News from Ontario
By Pat Beecham-Cooper, Judge, Ontario Provincial Finals
The Ontario Reach for the Top Finals were held May 9-12 in Scarborough, Ontario, at the Progress Campus of Centennial College, Pope John Paul II High School and TVOntario’s production centre at Studioasis.Forty-four teams (winners of their leagues) vied for the 10 spots in the finals to be taped by TVOntario. A round-robin tournament was held on Sunday, May 10th. The ranking of the top 10 was determined by win/loss record, and highest aggregate scores.
At the Studioasis production centre, there were 5 elimination games, with the winner of each game and the highest scoring losing team advanced to the quarter-finals. The winners of these three games and the highest scoring losing team advanced to the semi-finals, with the two winning teams playing off for the championship. All teams were highly competitive. London Central was the eventual Ontario Champion.
On Saturday evening at the celebratory banquet, Fraser Simpson, coach of the team from University of Toronto Schools, led the crowd in a rousing game of “True or False”, with lots of prizes for the winners.
Thanks to Pope John Paul II for their hospitality in staging the round robin. Many thanks to volunteers Ashley Gheerowo, Tierney Thorne, Donital Alfred, Amanda Davis, Shante Allen, Meagan Blandizz and Sam Barron. Also, thanks to the coaches from JPII; Teresa Chung, Anthony Hageman and Chris Premdas for organizing and hosting. Thanks to the Reach staff for providing an excellent tournament. Thanks to all the teams and coaches for their hard work and success and good sportsmanship. Thanks also to our enthusiastic MC, Richard Koo, and to my co-judge, Ravi Lall, who is always on top of his game.
THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL FINALS WILL BEGIN SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 ON TVO
Congratulations to the Champion, London Central Secondary School and team members Max Trower, Ming-Ho Yee, Kyle Arsenault Mehta, Connor Pierotti, Elizabeth Gray, Myrna Moretti, Jennifer Aziz and Coach Mike Pizzutti.
Reach For The Top / Schoolreach