Honouring sport volunteers

From time to time, I enjoy letting the content of this weekly column follow the flow of the local sporting scene, essentially providing for a potluck of sporting tidbits gathered in and around Sudbury recently.

Before leaving for a family vacation in Ottawa this week, I took a quick trek to Toronto as the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) saw it fit to look northward this year.

Both Todd Guthrie and I were among a group of eight honoured guests, receiving the OHF Order of Merit by virtue of our involvement with hockey over the years, and, most notably, our work at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

As I sat back and listened to the various acceptance speeches from extremely worthy recipients from across the province, the consistency of the message struck home. To a person, the group was, above all else, humbled in being recognized for doing something they truly love.

In virtually every single case, it was the friends with which they shared the workload in their various minor and junior hockey organizations, that provided the motivation to return year after year.

It’s a mindset that falls exactly in line with so many others I have had the pleasure of interviewing over the years, including a number of nominees for the Bill Roman Administration Award at the annual House of Kin Sports Celebrity Dinner and Awards.

Though it’s clear that great sports volunteers exist all across Ontario, I have always believed that per capita, Sudbury boasts a volunteer talent pool that is the envy of many other cities.

Over the next few years, this group will enjoy the opportunity to put those very skills on display time and time again. The bevy of sporting events coming our way does not appear to be slowing in the least.

Fresh off the heels of the 2010 Ontario Summer Games, the 2011 Jeux de la Francophonie, and the OFSAA championships in both wrestling and track and field, comes the recent news of two more noteworthy events destined for the Nickel City.

The Walden Cross-Country Fitness Club has been awarded the 2011 Ontario Midget Championships, bringing together many of the top young Nordic skiers from various regions of the province. Still with that group, congratulations goes to Alannah MacLean, selected among a group of 29 female athletes covering an area from New Brunswick to the Yukon, for the Cross-Country Canada Female Talent Squad.

This week saw the Sudbury Rowing Club garner another organizational “feather in their cap,” as Rowing Canada awarded the 2012 FISA World Rowing Tour to the Ontario Adventure Rowing Association, with a definite northern Ontario flavour to this world class event.

Some 60 participants from around the world will gather in Sudbury in late August (2012), assembling for a week-long trek that will cover the French River Delta, the West Arm of Lake Nipissing, Killarney Provincial Park and concluding with a final day or rowing on Ramsey Lake.

And while it’s always nice to welcome guests from near and far to our area to enjoy our sporting infrastructure, let’s not forget those who keep this segment among the most vibrant in our community on a day to day basis.

This past weekend saw more than 100 soccer teams taking to the fields of Valley East, as the V.E. Soccer Club played host to its mid-season tournament. It was a similar story for the crew with the Sudbury Minor Girls Softball Association, as three divisional championships were handed out Sunday at the Terry Fox Sports Complex.

Local athletes achieving success out of town included the Valley East Renegades Mosquito Select team, which travelled to Oakville over the weekend, taking part in an SOBA (Select Ontario Baseball Association) sanctioned tournament. Kudos to this particular group, as I reviewed the scores passed along by Valley East coach Jamie Lamontagne.

A pair of close wins (14-12 over Peterborough; 12-9 over West Hill) gave way to the one and only blowout (7-0 over Mississauga), advancing the Renegades to semifinal action. Once again, a great matchup as the northern lads held off North Toronto 8-6, earning a berth in the championship final, where the team settled for silver, falling 10-9 to the Brampton Blue Jays in extra innings.

A memorable weekend, indeed, for all of the kids involved in this outstanding competition.

Randy Pascal is the founder of SudburySports.com.