Cora Campbell (CP)

Canada beats Olympic champions to women’s water polo tournament at world aquatic championships.
(Canadian Sport News)

MONTREAL-Ann Dow of Montreal scored four goals and Rachel Riddell of Vancouver was a standout in goal as Canada defeated Italy, the Olympic champions, 8-7 in the opening women’s water polo match for both teams at the 2005 World Aquatic Championships.

A pumped up crowd waving Canadian flags and banners continually cheered the home side and was a huge inspiration for a team that doesn’t play international games very often at home.

“It was something to hear Canada so warmly greeted and supported in an international water polo game,” said veteran Johanne Begin. “They did everything to help us win, they were even trying to influence the referees at the end of the game. It really helped us.”

Krystina Alogbo of Montreal added two goals for Canada with singles to Sue Gardiner of Vancouver and Valerie Dionne of Ste-Foy, Que.

After Italy opened the scoring, Canada scored three unanswered goals to a 3-1 lead after a quarter and never trailed the rest of the game. At the half it was 5-3 Canada and 7-5 after three. Dionne scored early in the fourth and with a minute remaining it appeared the victory was in the bag but the Italians scored two goals in the final minute.

“The girls performed tonight,” said Patrick Oaten, Canada’s head coach. “Two years ago at the world championships we scored two goals against them and now we scored eight. So that’s a big difference there. We kept attacking and never changed our pace. That’s something we’re going to continue to do in Canadian water polo. It’s a huge win.”

Dow, the team captain, lauded Canada’s defensive play particularly with a player short.

“We’ve always been strong defensively,” she said. “The last two quarters were very tough physically. They pressed hard and tried everything to get the ball out of our hands. I think the crowd gave us the energy we needed to keep playing well until the end.”

Riddell continued her spectacular international play with at least three big saves in the first half and another in the second half with the Italian player shooting from close range.

The men’s team gets into action on Monday against while the women’s next round robin game is Tuesday against Venezuela.

Women's Team:

Players: Ann Dow of Montreal and Cora Campbell of Calgary along with Christine Robinson of Lachine, Que., Dominique Perreault, Krystina Alogbo, and Jana Salat of Montreal, Johanne Begin of Quebec City, Marie-Luc Arpin of St-Lambert, Que., Rachel Riddell and Susan Gardiner of Vancouver, Tara Campbell of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., Valerie Dionne of Ste-Foy, Que., and Whynter Lamarre of Dorval, Que. Alison Braden of Calgary is the first alternate

Patrick Oaten, head coach, Pointe-Claire, Que.
Ahmed El-Awadi, assistant coach/team leader, Richmond Hill, Ont.
Dominiqe Dion, assistant coach, Quebec City
Daniele Sauvageau, women’s national team advisor, Montreal
Manon Prieur, massage therapist, Montreal
Video director – David Hart, Ottawa

Men's Team

Players:Daniel Stein, Iain Lark, Thomas Marks, Kevin Mitchell, Clem Hui and Brandon Jung, all of Vancouver, Noah Miller and Kevin Graham, of Regina, Nic Youngblud of Hamilton, Aaron Feltham of Kitchener, Ont., Nathaniel Miller of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., Jean Sayegh of Ste-Foy, Que., and Alexandre Thibeault of Montreal.

Head Coach - Dragan Jovanovic, Calgary
Assistant - Gyula Toth, Calgary
Assistant - Robert Couillard, Montreal
Men’s national team advisor: Debbie Muir, Calgary
Team Leader - David Ardell, Calgary
Physio - Wendy Laythorpe, CALGARY
Video director - Scott Smith, DDO

Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfito (CP)

Teens treat crowd to podium finish: Rookies thrilled by loud show of support from cheering fans.
(The Gazette (Montreal)

Before their second dive in the final round yesterday, Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito stood laughing atop the 10-metre tower, unable to believe their ears as wave after wave of applause rose from the crowd below.

They said something to each other (later, neither could remember exactly what it was they said) and hit the dive to an even louder wave of applause.

Three dives and one miracle later, they were on the podium with an improbable bronze medal, Canada's first at the World Aquatics Championships - a mere three months after they began diving together.

"For sure we were thinking about it," Filion said of the applause. "We were looking at each other and starting to laugh because we're not used to that. We were thinking, 'Those people don't know us because we're new people on the Canadian diving team,' so we found that really funny."

And now we know who they are: Filion is an 18-year-old from Laval, Benfeito a 16-year-old from Montreal, both obviously rising stars in Canada's diving galaxy.

Filion said she and Benfeito had no idea where they were heading into that final dive: "We didn't know where we were in the standings because we just closed our ears and we didn't look at the scoreboard during the competition, so we didn't know where we were until the end when (coach) Michel Larouche said, 'You're on the podium!' "

"For sure the crowd is there to support us," Benfeito said, "and it's very fun. It was just a great moment, and I hope that people there enjoyed the show."

Filion and Benfeito were seventh after the preliminary round. Gradually, they moved up the scoreboard. They were fifth after the third dive in the final, fourth after the fourth dive - the dive they missed in the preliminary. Ahead of them were the invincible Chinese, Tong Jia and Pei Lin Yuan, who would go on to win the gold medal. Australian divers Loudy Tourky and Chantelle Newbery were second, and Germans Annett Gamm and Nora Subschinski third.

With the crowd cheering wildly, Filion and Benfeito hit their last dive almost perfectly for a score of 83.64 points, by far their best of the competition, a total surpassed on the day only by the Aussies on their final dive. That left it to the Germans, who could not do it on this day: when their final score was posted, they had a total of 321.12 points, more than seven points behind the Canadian teenagers.

The key, Filion said later, was the fourth dive. In the first round, they received only 54.45 points for the dive; in the final, they hit it for 75.24 points and they were on their way. "It was a back 31/2. We nailed it in the finals."

Filion and Benfeito won a bronze medal at the Canada Cup last month and followed that a week later with a silver at the U.S. Grand Prix, even though Benfeito was battling a back injury and the stomach flu.

But those are much smaller stages. These are the world championships, and Canada was not expected to have any chance at a medal here. The country's best 10-metre divers, Emilie Heymans and Blythe Hartley, did not compete in the synchronized diving yesterday because Hartley spent the winter attending the University of Southern California and they weren't able to train together.

Asked whether they discussed yesterday's competition with veterans Heymans and Hartley, Filion said, "We didn't really have time to see them, but we could hear them in the crowd. We heard everyone from the diving team cheering for us."

Benfeito grew up in the Villeray neighbourhood near Jarry Park and was inspired to work at a diving career when, as a 7-year-old taking diving classes, she saw Heymans practising at the CAMO club. Last year, Benfeito broke Heymans's age-group records at the junior nationals; yesterday, she and Filion took another enormous stride into the elite levels of international diving. With a single competition, Filion and Benfeito served notice that Canada's strongest aquatics event should remain strong through the Beijing Olympics and beyond.

Asked whether it would help them to stay together as synchro teams do in countries like Russia, Filion said, "We don't know how they train in other countries, and anyway, that's up to Michel. We just train to have fun and hopefully we can go on to Beijing in 2008.

"It makes sense. We're training at the same time in the same place, we have the same coach, the same schoolwork, it all goes well."

They also have the same world championship bronze medal. Asked how much they would sleep last night, Filion answered for both:

"Not at all."

Jessica Zelinka (CP)

Holder and Zelinka of Calgary win decathlon and heptathlon at Nationals, make World Team.
(Athletics Canada)

July 17, 2005 WINNIPEG - Gary Reed of Kamloops, B.C., was only worried about one thing: winning. Reed took the men’s 800-metre race on Sunday to conclude the Surin Group Canadian track and field championships. He clocked 1:46.94 finishing ahead of Achraf Tadili of Montreal second in 1:47.29 while David Gill of Quebec City was third in 1:47.35.

“I took a bit of risk by going strong early but I felt it was necessary in the windy conditions,” said Reed, who rubber stamped his ticket to the world championships next month in Helsinki. “I really wanted to win this race and keep the momentum going in my preparations for the worlds. I wasn’t worried about the time.”

Tadili also secured his spot for Helsinki with a top-four finish giving Canada a solid and experienced 1-2 punch in the event.

“I’m really pleased with all facets of my race,” said Tadili. “What was most important for me was to assure my qualification. I positioned myself well throughout the race to make sure that happened.”

Other winners Sunday in men’s competition were Adam Kunkel of Paisley, Ont., in the 400-metre hurdles, Anson Henry of Mississauga, Ont., in the 200 sprint and Scott Russell of Windsor, Ont., in the javelin.

On the women’s side Carmen Douma-Hussar of Guelph, Ont., ninth at the Olympics last year, is on her way to Helsinki after winning the 1,500 metre in 4:15.58 with Hilary Edmonson of Guelph second in 4:17.34 and Katie Vermeulen of Victoria third in 4:18.55

Other women winners were Lise Ogrodnick of Montreal in the 3,000 steeplechase, Tawa Dortch of Edmonton in the 400 hurdles, Adrienne Power of Halifax in the 200, Jennifer Joyce of Richmond, B.C., in the hammer throw, Whitney Evans of Calgary in the high jump and Althea Williams of Mississauga in the triple jump.

Perdita Felicien (CP)

Perdita Felicien shows top form in 100 hurdles win at nationals.

WINNIPEG- Perdita Felicien of Pickering, Ont., posted a solid victory in the women’s 100-metre hurdles while Kevin Sullivan of Brantford, Ont., fended off a strong challenge to win the men’s 1,500-metres on Saturday in windy conditions at the Canadian track and field championships.

In the women’s 100 hurdles, Felicien clocked 12.82 seconds, an impressive time in a strong headwind to successfully defend her title. Priscilla Lopes of Whitby, Ont., was second in 13.01and Angela Whyte of Edmonton third in 13.13. All three are qualified for the world championships next month.

“I’m really pleased where I stand right now with the worlds about a month away,” said Felicien, the reigning world champion in the event. “Today I just wanted to be aggressive out there and I think the head wind really helped me get that mindset."

In the men’s 1,500, Sullivan won an exciting race as he ran down Nathan Brannen of Cambridge, Ont., in the final 100 metres clocking 3:48.07. Brannen was second in 3:48.33 and Ryan McKenzie of Windsor, Ont., third in 3:50.16.

“I came here feeling it was important to win this race,” said Sullivan, with his eighth national title. “I’ve been inconsistent this season and I was starting to feel some pressure. This is one of my most satisfying wins at nationals in my career.”

In the men’s 100-metre sprint, Pierre Browne of Mississauga, Ont., successfully defended his title clocking 10.66.

“The wind didn’t help that time,” said Browne. “But I was pleased with how I came back after falling behind early. I just kept focused on my own race. My season’s been up and down so I’m trying to keep things positive. Right now I feel I’m at about 80 percent where I should be.”

In the men’s high jump, Kwaku Boateng of Montreal took the gold medal over two-time world championship medallist Mark Boswell of Brampton, Ont. Both cleared 2.22 metres but Boateng reached the height on his second attempt while Boswell needed three tries.

In the women’s 800, Diane Cummins of Victoria pulled away on the second lap to win the gold medal in 2:02.59. Aimee Teteris of Victoria was second in 2:04.30 and Sarah Ali-Khan of Montreal third in 2:04.61.

“I was hoping to create that kind of gap,” said Cummins, one of Canada’s most consistently strong international performers this decade. “This was one of the best fields we’ve had in quite some time and it was pretty stressful. It’s good know for worlds that I can be this nervous and still race well.”

At the start of the day, discus thrower Jason Tunks of London, Ont., thought he had a Canadian record in him but settled for the win with a 65.90 metre toss.

“I was going for the record,” said Tunks, who is qualified for the worlds. “The throwing conditions were good but I guess I just got too anxious. But my year overall is going very well and I know at some point I’ll breakthrough.”

In the men’s 400, Tyler Christopher of Edmonton was the overwhelming favourite but didn’t finish the race due a to leg problem. Christopher entered with the fifth fastest time in the world this year. Nathan Vadeboncoeur of Winnipeg took the gold in 46.12.

In the women’s 400, Esther Akinsulie of Ottawa won the gold in 53.88. Karl Jennings of Toronto won the men’s 110 metre hurdles.

Competition ends Sunday

Blythe Hartley (CP)

Trying not to make any waves; Blythe Hartley: modest diver mingles with Hollywood stars.
(Randy Starkman - The Toronto Star)

Olympic diving bronze medalist Blythe Hartley has got close to some heavyweight celebrities as a student at the University of Southern California.

But she only mentions it when asked and that sums up the nature of the 23-year-old native of Edmonton. She's happy that the spotlight heading into the world aquatic championships, which start today in Montreal, is focused on teammates Alexandre Despatie and Emilie Heymans, with whom she won bronze in the 10-metre synchro event in Athens last summer.

Hartley spoke with Unplugged recently about career angst, being a football groupie, and heading to class with Warren, Annette and Nicolas.

You've travelled so much during your career. What do you bring with you to remind you of home?

Oh. Umm (laughs). You know when I'm away I just try to keep in contact as much over email and MSN, and that's pretty much all I really bring to remind myself of home. I like to travel light, so I don't bring stuff that's not of absolute necessity.

USC is known more for its football program. What's life like as a diver there?

Just being a part of the athletic community there is great. It's such a great opportunity to be at a university where they're so supportive of the athletes. So you can do both at high intensity, the academic part and the athletic part. Each sport is so supportive of one another. It's a lot of fun. I love going to the football games and cheering. I'm a big groupie.

What kind of perks do you get as a USC athlete?

You get the normal things. You get to register for your classes earlier ... and we don't have to pay for football tickets.

What are you studying?

I'm a communications major and a business minor.

People have this perception of life in L.A. What's it like to live there?

It's a rather big city so it's a little bit intimidating. But it's a lot of fun because there's so many things to do. My life when I'm down there revolves around the school because I'm there pretty much all hours of the day. But then it's a lot of fun, because you can just go explore and have great adventures on the weekend. I don't know if it's somewhere where I want to settle down, but it's really interesting.

What are some of the neat things you've been able to experience there?

Like in January going to the beach and going surfing. Going down to San Diego. Going to Hollywood and looking around. It's just funny how you read somewhere in a newspaper or a magazine that a star ate somewhere and you think, 'Oh, I just ate there.' Kind of exploring the different parts of the city.

Any celebrity sightings?

I'm pretty oblivious when I walk around. I don't really notice anyone. Like I attended an event where Frank Gifford and Marcus Allen were the hosts. We got to chat with them. In some classes, celebrities come in. Like Nicolas Cage came into one of our classes and Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. It's just kind of neat. You kind of sit there and it's out of this world. You know you're like, 'Okay, where am I? And wow. I can't believe they're coming to my class.'

Are you serious, Nicolas Cage and Warren Beatty and Annette Bening came to your class?

It was a cinema class and so they showed one of Nicolas Cage's movies and so he came in and talked about it and he answered questions for the class. And the other one was a media and society class and so Warren Beatty and Annette Bening just came to speak. It's interesting.

What's your biggest pet peeve?

I don't really have any pet peeves in life. In diving, I'm very into routine so my pet peeve is when something happens that breaks my routine. In the event I try not to talk to anyone so if someone tries to talk to me that's one of my pet peeves.

What's your biggest fear?

I guess my biggest fear in life is looking back and having regrets. So I try to live life to the fullest. In diving, I think the big fear is disappointing myself or disappointing other people.

Any superstitions?

In diving, I'm very superstitious. I have a lucky bathing suit. I always wear it in the 3-metre final. It's just plain black. In a meet, I keep the same routine in between every dive and I'm very meticulous about the routine and that's part of my big superstition.

If you had a chance to meet anyone in history, who would it be?

I would love to meet Nelson Mandela ... he would be No. 1 on the list.

I just think it's amazing what he went through going to jail for that many years and being put in there so unfairly. And he's so passionate about what he does. I just think he would be a really interesting and compelling person to talk to.

What was the last autograph you collected?

When I was 12 or something, I think I got Greg Louganis's autograph.

What's something you'd be embarrassed to let people know about you?

That I'm often scared while I'm diving.

Who's your dream date?

Probably Brad Pitt.

What's the best thing about being a diver?

It's probably being able to travel the world and meet all sorts of interesting people and just be a part of a great circuit.

What's the worst thing about being a diver?

That anything can happen. You're up there and in a split second anything can happen.

What does it mean to you to have the worlds in Montreal?

I'm very excited because I was fortunate enough to be in the Winnipeg Pan Am Games in 1999 and that was one of my most memorable experiences just to have the support of the crowd. I just remember feeling so excited. You get this nervous rush because you want to perform well for them and you know they'll support you no matter what. I think having that extra support will give you the extra adrenaline and energy to do well in the meet.

What's the best advice anyone's ever given you?

My sister once told me just to be myself and I think that was the best advice I've ever gotten because no one has ever told me that.

What about life after diving?

That is the big question. I finish up school next year and I have to figure out exactly what it is I want to do. I don't know.

What book's on your bedside table?

I just read Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. I enjoyed that one. I didn't really get that much spare time to read. But I enjoyed Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

What about hobbies?

I love the outdoors. I like hiking. I like just going to the beach. I would like to surf more. I don't really get that much of a chance to surf.

Dana Ellis punches in ticket to worlds with Canadian record in pole vault.

WINNIPEG-Dana Ellis of Kitchener, Ont., broke her Canadian record in the women’s pole vault on Friday to highlight opening day action at the Canadian track and field championships.

Ellis cleared 4.51 metres for the victory and bettered her previous national mark of 4.50 set this past May. Sue Kupper of Edmonton was second at 4.15 and Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon third at 4.00. Ellis rubber stamped her ticket to Helsinki for the world championships in August.

“It feels great, I wanted to get another jump in at around 4.50,” said Ellis, sixth at the Athens Olympics. “I wanted to show that I’m consistent at that height which puts me in contention for a top-six finish at worlds. But I’d like to clear 4.60 by the worlds which would make me a medal contender.”

In the women’s 100-metre dash, Toyin Olupona of Mississauga, Ont., took the gold in 11.35 seconds.

“I hadn’t raced in a month so it was pretty good,” said Olupona, who equalled the A world championship qualifying standard in the preliminaries at 11.30. “I tried to focus a lot on my start and came out here to see where I stood at this point.”

Other winners in women’s competition included Marie Le Jour McDonagh of St-Laurent, Que., in discus, and Dominique Bilodeau of Sherbrooke, Que., in javelin.

Winners in men’s competition included Jim Steacy of Lethbridge, Alta., in the men’s hammer throw, Reid Coolsaet of Guelph, Ont., in the 5,000 and Maurice Ennis of Toronto in the long jump.

Competition continues through to Sunday. The nationals are one of the last chances for the athletes to secure a berth for the worlds.

China and Canada sign agreement to share Olympics expertise.
(The Vancouver Sun)

Gaining tips from Chinese Olympic coaches on producing high-performance athletes, and discovering new ways to make Olympic Games a financial success are just some of the benefits Canada could gain from an agreement signed between Canada and China today.

Both countries have agreed to share knowledge and experience related to the organization of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, MP Stephen Owen, federal minister of state for sport, said in a telephone interview from Beijing.

"We feel this is very important on the Chinese side and [on] our side, that because of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and ours in 2010, we can take full advantage of the emphasis that each country is putting on these events to make sure we can provide assistance to each other as possible."

Owen said the agreement creates a framework from which government and sports officials, coaches and athletes from both countries can gain from each other's experience in sport. That will range from sharing coaching techniques that lead to Olympic champions, and promoting athletes with disabilities and women in sport, to finding new ways to realize economic benefits of hosting an Olympic Games.

He said there are many areas where people in both countries can gain from the memorandum of agreement, that was six months in the making. He said the Chinese were interested in applying Canadian environmental technology, Canada's expertise in promoting sport for people with disabilities, and its Olympic legacies program, to name a few. He said there are many opportunities for Canadians to gain insight into the planning and economics of an Olympic Games and to promote human rights.

Amateur sports fade to black: Canada should do a better job of promoting amateur athletics in this NHL-mad country.
(The Ottawa Citizen)

The avalanche of coverage that has accompanied the announcement of the impending end of the NHL lockout is symptomatic of the obsession with pro sports in this country. While every detail about the labour negotiations was duly noted, little was made this spring of the CBC's decision not to broadcast coverage of next year's Commonwealth Games from Melbourne, Australia.

Amateur sport in Canada could use a few more corporate executives in its corner like George Heller, CEO of the Hudson's Bay Company, a major sponsor of Canada's Commonwealth Games and Olympic teams.

Mr. Heller, president of the Commonwealth Games Foundation of Canada, recently lambasted the CBC for turning its back on Canadian athletes. He called the CBC's decision not to broadcast the Games, after doing so for decades, an insult to Canadian athletes and a black mark on Canada as a sporting nation.

On both counts, Mr. Heller is right on the mark. How can a country that sees itself as a major player in international sport, with ambitions to be the No. 1 nation at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, fail to provide TV coverage of an event on the scale of the Commonwealth Games?

True, the Games don't match up in stature to the Olympics. But it's the second biggest multi-sport Games for Canadian athletes, and traditionally a showcase for many of our top competitors as well as the stars of the future.

In its defence, the CBC says it has nothing against the Commonwealth Games except that it conflicts with other events Canadians are more interested in watching, including the curling Brier, the World Figure Skating Championships and the Paralympics.
The Games also take place less than a month after the Turin Winter Olympics, leaving little in the way of TV advertising revenue for an event that draws unspectacular ratings.

It's too bad the CBC is taking all the flak for this snub, because it does more than any other major media organization in the country to give Canadian high-performance athletes the kind of coverage they deserve.

Unfortunately, Mr. Heller and the Commonwealth Games people have encountered a problem that runs far deeper than a scheduling conflict at the CBC.

It all comes down to the low profile amateur sport has in Canada, except during the feeding frenzy of an Olympic Games. "It's a cruel routine, this Olympic cycle," wrote Michael Petrou in a recent article in the Vancouver Province. "For two weeks every four years, Canadian athletes come out of the shadows, grab the nation by its heart and take us on an incredible ride. Then virtually minutes after your television shuts off -- poof! -- they fade back to black for another three-plus years."

Complain to the media, however, about the lack of amateur sport coverage and the answer is always the same: There's not enough interest out there to justify more coverage unless, of course, it's the Olympics.

Unfortunately, Canada's amateur sport leaders seem to accept this poor excuse for allowing our athletes to dwell in obscurity between Olympics -- how else to explain the seeming indifference toward a co-ordinated, sustained national campaign to promote and market our teams and athletes?

We're living in the midst of a communications revolution with unprecedented opportunity to promote amateur sport in new and exciting ways. But the people holding the purse strings in the government, Canadian Olympic Committee, and other central funding agencies don't seem to have a clue.

It wasn't always this way. In the early '90s, before the debilitating budget cuts that came close to destroying the Canadian sport system, promotion and marketing received high priority in the sport bureaucracy. In 1991-92, for example, Sport Canada spent more than $2 million out of a core budget of about $55 million -- almost four per cent of the total -- to help promote Canadian athletes and their sport federations.

Despite rising federal sport spending in recent years reaching a record $140 million in the last budget, marketing and promotion have fallen off the radar screen at Sport Canada, leaving individual sport federations to fend for themselves.

Kind of like Hudson's Bay eliminating national advertising campaigns and leaving the job exclusively to local retailers.

And so there you have it, George. If you really want see TV coverage of the Commonwealth Games next March don't just go for a quick fix. Look for a solution that also addresses the underlying problem. You could start by posing one simple question: What can we can do in Canada to better promote and recognize our national teams and athletes year round?

Just for starters, how about a multi-media news service following the exploits of our teams and athletes day in and day out, an athlete-of-the week award, or a production fund to help sports get their events on TV?

Perhaps it's time for you as CEO of the Hudson's Bay Company and other Olympic sponsors such as Petro-Canada, Bell Canada and the Royal Bank to light a fire under our sport funding agencies to launch a national campaign to promote Canadian amateur sport.

New York's bid for the 2012 Games may have been doomed from the outset, but its promise to provide free marketing, advertising and other assistance to help all summer Olympic sports raise their profile in the U.S. hit the nail on the head.

Too bad Vancouver's bid for the 2010 Games didn't have a similar thrust as part of its legacy programs. If we have the chutzpah and the resources to set our sights on being No. 1 at the 2010 Olympics, why can't we come up with a plan to get amateur sport off the sidelines and into the game 365 days a year?

If there's one thing the lockout taught us, it's that there's life without pro hockey. Perhaps, there is a way, after all, for amateur sport to get more of the attention it deserves in the long years between Olympic Games.

Ron Scammell is the editor of Cansport (www.cansport.com), a website providing daily coverage of Canada's national teams and athletes.

Go Girl 2004 Steering Committee, Calgary, AB

Organization Provincial/Community Award – Honouring an organization that has provided funds or services to enable fuller participation by girls and women in sport and physical activity

Go Girl is a one-day ‘get active’ workshop where girls aged 10-16 are invited to try out a variety of physical activities and sports in a girls-only environment. After nearly a year of planning, with a steering committee that represents eight different community partners, 350 girls took part in the fifth annual Go Girl conference, held in Calgary in November 2004.

This event encourages and inspires young girls to be physically active. Participation on the Steering Committee allows opportunity for women in leadership development. The committee structure enhances growth and builds a strong committed team, dedicated to addressing issues, challenging barriers and ultimately encouraging more young women to reap the positive benefits from participating in sport and physical activity.

78 different activity options were included in the day, each started with a 10-minute health session that addressed issues of body image, nutrition, injury prevention and active living. Popular activity sessions in 2004 were fencing, kayaking, rock climbing, trampoline, cheer squad, self-defense, kick boxing, wheelchair basketball, synchronized swimming and hip-hop. Each year between 20 to 30 new sessions are introduced, to keep the sessions fresh and current. Over 100 volunteers and several community sponsors helped execute the event on the day.