is also his social network, as parents become his friends in the community. In the end, it’s all about family.

“This is something that we use to build closeness and relationships in our family and our community,” said Clark. “Success on the court isn’t measured in wins. My role is to make the experience as positive as I can with the expectation that people can compete.”

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GET TO KNOW

Kelly Downes

Kelly Downes always loved to play hockey, and can’t imagine being anything but a goaltender. Eight years ago, his life

changed when he lost his right foot. He soon learned life was far from over, and got back on the ice in more ways than he ever thought possible. He is now a three-time gold medalist with the Canadian Men’s Amputee Hockey Team, and runs a growing business, coaching and teaching at Goaltenders’ Training & Rehab.

Adrenaline Regina Sports: What do you enjoy about being a goaltender?

Kelly Downes: I like the pressure. I like that you’re the last line of defence, and for me personally, even though you’re on a team, you’re

kind of your own entity. You’re alone with your thoughts and for an hour and a half I’m just a goalie trying to stop the puck for my buds, and I love it. I play three to four times a week.

ARS: You were playing recreational hockey and then you had an accident. What happened?

KD: I was a welder, and was building farm equipment when a cultivator fell from about 18 feet up. I couldn’t get out of the way in time, and my right foot was crushed. I crushed one of the main arteries going into the foot and they couldn’t revive it. They did five operations in two and a half weeks; in the fifth one they had to amputate. It was a very, very brutal process. Every day, all day, was different pain killers. Even an epidural didn’t control the pain until they amputated the foot.

ARS: How was the recovery process for you?

KD: Physically it wasn’t bad. I went to Wascana Rehab and my physiotherapist, Lisa Morrison, became one of the most special people in my life. The physical part I found easier than the mental. Physically you jump on the bike, you know you’re going to walk again, you get your first prosthetic, you take your step, and see what’s going to happen if you put your mind to it. I suffered more mentally. I was 25, a single guy, and all of a sudden I had a physical abnormality. I felt very insecure and I had never felt like that before. On the physical side, the foot was amputated April 11th (2002), I got my first prosthetic in July, and in September I started physio.

ARS: How did you come back to hockey?

KD: Hockey literally saved my life, for sure. If I didn’t have that to focus on, I don’t know what would have happened. I was at rock bottom. Lisa asked me what I like to do, and I said I loved playing hockey but that was over. She told me to hold onto my equipment and if I wanted to play again, it was up to me. I skated eight months after my accident. A buddy made me go to an outdoor rink. I fell three times, but it was the first time I ever smiled while I was falling because I was actually on skates. I couldn’t control size 12 skates – I would just flop around. So I told my prosthetic tech that, we switched to a size 8 foot, and as soon as I stepped on the ice with that new foot, I knew I was going to play hockey. That’s what changed it. It took a long time to get to where I am today. My biggest fear was to suck. And it just worked out. The first skate changed a lot of things for me, mainly mental. It showed me I’m not going to be helpless.


ARS: How did you progress from skating to playing on the Canadian National Team?

KD: I actually googled Amputee Sports. I linked to Canadian Amputee Hockey. That gave me some motivation. I went to try out in November of 2003. The coach thought I was missing a hand; he didn’t believe I was a foot amp when I skated. We won gold in Prague in 2004. We went to Latvia in 2006, and that was my coming out tournament. I was MVP of the gold medal team, but the team also had a great tournament. A goaltender is only as good as the team in front of him. Then came Boston, where we destroyed everyone. I was going to go this year to Montreal, but with opening a new business I had to make the hard decision not to.

ARS: What did playing on this team mean to you?

KD: It gave me hope. Our game is just like hockey, but you’ll see a guy with one arm playing, or for example, one defenseman from Finland is a bilateral leg amputee. The best thing about it for me, mentally, is that everyone’s the same. Where I play (with my recreational team in Regina), no one’s missing limbs, so I’m always the different guy in the room. But when you get there (with the national team), you can really take pot shots. It’s always leg amps versus arm amps and we have

a lot of fun with it. And there’s a certain brotherhood that comes into it, because it’s very therapeutic to the point where with everyone, whether they were born with it or had an accident, you can share your experience with someone who actually understands. The hockey’s a bonus. We have so much fun. Meeting the guys, sharing stories – I have friends I’ll have for the rest of my life.

ARS: Will you play for Team Canada again?

KD: I’m not sure yet. I may play again or I may stay with the program as a goalie coach. The young kid on the team has the

same amputation I do; and no one can really teach him how to play with that, without understanding the restrictions.

ARS: What would you like others to take away from your experience?

KD: There’s life after tragedy, one hundred per cent. For seven months I was rock bottom. I didn’t have a care in the world to the point that I didn’t want to do it anymore. It took my mom getting me to a psychologist. I want people to take from this not to quit, and don’t blame anybody. You get out of life what you put into life.

ARS: How did you become involved in your business?

KD: I’m a registered massage therapist. I always loved working with kids. I talked to Craig (of Goaltender’s Only) about it. I got married August 30th (2008) to my wife Melessa, and bought the business October 1st. We had worked for not even a year and then we had our daughter, Audrey, who was born in June of ’09. Then right after that, we took over this building (on 8th Avenue), and got right into renovations. A lot has happened in one year, but when you’re doing something you love to do, the rest will come into play.

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The first WCP Cup began with nine teams playing one another in four

days.

Now, six years later, there are 41 teams playing in 19 days. The tournament not only includes the players, but extends to the fans, who come out with flags, drums, and their countries’ colours in support.

Regina’s WCP Cup began with the vision of Kevin Holness, who has played around the continent on professional soccer teams.

“It started out with three or four of us sitting around, saying we should do a World Cup Tournament in the old facility for our last year there,” said Holness. “We didn’t think we would actually take the steps. Then I was playing soccer in Edmonton and one day after practice I went with a friend of mine to their mini-World Cup. It was unbelievable –

just amazing. Then I moved home and discussed it with some friends. I woke up and said, OK, I’ll try it. And it took off from there.”

WCP stands for World Class Players, a name Holness took from the DJ group he was a part of in high school, in which every member played sports. From that idea, the name for the tournament fell into place. Holness said with help from athletes and organizers the tournament has taken off. Each team represents a country, and in the men’s division there are at least 12 players of that particular heritage on the team. The rest of the players are made up of other people in the soccer community.

“After the first year, we decided we have to keep this going,” said Holness. “To bring so many different cultures together under one roof, one facility, with nobody fighting, people cheering, wearing their

colours, why not make it work? The whole impact of soccer on the world in general is something that I’d say contributes to our success – it’s a lifestyle.”

The atmosphere of the building is something to come out and see in itself. The WCP Cup is now affiliated with the Regina Multicultural Association, which builds it up even more. The tournament is fun, but definitely competitive. The level of play is high and the fans and the players are there to win.

It’s also the opportunity for players to play at a higher level. At 18, Andrew Banerjee is now playing in his third WCP Cup. He has played for Saskatchewan teams, including the Canada Games team. He has been to the Manchester United training camp, and has now been asked to play with the Tivoli Gardens F.C. in the professional Digicel Premier League in Jamaica, with the hopes that this will open the door to play further professional soccer.

A World Class Event

Photos: (Above) By Jay Roach. (Left from top): Andrew Banerjee; courtesy of WCP Cup


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Banerjee has played soccer since he was four years old, so it has become a lifestyle, like it is for many. His background is Trinidadian, but he has an association with the Jamaican team, who he has played with since he began playing in the WCP Cup. The best Jamaica has ever placed is second (the Republic of Ireland has won the men’s division almost each year), but Banerjee has high hopes for this year as the young team has grown.

“It’s pretty competitive and a big learning experience,” said Banerjee of the WCP Cup. “It just pumps everyone up because the fans are cheering hard for their team and their country, and they don’t want to lose. I like to connect with people. You learn as you play the games, and it’s the best you can get. It’s just amazing.”

Banerjee’s soccer career has grown since Chris Rose saw him play in Regina and brought him to Florida to train for 10 days. Rose, who played professionally in Jamaica, arranged for Banerjee’s tryout. Now Banerjee spends most of his time training for the game he loves.

“When I was young, I thought soccer was all physical. You always have to be in the best shape, but now I realize it’s 90 per cent mental,” said Banerjee, who is proof of how soccer can become such an important part of life. “When you get that mental part of the game, it just makes it that much more fun.”

Jamaica is poised to take on El Salvador, Germany, Scotland, Norway, and a new entry of Afghanistan in their pool this year. Teams within each of the three pools play each other in a round robin before the playoffs begin.

In addition to the 23 teams within the men’s division, there are nine women’s teams, and four girls teams and five boys teams in the 13-15 year-old youth division.

This will only be the fourth year of the women’s division in the WCP Cup. Catherine Collins has played with Team Chile from the beginning, and was one of the players who pushed for the division in the tournament.

“I had to get them to believe there was enough women for the teams,” she said. “We don’t have the same numbers but the interest was definitely there!”

Many of the women’s teams play together throughout the season in other leagues. In addition to a requirement of two masters players, the heritage requirement for the WCP Cup is eight players. It makes for an exciting tournament with the country’s fans cheering them on.


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rairi

e

“It’s representing your heritage, and even if it’s not your birth heritage, it’s the atmosphere and playing at the competitive level with the crowds and the heritage atmosphere,” said Collins. “Our Chile fans have been the greatest fans supporting us. There are girls that don’t play all year round, but they want to come out to play in the World Cup.”

Collins is a competitive masters players, and loves the competitive and high level of play the WCP Cup brings. Chile won the very first year the women’s division was incorporated, and has been in the final each year since.

“The first year we won was really good,” said Collins. “It was the very first year, and we won the tournament, and we had such great fans chanting and singing the national song. Every year just for us to get to the final is a great achievement.”

The World Cup is held from April 13th to May 1st at the Credit Union EventPlex, See more information at www.wcpcup.com.


Exposing Media MythsALL ABOUT

Information that results from research on nutrition and exercise can often be misleading. There are so many sources of information about the newest workout or diet. Everyone is searching for that quick fix, and we all hope that the new fad diet will give us that edge we need. However,

media information from such forms as fitness magazines, the internet, and television can be focused on selling products rather than providing sound advice. Here are some media myths that you should be aware of:

Myth 1: The Low Carb Diet aka Atkins

The truth about many diets is that they often include heavily reduced carbohydrate intake to help in weight loss. While this will help you lose weight in the short term, your body will suffer from the limitation of its primary energy source. When your body can no longer sustain working with these limited resources, you will end up eating sugary foods, which will balloon your body back to its original shape. Reducing your carbohydrate intake can lead to earlier onset of fatigue, therefore not allowing you to work to your potential. In reality, your body first burns carbohydrates during exercise, then fats, while trying to save the use of protein to aid in muscle repair. This is the reason why weight training before partaking in cardio activity will help improve your body composition (as you will burn carbs during weights and fat during cardio). Choosing foods that help to stabilize blood sugar levels (i.e., low on the Glycemic Index Scale) and don’t cause your insulin levels to spike is a better strategy. Foods rich in simple sugars can be a good way to help muscles re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise but should compose a very small amount of your daily intake and should be avoided at meal or snack time. Try to incorporate the Canada Food Guide, as it is your most reliable source of nutrition information.

Myth 2: Weight Training Adds Bulk

These are often concerns for females who are seeking added gains to their program, but are afraid of the “bulk” that weight training can produce. Weight training isn’t just for individuals looking to add bulk; in fact, weight training can increase your muscular endurance, speed, power, tone and overall strength. Initially, weight training allows your nervous system to fire with

more speed and timing, which leads to initial gains in strength without any added bulk. Muscle mass can be added later with proper training and repetitions. As a basic rule, to increase muscle tone and endurance without building bulk, you need to perform low weight resistance with higher repetitions. Biomechanics and hormones tend to play a larger factor in increasing muscle size during weight training. Often the more testosterone in one’s system, the easier it will be to add bulk. Females just don’t have enough testosterone in their system to add large amounts of bulk to their frame.

Myth 3: Fat Burning Zone

The intensity you exercise at all depends on your goals. As far as weight loss is concerned, it’s been a long-standing rule that a lower intensity, longer cardio session burns an increased amount of fat compared to a shorter high intensity session. This statement is true but there is a catch; higher intensity workouts have the benefit of taking your body into a calorie debt for up to 48 hours post workout. Increasing your metabolic rate burns more calories throughout the day, allowing for weight and fat loss. Therefore, although you may burn more fat calories during your 60-minute elliptical session, choosing a higher intensity workout for 25 to 30 minutes can, over time, boost your metabolism while improving your body composition.

Myth 4: Children Shouldn’t Resistance Train

Children run, jump and play on their own time – why not incorporate that into resistance training? Growing kids often are protected from performing resistance training due to their growth plate development, despite the fact it has never been proven that weight training can actually permanently damage these plates. Under proper supervision and with the proper knowledge, children are able to train with weights in “sport specific” ways. This means incorporating specific drills and exercises, which are common in their daily activities, to strengthen their muscles without adding significant bulk or damaging growth plates. At the YMCA we use our Youth Fit Start program to teach kids 10 years old and up how to properly use resistance exercise to become stronger, healthier individuals.

If you have any questions or concerns about these fitness myths or anything else in regards to living an active, healthy lifestyle please don’t hesitate to visit our website at regina.ymca.ca or call 757-9622.

By PJ Germain & Cory Horsburgh


Evraz Place is growing, expanding, and advancing.

In a two-week span, the 2010 Esso Cup (the national female midget AAA hockey championship), a Sask First hockey festival, Regina’s WCP Cup, a SAHO conference, and the Majestics Car Show are just a few diverse events that will take place on the 16 acres that make up Evraz Place.

The former race track has greatly transformed over the years, but perhaps never more so than in the past four.

Reid Pederson and Tracey Mazur showed me the newest facility, the Co-operators Centre, which features a 1500-seat show arena that has recently been unveiled to the public and will be showcased at the Esso Cup. They also explained how the revitalization and renovations came about.

“In May of 2006, Mark Allen did the public unveiling of what was the first of our master plan of a multipurpose facility, improvements to the Brandt Centre, and general site improvements,” said Pederson. “The race track didn’t exist any longer, so there had to be a real plan of what could be done to expand it, but it had to be done as part of a business plan that would provide to sustain it afterward.”

The Credit Union EventPlex had already been built as part of the funding that came from the Big Dig project, all of which was completed in time for the 2005 Canada Summer Games. Then came the opportunity to further expand and advance the facility, which would include a high-flux, sufficient, multipurpose space that could be used 360 days of the year.

The Co-operators Centre was funded from all levels of government, and it will be truly

utilized as such. Local sport and recreation planning makes up a large core of the facility’s use, with ice sports including hockey, figure skating, ringette, and short track speed skating, while off-ice sports such as lacrosse also utilize the facility in the spring and summer months. There are provincial and national events held at the facility – which are not only helpful for Evraz Place, but branch out to support the hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and more.

“There’s no one group – be it hockey, agriculture, or any other – that will monopolize the building,” said Pederson. “It’s very difficult to get the ice allocated so all groups are happy. The city has been fantastic to work with. This building, for 360 event days a year, will be used for national championships, local events, regional events, and provincial events... There’s a huge agricultural component, there’ s a huge sport component, and

Co-operating in a new facility


there’s a business conference event side of things.”

The complex is ideal for events of all types.

“Without a doubt, we’re not just a rink facility,” said Mazur. “We have the capability to be so much more, with Queensbury being here, dryland training at the Credit Union EventPlex... and when the rest of the park needs things from our facility, there’s a bit of give and take there. We need to be part of some of the big events that literally take over Evraz Place (such as Buffalo Days, Royal Red, and Agribition); but it also works the other way. When we have big events, they’re using the rink facility but they’re also using Banner Hall and Queensbury... we’re unique. There’s not a lot of places in Canada where you’re going to have all that we have here in one place in Regina.”

Mayor Pat Fiacco said all eyes in the country are looking toward Regina and our sport and recreation facilities. When the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship was held here, team managers wanted to bring back ideas to their politicians for similar facilities in other centres. Regina citizens, in turn, are looking forward to what the facility will offer in terms of

sports programming – both ice sports and more, as the rinks can be used for other sports when the ice is taken out.

“I’m at the facilities quite a bit, and people come up to me and say, “Mr. Mayor, if this is where our tax dollars are going, we have no problem with that,’” said Fiacco. “It’s meant to be an environment that the entire family can enjoy participating in and watching their child or parent participate.... For a long time, the question has been, do we have enough facilities? Because in order to get practice times you had to go elsewhere. We’re going to have a better pool of athletes because there is going to be more time spent practicing.”

The Co-operators Centre was projected to open in January. Two of the rinks were utilized for practice ice time during the World Junior Tournament in December. It was then that the use of the facility was really demonstrated. The Swedish Team could practice in the rink in the morning,

and then play soccer as dryland training in the afternoon. In January, the facility was further opened as more rinks were utilized. Evraz Place decided it was better to open the rinks and provide ice time to community users rather than wait until construction of all the rinks and amenities was fully complete. As a result, April and the Esso Cup will be a grand opening for the community to see the rinks fully operational and in action.

Pederson and Mazur said users of the facility were understanding that the rinks were put into use as early as possible, even if that meant a few hiccups along the way; the key was to get in as early as possible to provide the community the time on the ice. Now users have rink six – the show arena – to look forward to.

“There’s a lot of excitement right now,” said Mazur. “It was like a really big secret, and there was a lot of anticipation for it.”

Overall, the facility provides a place for events, for community sport and recreation, and is a place for families to gather and grow in sport and the community.

“This building, for 360 event days a year, will be used for

national championships, local events, and regional events.”

- Reid Pederson

Photos by Jay Roach


FOREVER & TODAY

“That girl, she had a lot of nerve,” laughed Junor. “She would climb the screen if she thought she could catch that pop fly. She used to wear pig tails, and as she would walk back to the pitcher’s box, the orchestra would play and she would (sway her hips with the beat), and the pig tails would be going, and I’m out in left field thinking, ‘oh Baker, you’re something else.’ She was terrific; a very classy player. We went through a lot together, the two of us.”

Junor was playing with the Regina Caps in the Western Canadian Fastball Championships when scouts for the All American League saw her play. She decided not to join the league as she was getting married that year. When other players came home raving about the league, she was interested.

“The next year they were having spring training in Miami,” said Junor. “I said to (my husband) Dave, ‘boy I’d sure like to go. Why don’t I just stay for the spring training and then come home?’ That didn’t happen. I went and made the South Bend Blue Sox, got a regular position in left field, and I couldn’t leave... Dave was a brick. He wanted me to go ahead with my career.”

Junor had come back to Regina after the season finished in September. Then she found out the next spring training was to be held in Havana, Cuba, an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. She liked it there, and enjoyed the league, which had been financed and organized by Phillip K. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs. The league had begun in 1943 with baseball players off at war.

The players, in their short skirted-uniforms, were a hit for the fans in the Midwest United States.There were eight teams in the league when Junor began in 1947. They played every day from the end of May to the beginning of September, six evenings a week, double-headers on Sundays, and five days off throughout the season.

“It was my life; I didn’t think too much about it,” said Junor of the schedule that included morning workouts and night games, half played on the road. “We would be through at around 9 o’clock each night. Those years, they only had nightclubs open. So after the ball game we were allowed to go for two hours, and could have two beers... We would drink our beer, dance, and have a lot of fun. We got back to the hotels and our chaperone and our manager would be sitting in the lobby, checking us off. The chaperone would say goodnight and go to bed, and then we would always collect in one room and we would play cards.”

Daisy’s husband, Dave, would take five weeks off each summer to watch Daisy play. He would drive down to the States, and Daisy and her friends could drive with him to the games.

A League of her Own

Left field was always safe with Daisy Junor and her glove.

Any ball that came her way was scooped up, and there it stayed.

“I had a glove that didn’t matter where I put it; the ball stuck,” said Junor. “All I had to do was run and put out my hand... I used to throw myself out there and catch the ball.”

Junor’s baseball skills took her from the Regina Caps in 1945 – who were the city, intercity, provincial, and Western Canadian fastball champions – to the South Bend Blue Sox of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League two years later. Junor, now 90, still vividly recalls the memories of baseball and her teammates in the league that captured so much attention, then and today as part of history.

Sitting at home in her Regina apartment, Junor flipped through the memorabilia she’s kept through the years, which begins with participation in track and field and basketball in high school, moves to baseball, and then to her bowling and golf careers.

Junor grew up next door to Mary Baker. They began playing ball together, and they would eventually both play on the South Bend Blue Sox, Baker as a catcher.

Daisy Junor with the South Bend Blue Sox


“He enjoyed it,” said Daisy. “He never complained, and he enjoyed the fact that I had done everything I wanted to do and had gotten all these accolades.”

Junor was an excellent batter and base runner, and had the slide marks to prove it. But her field work was most recognized.

One story by Jim Costin, the Tribune Sports Editor in South Bend, went like this: “One of the fielding gems of the season was turned in by Daisy Junor in the seventh... Junor cut over, dived to her left and made a spectacular glove handed catch of the ball as she fell, but held onto the ball.”

When she was playing with the Diamonds, newspaper coverage included: “Diamonds will give Chicago fans a treat when they send Daisy Junor into left field. That girl can cover more ground than a tent and the way she snags fly balls is a revelation. It’s getting so the rest of the team does not even bother to look around when a hit goes toward the left pasture. They just figure Daisy is out there and everything is under control. It is a rare occasion when she misses one.”

Daisy gives all the credit to her ball glove at the time, which she brought with her from Regina.

“It was a little old beat up thing, and boy was it fantastic,” she said. “All I had to do was run to the ball. I had a lot of fun.”

Her glove was picked up by a fan after Daisy threw it in the air in celebration after a playoff win. It was the same year she was retiring, but she said she never found another glove that could catch like that one.

After her baseball career, Junor retired from ball and turned to other sports. She was a member of the Regina Bowling Team at the Western Canada Ladies Bowling Championships from 1958 to 1962, and won the Regina City Singles title with an average score of 238 in 1958.

Daisy and Dave joined the Wascana Country Club, where Daisy was the ladies club captain for many years. She also won the club championship five times, and won the city women’s golf title in 1967 and 1968 – “when Joanne Goulet couldn’t play” – she added. Junor represented Saskatchewan as a team member in the Canadian Ladies Golf Championships in 1972, ’74, ’76, and ’82. She was also very involved in golf administration, serving as the provincial junior handicap chairperson.

Junor’s sporting career was long and varied, and led to inductions in the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Today, Daisy spends quite a bit of time with her nieces and nephews, and finds much to do in the city of Regina. She still receives letters about twice a week, from fans who would like their Daisy Junor baseball card signed.

And she still enjoys the memories of a lifetime of sport.

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Daisy Junor (second from right) with a provincial golf team.


FOCUS ON

Racing around the track, jumping over a fence, leading with a command,

learning how to ride, or finding a sense of self and entitlement – all have one thing in common. They include horsemanship, and a bond between a horse and rider.

“People love horses no matter what their ability or discipline,” said Catherine Sneath of the Regina Therapeutic Riding Association. “Horses give something back to you, almost in equal proportion to what you give them, if not more. They give you these little gifts of wonderful things, which is what makes us go back and give more.”

The Regina Therapeutic Riding Association is one of many clubs and associations which work with horses in a specific capacity in our city and province. This

particular association brings horsemanship to children and adults with physical disabilities, and adapts riding to the needs of the student.

“On a horse, people are able to strengthen core muscles, develop coordination and strength, and with those you develop self esteem, self confidence, and all those wonderful things that people develop in regular sports; a sense of self worth and a sense of achievement,” said Sneath.“The other thing that’s neat about riding is you’re looking down. And for someone in a wheelchair who spends all their time look up at people, to be up on a horse so that they can look down... Whenever you can, you want to give them a chance of getting control back.”

Such an association is just one of the many that comprise the Saskatchewan Horse Federation, which has numerous groups and sport disciplines under its umbrella. Although riding is always popular in rural areas, it is growing in urban areas, with many stables surrounding the city.

Groups will train at stables or in clubs, and come together at horse shows and competitions throughout the year. The SHF operates a grassroots circuit at the recreational level, then there is a heritage circuit and the Prairie Cup series, which has jumping, dressage, and reining – more discipline specific.

There is always something new and evolving. Harness racing has made a comeback in the province. It has

Horses for all kinds – from therapeutic to racing


a 100-year history, and will soon be showcased again with a new race track being completed in Regina just west of the airport.

“Harness racing is full of fast-paced action with horses leaving the starting point in full motion behind a mobile starting gate,” said Glenn Le Drew, president of the Saskatchewan Standardbred Horseman’s Association. “The distance of the race is one mile. People bet a ticket on their favourite horse and drive and then follow the excitement from start to finish!”

In addition to harness racing, various breed groups have sport-related competitions, as do the disciplines, such as barrel racing, jumping, dressage (English riding), team pinning, ranch rodeo, driving, reining, and much more. There are also learn-to-ride programs that bring people into the sport.

“People learn to ride, see what’s involved, and which kind of riding or driving suits them,” said Mae Smith, executive director of the SHF, who said membership grows each year.

“Regina’s had a long history of horsemanship,” she said, referencing the Regina Riding and Driving Club that was part of the exhibition grounds from the early 1930s until 1985. “In terms of fitness for people, it’s a great activity. The other nice thing about riding or driving

is that it generally is a family thing. And I think the value of the horsemanship and the relationship between the person and the horse is a very character-building experience.”

Character is just one aspect the Cartier Equine Learning Center strives to build. While the Center is based in Prince Albert, instructors across the province and beyond have been trained to provide the same programming. The Centre provides a program that works with everyone from at-risk youth to corporations looking for leadership development.

“This is a behaviour modification program with numerous applications,” said Tamara MacKinnon, program director of the Learning Center. “The formula has five different components: The first is the horse. Second, the curriculum. Third, the realization of experiential learning. Then your facilitation skills. And a very

important component is your partnering. This program teaches you how to provide teachable moments in the arena, and the secondary component is partnering with the teacher or rehabilitation centre to take those teachable moments and reinforce them in the classroom. That is what the foundation of the program is.”

When interacting, horses can sense certain things. If the person does not take the leadership role, the horse will. The horse also reacts to its environment, and to the people they are working with. The horse is the barometer, and eventually the participant will learn to understand the horse’s reactions and work with them.

Through exercises in the arena with the horses and classroom teaching, goals are achieved in school districts, rehabilitation programs, private industries, and corporations. The Center also provides training and developed a curriculum to teach other people to provide the same programs. The Center is accredited and recognized as a private vocational institution through the provincial and federal governments, as well as the SHF.

This program is one of many which prove the value of horsemanship, leading to proficiency in sport and the everyday lives of riders and drivers.

For more information, please see www.saskhorse.ca.

JLPFinancial Solutions Inc.

Jack L. PoliszczukB.A.Sc. CFP CLU CIM

Financial PlannerSuite 300 - 1914 Hamilton St

306-347-1919Regina, SK S4P 3N6

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Gopher Attack Marathon

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Western Canadian Diving Championship- Lawson Aquatic Centres

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Western Canadian Diving Championships

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Western Canadian Diving Championships

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2010 WCP Cup begins- Credit Union EventPlex

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7: 30 pmRegina Rebels vs

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April 13 - May 12010 WCP Cup- Credit Union EventPlex

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