To open the tournament Thursday, the Ballhawks will play Storm ICE from Aurora, followed by Winnipeg’s Skyline Volleyball Club, and face the Voyageurs in their final game.

Following these games, the Ballhawks will be placed into ranked pools for their second day of play.

In November, the Chatham U16 Ballhawks competed in a local U17 tournament at Chatham-Kent Secondary School grabbing gold against the older competition.

The Pool Sharks had some outstanding swims and leading the Chatham swimmers with hardware was 9 year old David Tran, bringing home 8 medals (5 of them being gold in the 10/under boys division).

Other Chatham Pool Sharks Highlights from the Meet Include:

• Jake Landriault was swimming his heart out in every event but somehow kept on missing the regional cut by a small margin. It came to the last and final race and he gave everything he had in the 100 Fly and ended up qualifying for his first ever regional championships as well as receiving a Bronze medal.
• Madelaine Tran, who just like Jake, swam every event and kept on missing the regional standard. In her last event she was able to take off over 20 seconds to qualify for her first ever regional championships as well. Madelaine is only 7 years old and she made the 9/under standard. Coach Reg believes that she is the youngest CYPS swimmer to ever qualify for the regional championships.
• Celia Nogueira was also in the 100 fly and it was the last and final chance for her to make regionals. She took off enough time to get the regional cut. This is her first time making the regional 9/under girls standard.
• Michelle St. Pierre had a race she will never forget. She has improved so much since starting with the Sharks earlier this year and has managed to get her first ever regional cut as an 11 year old girl in the 100 free.
• Carolyn Tran had a great weekend. She was in the 200 breastroke and a swimmer from OAK beat her for the gold medal. On Sunday it was the 100 breastroke and Carolyn was going into finals ranked 2nd next to the same swimmer who beat her in the 200 breastroke. She was able to fight through the pain of the race and out touch the OAK swimmer by .02 for the gold medal.

Top 8 performances

Madison Broad- 6th 50breast, SILVER 50back, 8th 50fly, 5th 200IM, 8th 400free, 100breast and 4th 100backBrock Carlson- 8th 50free, 7th 100free, 4th 100breast, 8th 100back
Kristopher Chauvin- 6th 50backTyler Cummings- 4th 50breast, 6th 200breast, 5th 100breast
Nicole Depooter- 8th 50breast, 6th 50back, 8th 100back, 8th 400IM
Joslyn Dunlop- 5th 50back, 7th 200back
Jack Gillis- 5th 50free, 4th 50back, 100back, 50fly, BRONZE 100free, GOLD 100breast, GOLD 100fly
Jacob Landriault- 5th 100free, 8th 100breast, BRONZE 100fly
Zach McGlynn- 7th 50free, 6th 50fly, 400free, 4th 100free, BRONZE 100back, SILVER 50back
Genevieve Sasseville- SILVER 50fly, 5th 100fly
Chuckles Schepanowski- 5th 50breast, 8th 200breast, 8th 100breast
Carolyn Tran- 8th 100free, 6th 50free, 4th 200IM, SILVER 200breast, GOLD 100breast, SILVER 50breast
David Tran- 5th 50breast, BRONZE 50back, SILVER 50free, SILVER 50fly, GOLD 200im, GOLD 100free, GOLD 400free, GOLD 200free, GOLD 100back
Matthew Vasey- 6th 100fly

International Modern Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) schools from Windsor to London to Sarnia and all places in between, travelled to meet and compete in Sarnia at Dynasty Martial Arts on Murphy Road.
The inter-school event takes place in different cities on a biyearly basis to help students prepare for the “International Invitational Tournament” held in London each November.

IMMAF students showed off their skills as they competed in forms, patterns (katas), sparring, weapons, and self defense techniques.

The scores, the activities, the flashing weapons, the results of the sparring bouts were important to the students, but IMMAF schools also teach students about social responsibility.

As part of the day’s activities, Dynasty Martial Arts owner Rob St. Jean also hosted a popular, crowd pleasing, fundraiser with the “Break-a-Board Challenge.” Students sponsored by friends and family challenge themselves to see how many boards they can break in a single strike with their bare hand!
The regulation size karate standard board for breaking can withstand over 200 pounds of pressure. It takes skill and training to break just one, yet students as young as 6 took up the challenge. Participating students earned two limited edition commemorative badges to wear on their uniforms.

At the end of the day, IMMAF students had destroyed over 250 boards and raised $4387.30 for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Centre Sarnia Lambton.

IMMAF participating clubs included Dynasty Martial Arts, (Sarnia and Blenheim), Snow’s Academy of Martial Arts, (Chatham), Guardian Academy of Martial Arts, (Wallaceburg), Killworth-Komoka Family Martial Arts (Komoka), and Steve Stewart’s Modern Martial Arts, (London). Tiger Paw Martial Arts of Wallaceburg participated by invitation.

Last year the IMMAF clubs raised over $2,000 for the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre with the “Break a Board Challenge,” at an inter-school tournament.

IMMAF affiliate schools participate frequently in national charity events such as “Relay for Life,” “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” and other local causes.

The Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors is hosting their Annual charity golf tournament on Friday, June 15th at Country View Golf Course.

Todd Warriner, former NHL and Team Canada hockey star, will be participating in the event by challenging players to hit their ball closest to the pin for a chance to double your luck for some great raffle prizes. Todd has opened a new business in Chatham-Kent called the Hockey Station. The year round sports complex, located at 20 Currie Ave in Chatham, offers programs such as summer camps, open skates, team training packages and private lessons.

The tournament begins with a continental breakfast and registration at 8:30 and Shotgun start at 9:30. The cost is $80 per golfer which includes the cart, lunch, dinner and prizes.

For more information or to register for this event please contact Janice at ckreb@mnsi.net or by phone at 519.352.4351. The deadline for registration is May 31, 2012.

The only thing that stood in Canada’s way was the USA, and the higher ranked United States proved to be too much for Canada, winning 28-26, 25-18, 25-20.

Kaminski, a middle, played a prominent role throughout the tournament.

“We didn’t play very well. We made too many errors and the Americans really put the pressure on us with their service and their blocking game,” said Glenn Hoag, Canada’s head coach following the final on Volleyball Canada’s website.

Canada will now play in the World League, which takes place this weekend in Toronto where they will face Brazil, Finland, and Poland.

With the Summer Olympics in London, England only months away, nation’s across the globe are currently playing in qualifying tournaments to earn their spot at the Olympics.

Canada, which features Middle Adam Kaminski of Chatham, is the 18th ranked country in the world and is currently playing at the NORCECA volleyball qualifier tournament in Long Beach, California.

Kaminski has played professionally in Europe for years after finishing his University playing career at the University of Alberta.

In their opening game, Canada handed the Dominican Republic a decided loss, winning three straight games 25-21, 25-13, 25-15.

“There was a little bit of nervousness at the start but the guys stayed calm,” Canadian head coach Glenn Hoag said on the Volleyball Canada website following the team’s first win.

“It was very encouraging for our first game together. It’s not only the result but it’s the way we won today that really gives the guys a lot of confidence.”

The Dominican Republic was the weakest team in Canada’s pool ranked 46th in the world.

Facing Puerto Rico in their second game, Canada was expecting much stiffer competition against the 17th ranked team, but Canada pulled off another win 25-19, 25-20, 25-13.

In their third round robin game, Canada and Kaminski upset 5th ranked Cuba 25-21, 25-17, 25-21 to stay perfect in the round robin and finish first in their pool.

Canada now receives a bye to Friday’s semi-final, meaning the will automatically have a shot for at least a bronze medal in the tournament.

Erin Sarapnickas of the Windsor Valiants - Submitted Photo

Already hampered with injuries, the Valiants had three more players injured this weekend, ending when they faced the undefeated London Ramblers with only 7 players. Windsor lead the Ramblers for 3 quarters but ran out of gas and ended up losing 68-59 ending their season. London went on to the championship game where they were defeated by the North Toronto Huskies for the JUEL title.

In their opening game of the weekend, a 64-60 loss to the Advantage Titans, Shauney Fischer tied for the team points lead with 12. The Valiants found themselves down by 17-points in the game and fought back to make it tight, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Facing the Kingston Impact, Windsor ran away with the game winning 72-51. Shauney Fisher led all scorers with 18-points followed by fellow Wallaceburg star Erin Sarapnickas with 15.

In a game that would advance one team to the final, and send the other home, the Valiants fell to the London Ramblers 68-59. Sarapnickas topped all scorers in the game with 16-points, going 4 for 8 from 3-point range.

Following the loss, Windsor Valiants head coach Paul Levac said this about his team, “I am extremely proud of everyone – considering the injury situation we’ve done very well this season. All the best to our graduating seniors and for the rest – back to the gym on Monday”

The Valiants are graduating six seniors to Universities next season including Fischer and Sarapnickas who will both be attending York University and playing basketball for the York Lions.

Rich wasted no time in that fight as he came right out of the gate with punches, landed a solid takedown and quickly took Smith’s back. He beat Smith via rear-naked choke at 1:40 of the first round. It is that aggressive, all around game that has lead Rich to a 4-1 amateur record and opened up this opportunity to gain some gold on the weekend.

Josh will be facing 135-lbs champion Jake Lamb this Saturday, and according to Josh’s coach Thomas Armstrong, “The Ripper” is ready to go.

“Josh hasn’t really had any time off training since his last fight so his cardio and ability are still on point. This will be his toughest fight yet and we are looking forward to bringing the belt to Canada.”

Tilbury’s School of Hard Knocks Fighter Petahtegoose Moving Up

Also on the TXC card is Tilbury School of Hard Knocks fighter and Tilbury’s own champion Jo Petahtegoose. He is the current TXC 145-lbs title holder, but will be testing himself in the 155-lbs weight class in this fight and his title will not be on the line this weekend.

Clark Green kicks for CKSS - CKSN.ca File Photo

Chatham’s Clark Green, who plays for the Chatham-Kent Cougars varsity football team, as well as the Chatham-Kent Secondary School Golden Hawks, was part of the winning Golden Horseshoe All-star Team, as they rolled over the Greater Toronto Area All-stars 43-7.

Green punted in the game and shared the field goal duties with another kicker.

In the win, Green scored 3 points going 3-for-3 in converts.

His outstanding contribution however, came from the punting game. On his three punts he averaged 50 yards per punt. Green also had a 58 yard average for 3 kick-offs.

Blenheim’s Annie Te Sligte won her division, the women’s 60-64 group, running the marathon in a time of 4:21

Also in Toronto, Chatham’s Steve Moore ran the fastest race of all Chatham-Kent participants finishing the marathon 3:23:22, good for 23rd in the men’s 40-44 division, and 171st out of 1084 men overall.

Kim Wood was the fastest local female runner, completing the marathon in 3:37:52. Her time put her 15th in the women’s 35-39 division and 80th out of 665 women overall. Chatham’s Jeni Powell also had a strong race completing the marathon in 3:55:12, which put her 8th in the women’s 50-54 division.

In Cincinnati, Chatham’s Chris Tuckwell was the top local finisher, completing the race in 4:28:29.