News from Alberta
By Chris Zarski, Alberta Provincial Co-ordinator
The Alberta teams have had an exciting year of keen competition. Most teams started league play after Christmas with a few starting right in November! Provincial tournaments this year were spaced a week apart.
The Junior and Intermediate Provincials were held in Onoway, Alberta, a small community approximately half an hour outside Edmonton. Under the guidance of Jim Fegyverneki and the staff of Onoway school, participants and visitors were treated to a wonderfully organized two days event. The cafeteria staff saw to it that everyone was well-fed with a scrumptious lunch, and participants enjoyed the many draws that occurred over the noon hour. Teams in each division were divided into two pools and 1st and 2nd in each pool crossed over into the semi finals.
The results were as follows:
The Spirit Award trophies went to Elnora School in the Junior Division and Onoway #1 in the Intermediate Division.
A sincere thanks to all the staff who helped organize, read and scorekeep. It was a great two days!
Senior Provincials deviated from our usual seeding tournament and TV studio format to a series of games staged at the Red Deer College Campus in Red Deer Alberta. Participants and visitors were treated to a wonderful location with lots to see, especially for our senior students, under the great organization of Shane Westin. Commendations go out to Red Deer College for hosting this event and organizing it in less than three weeks! We enjoyed meeting the staff who acted as readers and judges, and the wonderful surprise that six of them were alumni of Reach For the Top! It is great to have past players return, on the other side of the table! Special thanks to Gerri Buccini, Markus Chan, Julie May and Luke Wilson for driving in from Edmonton to help out with reading.
A new team was introduced to play this year as a result of an odd number of teams. Team RDC played in pool B and was made up of substitute players from each of the schools. Their task was to try to beat the team they were playing! It was a great way for everyone to get into some games.
The final results and standings after a full day of competition were as follows:
Thanks to Bill Wilson for his continued support of the program and for always being there to help out with the buzzer systems!
We are hopeful that the TV station will have a change of heart and choose to support the Reach Teams again in the future.
Congratulations to the Champion, West Island College and team members Courtney Black, Joan Kelly, Christina Schweitzer, Carter Smith, David Telfer, Michael Zawalsky and Coach Claire Allen.
Reach For The Top / Schoolreach