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Ottawa Titans Water Polo Weekly Newsletter
  April 8, 2009


Looking For Volunteers to Help Create Posters and Brochures

We are looking for some volunteers to help us create interesting posters and brochures for advertising our ILWP program. Can you help? Could be a mom or dad with some graphic arts skills, or a student in an arts program (or an interest in graphic design). We have a need to create some ads in the next few weeks. Also to create the ILWP brochure, to be printed in coming months. Please contact Deanna at INFO@titanswaterpolo.ca or 613-741-1224 if you are able to help.


Titans at the 16&U Boys Ontario Provincials, London, April 3-5th, 2009

Congratulations to our two Titans boys teams competing this past weekend at the U16 Boys Provincials, coming home with Gold and Bronze medals! 

Tiger Sharks Win Bronze
Submitted by Chris Dodd and Carmelita Olivotto

The Tiger Sharks and Great White Sharks, together with their coaches Jerry and Nick, and chaperones Carmelita and Gilles had an exciting and successful tournament in Waterloo. The weekend began with a 6.5 hour bus drive in pouring rain on Friday morning. The cold, blustery and wet weather continued on the Saturday. But by Sunday the sun was brightly shining again and both Titans teams took their turns standing on the podium to receive medals at the London Aquatic Centre.

The competitors at the tournament included the two Titans teams, the York Mavericks Black and Red squads, and teams from Hamilton, Guelph, KW, and London. The tournament used a round robin format with the eight teams divided into two divisions of four. Late on Saturday afternoon, at the end of 12 regular games, the quarter finals began and a cross over competition between the two Divisions took place to decide the medalists.

The Tiger Sharks team was formed from 11 players drawn from its regular training roster, with Ben stepping in as keeper to replace injured regular keeper, Mike. In total this group of athletes scored 46 goals in six tournament games. All members of the team scored including the keeper who had opportunities to play outside the net. The team’s tournament success was a solid, collective effort with contributions made by all the athletes on the team.

The Tiger Sharks’ first game took place Friday night at 7 pm against the team from KW Inferno. Despite the name the Inferno was not fired up to win. The Tiger Sharks won handily with a score of 13-to-2 and were able to finish the long day on a positive note. The top Tiger Sharks point getter in the game was Simon with five goals.

Play resumed early Saturday morning with a game at 8:15 against the London Eclipse. It was the first of three games played by the Tiger Sharks that day. The play was relatively equal in the first and second periods but the Tiger Sharks surged in the third period which ended with a score of 12-to-4. Three more goals in the fourth period enabled the Titans to eclipse the competition with a 15-to-4 victory. During this game seven of the Titans scored points, with Max, Benson and Andrew each slamming three goals into the net.

The second game on Saturday was played against the York Maverick’s “Black” team. This game was a tough one. There were numerous shots made by the Titans but the opposition keeper blocked everything thrown at him. At the end of play the score was Titans 1 and York 17. The single point scored by the Tiger Sharks was made by Ben the goalie, playing out for the final quarter. The Maverick’s “Black” moved on to play in the final game of the tournament against the Great White Sharks and eventually won the silver medal.

The Tiger Sharks third game on Saturday was a Quarter Final against the York Maverick’s “Red”. The outcome of the game against the York Red team had a slightly different outcome. The Titans finished on top with a score of 12-to-3. David, Benson, and Max were the high point earners for the team, each contributing two goals a piece.

After this third and final game on Saturday the Tiger Sharks were pretty tired. So it was back to the hotel for a pizza dinner and rest. Next door to the Econo Lodge hotel where the team stayed, a London dance troupe was performing, however, everyone resisted the local Saturday night entertainment in favour of some early shut eye. As a result the team was well rested in the morning and ready for two very tough games that day. After an early wake up call and a nutritious buffet breakfast provided by Carmelita it was back to the aquatic centre for a team meeting and a warm-up for the game that started at 9:20.

The first game Sunday had the Tiger Sharks facing off against their brother team, the Great White Sharks. The Tiger Sharks came out strong and gamely battled on but the Great White Sharks established an early lead and which they steadily expanded. The final score was 12-to-2 in favour of the Great Whites. Simon scored both goals for the Tiger Sharks. The Great Whites went on to finish the weekend as the tournament’s only undefeated team and the gold medalists.

The final game for the Tiger Sharks, and their sixth of the tournament, was against the Hamilton Aquatic. It was the game to determine the Bronze medal winners so both teams played all out to win. The low score indicates that the two teams were evenly matched. But the strong defensive strategy and determination of the Tiger Sharks made the difference in the game. In the opening period the first point for the Titans was scored by Jesse. It was followed by more goals in quick succession by Max, Jacob, and Andrew. The first period ended with the Titans leading 4-to-2 and this score was unchanged after the second tough period of play. At the mid-point of the third period Hamilton popped in their third goal but Jesse quickly matched it with his second goal of the game allowing the Titans to maintain a slight lead with a score of 5-to-3. Neither team could relax with such a close score going into the final period of the Bronze medal round. The play in the final period continued to be vigorous, tense, and exciting. Hamilton scored a fourth goal but Simon responded with another hard fought point for the Titans. When the final buzzer sounded the Titans were victorious with a final score of 6-to-4. The Tiger Sharks earned their Bronze medal with a lot of determination and gritty play. Congratulations Tiger Sharks, you made a weekend trip to London well worth it!


Tiger Sharks Team Meeting



Now that’s team spirit!



Tiger Sharks: 16U Boys Provincial Bronze Medalists



16&U Great White Sharks Team Win Gold
Submitted by Christine Taschereau

This past weekend the U16 version of the Great White Sharks proved what kind of TITANS they are. I can tell you that they are true TITANS; full of heart, determination and willpower.

In some ways it’s amazing that this team even made it to the U16 Ontario Provincial Championship. It took the determination, pleading and petitioning of some players to convince Coach Jerry and then the club to even consider their potential eligibility to play. It then took Jerry’s negotiation skills with the club and a few families to get a team of 8 TITANS to agree to play in this tournament.

I am sure that during the long bus ride to London coach Jerry was asking himself – What was he thinking when he agreed to coach the GWS at this tournament? But once the first whistle blew it became very clear the U16 GWS came to win the championship. All the players stepped up as a team, made up of 8 crucial, essential and contributing players. Alec was in charge of swim-offs, Ogi took the lead, scoring on the first drive and Ben played in nets. Dusan, Boris and Aleks, the young Academy players, showed incredible courage facing many opponents who were physically larger, more experienced and more aggressive then they were. It is only with the help of Rodrigo and Owen that this team effort resulted in an 18-2 win, in the first game against Hamilton.

Their stomach full of pizza the GWS had a good night’s rest before their late start against York (Red) on Saturday. Initially, it was thought that this game would be more of a challenge but with 5 goals in both the first and second quarters it became apparent that the GWS were going to dominate the York team, and so they did in this confidence building 16-0 win.

After a filling buffet lunch, where seafood and fried food were forbidden, the GWS faced a young and inexperienced Guelph team. Ben started in nets but, with the score 10-1 by the end of the first quarter coach Jerry gave Boris the opportunity to play in nets. The team assisted Boris by giving Guelph few opportunities to score. Ben even got the chance to play out. This 20-2 win ended moments after Aleks made an amazing steal and got a final possession of the ball.

The team had to wait until the final game Saturday was over to know who their opponent would be in the semi-finals.  As a result of their own hard work and determination it was the Tiger Sharks that made it to the semi-finals against the GWS.

As a parent I never look forward to these Titan – Titan match-ups, as much as you want one team to win you hate seeing the other team lose. The TS fought valiantly but were unable to prevent the GWS winning by 13-2. Lefty Simon, of the TS, showed great talent and was the only TS scorer for the game.

Owen started off the scoring off in the gold medal game against York (Black). Ninja goalie Ben stopped all sorts of shots, even a 5 meter penalty shot. To the shock of York’s coach the GWS were leading 3-0 by the end of the second quarter. The stress of the game was started to affect the GWS’ concentration and suddenly York tied the game in the third quarter. Coach Jerry was able to refocus the team and by the end of the third quarter the GWS were once again ahead. Two more goals for the GWS, against one for York ensured a 7-4 win and most deserved gold medal.

Congratulations to the Tiger Sharks for the Bronze medal win and to Dusan, Ogi, Rodrigo, Alec and Ben for being named to the All-Star teams and to Alec and Ben for being named MVP and MVG respectively.

Thanks again to coaches Jerry and Nick for their guidance, direction and inspiration, and to Vicki and Carmelita for their assistance in organizing both teams’ participation in this tournament.

I hope all the players know they are TITANS!!!

       
GWS Teamwork



16U Boys Gold Medal Provincial Championship Team


Newsletter Submissions

If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter, please send your submission to Sue Sidebottom at news@titanswaterpolo.ca .  I depend on the readers to submit articles to keep club members up to date with water polo news!   Photos from tournaments or other club events are always welcome.  Any submissions received before noon on Wednesday will go out with that week's news.