High school sports in Greater Sudbury enjoyed a successful 2005-06 season. Individual athletes and teams reached great success and there were numerous OFSAA champions. Recently, Northern Life sports reporter Scott Haddow sat down with the SDSSAA Athletics Director Dave Makela to discuss the past season and what's to look forward in 2006-07.
Overall, how would you characterize the 2005-06 high school season?
I would characterize it by being very positive and a tremendous
success. Participation was solid and the kids had a lot of fun.
We have a great group of coaches and we never had any problems
finding volunteers to help stage events. We still have our
challenges, but they're minimal considering the success.
What kind of success was achieved?
If you gage success by medals (at the provincial level), we're
doing exceptionally well. We had kids medal in eight different
sports at OFSAA events - track and field, gymnastics,
wrestling, Nordic skiing, swimming, girls' hockey, girls'
volleyball and badminton. In the past, provincial medals were
far and few in between, almost rare. Now, it happens every year
and it's quite a mixed bag of sports the kids are winning in.
It speaks volumes about the coaches we have. These kids have to
be trained and prepared for the big provincial sports and they
are.
Is the program getting stronger? If so, how?
Yes it is. Our greatest challenge is to maintain what we've got
and to add onto it. We need 35 conveyors to run our sports
programs. There's a proposal to add boys' slo pitch. There will
be a formal consideration in December and we could see the
sport as early as next year. We've also heard from lacrosse and
snowboarding groups. The program could be getting bigger.
There's an existing, successful lacrosse system in place and
kids are interested in playing at the high school level.
What were some of the most pleasant surprises of the season?
Local athletes won three medals at the OFSSA track and field
championships...an astounding number. With 2,200 athletes from
across Ontario competing at OFSAA track, to even medal is very
difficult and impressive when it happens. Another big surprise
was the Lo-Ellen junior boys' winning gold in team Nordic
skiing and the Lockerby senior boys' winning gold in Nordic
skiing as well. It was something I never expected and it was
huge.
So, the local scene is thriving?
It's a healthy scene in Sudbury. As long as I've been here
(since 1994), the number of participants have been maintained
and even grown slightly despite enrolment decreasing. Everyone
involved in SDSSAA athletics deserves a lot of credit.
Sudbury doesn't host a OFSAA event in 2006-07. Is this negative and what else should people look for in the future?
It's been a while since we didn't host an OFSAA event. There
are 19 districts in the province and everyone gets the chance
to host events. Our OFSAA events have always received rave
reviews. There are people working on bids to host OFSAA events
in 2007-08 for wrestling and gymnastics. In 2006-07 NOHA-carded
kids will be permitted to play high school hockey. It could
change some teams vastly. Southern Ontario teams have been
doing it for years. The door is open and it will be interesting
to see how it all works out.
