Pascal

Perhaps it only seems like the “Cloé Lacasse watch” has been going on forever. First rising to prominence as a national competitor in taekwondo, the ultra-athletic Macdonald-Cartier senior has enjoyed soccer stardom since her early teens.

For mothers in northern Ontario with something of an athletic background, it is clearly a catch 22. Growing up in a far different era, when the advent of girls’ hockey was still growing, ringette was the winter sport of choice.

Like other non-traditional athletic endeavours, synchronized swimming does not benefit from an endless glut of young athletes at its disposal to return later in life as coaches of the sport.

Sure, not every NCAA championship garners the same feverish excitement as the recently completed March Madness tournament.

Barry MacKenzie was the first coach hired, and the first coach fired, during the Sudbury Wolves tenure in the Ontario Hockey Association (now the OHL).

“I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing right now for anything.” The fact that Lively resident Kurt Kowaluk is referring to spending countless hours on the golf course would surprise very few.

At a time when the world of minor sports often bemoans the lack of new faces undertaking critical roles as volunteers, the Sudbury hockey scene is enjoying a breath of fresh air with a slew of volunteers putting in time with several teams simultaneou

The conversation was hardly unique within the realm of the local soccer community when Andy Charsley entered the mix.

Not all of the offspring of Bob and Colleen Johnston will necessarily enjoy Olympic glory, but it’s a safe bet that athletic genetics run deep within the south-end siblings.

For the majority of the hundreds of youngsters whose lives Wayne Eadie has touched through his involvement in amateur sports, he is likely to be remembered mostly for his role as a team manager with the Sudbury Lakers hockey organization.