Saturday, November 30, 1991 @ Can’t we keep our kids at home? It’s not right and it’s not fair that Castlegar kids have to leave this town to pursue their dreams as athletes. Why, just because you're blessed with athletic talent, does your family life have to suffer as a result? (Hockey is an exception in this re- gard. There’s just no way a budding young superstar can make his mark in small-town hockey. No, in hockey young players have to leave.) e swimming for example. Castlegar has a hell of summer swim club. They've got kids on the Castlegar Aquanauts who are provin- cial medalists —swimmers like Mario Fehrenberg and Justin Phillips who won last year. And the club has provincial-calibre swimmers coming up in the ranks every year. Another of those provincial medal- ists last summer was Amy Chernoff. Chernoff left Castlegar for Cranbrook in September because she wanted to swim year-round. Now she lives with her aunt three hours by car away from here, and will will graduate from a high school in Cranbrook she has attended for one year. Of course, there are those kids who are more than happy to take their ath- letic ability as their ticket out of a small town. There are others, mostly 16, 17 and 18 year olds, who would gladly have stayed, but couldn't ifthey wanted to pursue their dreams. Ed Chernoff says his daughter re- ally enjoys Cranbrook and thinks the change has been good for her. But if he had his druthers, he’d like his daughter home. Chernoff’s is a typical case in swim- ming. She isn’t the first who has de- cided to leave town and she won't be the last. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I don’t profess to know more about the sport than those people on the Aquanauts executive the swimmers themselves or their parents, but couldn't Castlegar start its own winter swim club? The facility is here, there are plen- ty of coaching candidates and oodles of talent just sitting there over our long Canadian-made winters. I ‘mean, who knows how many swimmers we have in this town who could get scholarships to universities, (I guess they'd be leaving here in that sense anyway) make national teams or stand up on the podium at the Olympics if we don’t have a year- round program to develop their skills. Castlegar teacher Mike Balahura, who has coached the Aquanauts, been on its executive and spent most of his life involved in swimming, says on the surface a winter club would be a good idea. But it’s not as easy as just say- ing ‘let’s do it.’ At the’very least, it would take a lot of work and signifi- cant amount of moola to set a winter club up. “There's been some discussion about that, but one of the problems with winter swim club is that once you start paying the coaches a wage, trav- el costs and what not, you have to have a membership large enough to support that. With hockey in winter time for boys and skiing and things, some clubs, for example Cranbrook, has found it a tough sell,” Balahura said. “It’s not that we don't have the tal- ent available, it’s just that do have the bodies available to support the com- mitment to a winter program.” I would say yes to that question, if the West Kootenay was used as a source for the swimmers rather than just Castlegar. Balahura agreed. “If you could get a commitment from, say, Trail, Beaver Valley, Nelson and Grand Forks, yeah, that’s feasi- ble, but unless the whole group goes together it would be really difficult.” Talking to Balahura I got the feel- ing that the question of forming a win- ter swim club in this area is just a matter of will. If enough young swimmers de- manded it, they'd probably get it. “What it would need is a number of interested bodies in each city where you've got young kids, probably in the 10 to 14-year-old range who are going to commit themselves. Kids that feel that swimming is their sport and are going to dedicate themselves year- round,” he said. I guess until somebody steps for- ward with the will to‘make it work, kids will still have to leave here to pur- sue their dreams in the pool. But every time someone does leave, this community loses a resource) a lo- cal school loses a good athlete and in most cases, a@good student. Does it have to be that way? News photo by Ed Mills Tatsuharu Mishina offers some friendly advice and encouragement Wednesday to buddy Kikaru Kato in the weight room at the Community Complex. Saturday, November 30, 199: Except for the ball, the stick and the s| the stuff hockey players use. News photo by Ed Mills hoes, the equipment for broomball is basically the same as Broomball’s really our game Ed Mills SPORTS EDITOR If dirty floors are all that come to mind when a broom is mentioned, Dave Ward wants to talk to you. What he wants to tell you is all things you can do with a broom in your hand that have nothing to do with cleaning. He wants to tell you about broomball. Warlocks Continued from page 15 established in Castlegar,” said Faron Ward, “it’s where I started my career. And you know, a lot of players come out of there and play in Victoria and Vancouver leagues and are the better players. So they must be doing something right in Castlegar.” To continue doing some- thing right Dave Ward knows the game has to have new blood. He’s sees a shift in that direction occurring. “We got four or five guys from the high school now, that always helps out. You get all these young guys out and it makes everybody else a little more interested,” Ward said. Still, an attempt to organize a team in Trail this year showed Ward that the game still has a ways to go “We tried to get Trail going this year. We tried and it failed, nobody showed up.” The disappointment of Trail always fades every Wednes- day night and Sunday after- noon when Ward and the 30 or “You get used to the ice, you can jump over people, you can jump over the boards, you can do whatever you feel like doing out there,” said Castlegar’s king of broomball. Ward said if you know hock- ey, you basically know broom- ball. Except for the specially made brooms — none of the closet variety please — and shoes, the equipment in broomball is much the same so players that call themselves Warlocks, divide themselves into two teams and play for an hour on the ice at the Commu- nity Complex. The players are preparing for the pinnacle of their sea- son, as it has been for the last 10 years, a playoff against Cranbrook for the right to rep- resent the Kootenays in the B.C. Winter Games. It’s been that way for the last decade -because Cran- brook is the only other city in the Kootenays with a broom- ball team. Cranbrook has held the edge over Castlegar in the broomball battle for the last few years, but again, Ward sees the shift about to come. “I would really say the last couple of years prior to last year that they were better than us. But last year we were better then them, we just did- n't score the goals wheh we had the chances. “This year we have a young team, we got a lot of speed, and I think we're going to take as hockey. The rules are basi- cally the same, as are the the number of players on the ice at one time and the object. There’s slapshots, body checking, spinaramas, nifty passing-plays, you name it. But unlike hockey, broom- ball is truly our game — though there is some dispute about whether it was invented in Saskatchewan or Quebec — it was started in this country about 1909. ’em.” Outside of relatives, a few of the player’s friends and their small children, there won't be a lot of people in stands at the Community Complex to see the playoff. One person who will be in the stands is Dave Ward. Be- cause like all good kings, Ward has realized the time has come to pass his crown. “I can still play, but you have to let the younger play- ers play, they don’t need old coots playing, so I'll step aside and let them do that.” The Warlocks meet Cran- brook in a best two out of three series at the Complex Dec. 15 at 1:30 p.m. Realty splits, College back on track in men’s basketball @ College moves into sole possession of second place in the Kootenay West Men’s Basketball League with win over Office Supplies News Staff After suffering its first loss of the season a week earlier, Selkirk College got back on the winning track Tuesday night in the Kootenay West Men’s Basketball League. The College improved its record to 3-1 with a 76-70 win over Cowan Office Supplies in the early game at the College. The win gave the College sole possession of second place in the five-team league, while Cowan dropped into third place at 2-2. In the other game Tuesday, league-leading Castlegar Re- alty remained undefeated in four starts with a 62-58 over the Winlaw Pistons. The Pistons, who led 34-25 at the half, are in fourth place at 1-2. Last place RHC Realty had Tuesday off. Castlegar Realty was less successful in Trail Men’s Bas- ketball League action at Com- inco Gym Wednesday night losing for the second time in three starts. Victoria Place kept its per- fect record in tact with a 58- 55 win over Realty. SEN Chad Coupland Ed Canzian had 22 for Vic- toria Place, which led 29-28 at halftime, while Chad Coup- land had 16. Greg Larson had 16 for Castlegar Realty and Brain Turlock had 15. The result from the other game, which had the Flying Steamshovel against Rock Is- land Tape Centre, wasn’t available at press time. Meanwhile, Castlegar Real- ty learned this week that To- by Reichert will likely miss the rest of the season with a knee injury he suffered in the first week of the season. In games this Tuesday in the Kootenay West League, the College plays the Pistons at Mt. Sentinel high school in South Slocan at 7 p.m., while RHC plays Castlegar Realty at Selkirk College at 8:30 p.m. IORS 50+ Caribbean Cruise Social Monday, December 2 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Castlegar Aquatic Centre a Tickets.$4.00 2 Live Entertainment, Bingo, Captains iN Dance, Games, Refreshments! Phone 365-3386 for tickets or more information! CASTLEGAR & DISTRICT | 4 @) RECREATION ‘ DEPARTMENT SEASON PASS PICTURES Beginning Weekends 12:00-4 p.m. Midweek 1-5 p.m. Regular Ticket Office Hours when operational DEC. 1ST - Final Date tor Bring a Buddy Discount Rate Nov. 23 at the Ski Lodge