Page A12 The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, October 18, 1995 JEFF GABERT Sun Sports The cold war may be over, but nevertheless peo- ple in Castlegar may once again hear the warning “The Russians are coming! The Russians are com- ing!” Luckily, they are coming only as part of a peace- ful sports mission. But that Won't deter them from trying to block Team Canada's attempt at victory. Win or Ipse it'will be a volleyball treat most Sports fans in the area will never forget. The Canadian National Men's Volleyball Team is slated to take on Autobilist (Russia) on October 28 at the Selkirk College Gym as part of a week long tour that will take them across the B.C. Interior. The team will start play on Monday in Kamloops then travel to Kelowna for a Wednesday match and finally on to Castlegar Friday before returning to Calgary. The exhibition matches are designed to get the team in shape for the upcoming World Cup in Japan. Since the Canadian team began international competition in 1959, it has steadily improved. Their best finish ever came last year at the World Champi- onships in Greece where they placed ninth. Selkirk College prepares Since then they have assembled some strong young talent to go a long with a hy group of veterans and are taking a bonafide shot at qualify ing for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, “We have an excellent Opportunity to qualify for the Olympics,” said Team Canada assistant general manager Derwin’ Parker. “We have the talent, the intensity and we will be hosting the Continental Olympic Qualifier in Cal- gary where we train. So I would say we have an excellent chance to make it to the Olympics.” Parker said the march has already begun. “We have just qualified for the World Cup in Japan in November for the first time in Canadian history,” continued Parker. “We will be facing the highest ranked teams in the World and this is the first and hardest step in the qualification process. If we can get rolling there, we CEGISLAT i yp can come back to the tournament in Calgary and get it done.” The B.C. Tour against Autobilist, a Russian club team, is the team’s last exhibition action before the World Cup and should be a good test for Team Canada. It will also be a good test for organizer Mike Perra who is interested to see how many People are inter- ested in the sport of volley- ball in this area. With the “retrenchment” of Selkirk College's athletic programs for this year, Perra is trying to organize a men’s and women’s volleyball club program. ° He knows there is plen- ty of volleyball interest in the area but he wants to see it focussed agd he wants to peak the interest of younger athletes. He thinks this exhibition match will be a good oppor- tunity to do that. “It's a big deal,” said Perra. “It would be the The Castlegar Sun for Russian invasion same thing as our Men’s National Hockey Team playing the Red Army. It'll create a lot of interest in the sport.” Team Canada played in Castlegar against a Kore- an team (wo years ago and they were very well received with over 700 fans attending the match This time Perra figures there will be even more fans since both Team Canada arid the competition is stronger plus there is a big high school volleyball tournament in Trail the same weekend, “I'm expecting 1,000,” said Perra. “Last time we had 700. This time we've had a little less lead time but people still remember the last one, “Bottom line is I think there’s going to be a lot of interest and I'm going to be network selling it. You'll be able to buy tickets at the college and a few local businesses plus I'll be going around to local schools.” Perra is also looking for billets for the players and is also planning to contact local cultural groups to possibly provide a. banquet for the R as well as the Canadians. “We want to raise a little money for the club and Selkirk Athletics in order to develop elite sport in this area,” said Perra, For more information on Team Canada check out next week's Castlegar Sun. 1 TRROwY Page B1 - ma <> EI — WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 Small Ads Work! Kootenay Country golf courses (six Golf course visitors were seg- Kootenay Country greens are the color of money staff unlimited access to their Small ads on a regular basis bring top of the mind awareness to your customers. 465 Columbia mie. teria, VIN 168 Be A Part of Castlegar's Future See Oct. 25 Castlegar Sun Submitted Kootenay Country Tourist Asso- ciation (KCTA) has just released the findings of their extensive Kootenay Country golf survey. The Project started June 7 and ended 90 days later on S 4. Ten 18 hole courses and four 9 hole courses) participated, each course being visited nine times on a rota- The golf survey was designed to supply KCTA members with a profile of the golfers visiting K 'y Country golf courses. ‘Aleo “RUSSIAN FOOD" including Borech, Pyrahi, Varenniki, Lapsha Located Playmor Junction Come 2316 - 6th Ave., Castlegar 365-5114 mented into two categories golfers who lived within the Kootenay Country boundaries were classed as regional golfers and golfers who lived outside the Kootenay Country bound- aries were classed as visiting golfers. The regional golfers were given a short oral survey and the visiting golfers were given a more detailed written survey to fill out. A total of 1,432 written visitor golfing sur- veys and 1,370 oral regional sur- veys were administered at the ten participating golf courses. The results were impressive They showed that golfing is a major tourism industry in Koote- nay Country. It was estimated that the out of region golfers visiting the 10 participating golf courses in June, July and August spent over 8.4 million dollars in Koote- nay Country. The majority of out of region golfers were aged 35-54 (58.7% of the males and 42.2% of the females), traveled in groups of two (38.4%) or groups of 3-5 (37.0%), stayed an average of 3.2 nights, golfed an average of 2.7 days and spent an average of $334 while in Kootenay Country. Each of the participating golf courses received a copy of the Kootenay Country golf survey and a breakdown of their own individual golf course results to help them better market their facility. “The golf survey was such a huge success due to the 10 partici- pant golf courses offering KCTA golfers and the professional attitude of the KCTA survey teams. Hope- fully, we can do the survey on a yearly basis,” stated Geoff Stur- geon, Executive Director of KCTA. From the golf database: * the 18-hole courses surveyed were Creston, Castlegar, Birch- bank, Granite Point, Kokanee Springs and Christina Lake. + the nine-hole courses were Balfour, Champion Lakes, Nakusp and Rossland. * 35.7 percent of golf visitors Surveyed came from B.C., 29.4 Percent from Alberta and 17.9 percent from Washington. * 76.1 percent of all golfers surveyed were classified as core golfers meaning they play nine or more rounds per year. “Financing: Rates apply on all new '95 626 Cronos, B-Series Trucks s srowm equals $230 for 48 months and C.0 8 1s $1,040 for a total of $11°040. for NO LIMIT FINANCING* ue Key Days! VY month s. 24 ~ F % for 36 months. 4.9” for 48 months. Now’s the time to check out the 626 Cronos, our sporty MX-3 Precidia, the value-priced Protegé ‘S’, or a rugged B-Series Truck. 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Supply and stock may vary by dealer B-SERIES TRUCKS © Power steering © Alloy wheels © Rear ABS * AM/FM stereo radio © Driver-side air bag 17th St reet, 365-7241 | | feeding is becoming do, while bottle feeding, for some women, is being relegated to the back burner. Breast milk vs. formula is a debate that has been going on for a long time. But most recently, it appears as if the benefits of breast feeding are outnumbering those of formula. Now, hospitals are taking their stand against the saturation of infant formula on the market. B.C. Women’s Hospital’s decision to stop accepting free infant formu- la is being applauded by local LaLeche League leader Pam Jodoin. “It's definitely a good move. Women [in other birthing facilities] who start out breast feeding are sent home with a can of formula ‘just in case”. This, said Jodoin, sends the wrong message and makes it easier for women, especially those who are attempting breast feeding for the first time, to throw in the towel if their efforts to breast feed are diffi- cult or if they fear their child isn’t getting enough milk—a common fear among new mothers. But BL. Women’s Hospital isn’t the only hospital committed to strengthening its commitment towards supporting women who choose to breast feed. Laverne Bondaroff, a maternity nurse at the Castlegar Hospital, told Sun staff that the hospital hasn’t given free formula to women in a long time. “There’s been no free formula given out here.” Bondaroff said the trend towards breast feeding is strong in the Castlegar area and that only about two per cent of women don’t start out breast feeding their babies. But it's: frustration and easy accessibility of formula which sometimes makes it easier for women to give in and bottle feed their babies. Health Minister Paul Ramsey applauded Women’s Hospital for taking a stand against manufactur- ers of infant formula. “When health care is influenced by the vested interests of industry, it can be detrimental to patients—in this case to babies and their mothers. “Research shows that when for- mula is free and easily accessible in hospitals, it generally hampers the efforts of women who choose to breast feed,” he concluded. B.C. Women’s Hospital is now paying for infant formula, and is the first such facility to do so in the -province. Breast feeding has become very popular—statistics show that more than 80 per cent of new B.C. moth- ers choose to breast feed. This is the highest breast feeding initiation rate in Canada. But by the time the child is four to six months old fewer than 50 per cent of babies are still exclu- sively breast fed. But things were much different in the 60s and 70s when women who chose to breast feed were looked upon as being passe. Many women were entering the work force and chose not to “ - er” with breast feeding. Hospitals happily sent mothers home with care packages complete with infant formula donated by industry. “Dry-up” pills were given to dis- courage lactation and breasts were bound with cotton strips. To be fair to these women, it must be stressed that information regarding the superior benefits of breast feeding was not as abundant as it is today, and women are always free to make choices in what they consider is appropriate for them and their child Besides freeing a mother from having to clean and sterilize bottles and nipples, not to mention the high cost of infant for- mula, breast milk was also found to be physically and psychologically beneficial to both mother and child. For the mother, nursing causes contraction of the uterus resulting in its speedy return to pre-natal condi- tion. Many moth- ers claim that it also helps them to return to their pre-pregnancy weight. For child, breast milk outshines any formula mass-pro- duced or cow’s- milk, which, simply put, was meant for calves, not humans. It has been proven that chil- dren who are breast fed are less likely to develop allergies and are generally healthier than bottle fed babies. The psychologi- cal benefits are also rewarding. As mother and child share the private moments of breast feeding, a bond forms which rivals that of one between a child and a propped bottle. As more information became available about breast milk, the ‘When health care Is influenced by the vested interests of industry, it can be detrimental to patients - in this case to babies and their mothers.’ — PAUL RAMSEY Health Minister 80s saw a cultural change in atti- tude towards breast feeding moth- ers. Hospitals, such as Castlegar and District, began to encourage breast feeding. The formula for success A subject once only whispered about, the art and advantages of breast feeding has come out from under Victorian wraps. Now, breast the “popular” thing to LaLeche League membership, a support group formed in 1957 to support breast feeding mothers, grew and resulted in the word “breast feeding” becoming one which no longer was whispered. Now, although there are still women who are not able, or choose not to breast feed, breast feeding has become the chosen method in which to feed babies. Working women are finding that breast feeding is still possible despite their return to work, while women of lower income are finding that they are able to provide their infants with the healthiest least expensive formula—breast milk. Now, thanks to many support groups such as the LaLache League, breast feeding has transcended eco- nomic station or class. Some might say that breast feeding has finally come out of the closet.