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Ottawa Titans Water Polo Weekly Newsletter
  May 21, 2009


Deadline to Purchase Titans Annual Awards Banquet Tickets is May 25th

Don't miss getting your tickets for the June 4th Awards Banquet from your team manager! ($25 per person, cheques only please.)  The deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, May 25th.  No tickets will be available at the door.

Any general queries about the banquet can be made to Banquet Chair Bev Davis, at Beverly.davis1@gmail.com or 613-730-6357.


Titans Jessica Gaudreault - CJOH's Athlete of the Week

Congratulations to Jessica Gaudreault who will be featured as CJOH's athlete of the week!  The CJOH film crew was at the pool Monday shooting some footage of Jessica making some great saves, and said it should be on television either today or next Thursday.  Congrats Jess!  You make us proud!


Titans James Bickerton Receives Global Citizenship Award

As a club, we are certainly proud of our athletes in and out of the water.  Besides the tremendous time and dedication the athletes devote to water polo, many of our athletes are excelling in many other areas, including giving of themselves to our global community.

As reported last week, James Bickerton, along with his class at Glebe Collegiate, received the Global Citizenship award given out at the Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa (CAYFO) – Spirit of the Capital Youth Awards on May 11.  We thought we would share a few more details of the charity and the award they received.

CAYFO is an Ottawa based charity dedicated to the promotion and advancement of children and youth in our community. The annual Spirit of the Capital Youth Awards, now in its 12th year, is the largest event of its kind in Canada – organized entirely by youth, for youth.

This year, the Global Citizenship award was awarded to the Glebe Goes Global (GGG) Project from Glebe Collegiate Institute. GGG is a unique, experiential, two-credit learning experience that focuses on global issues, volunteerism, leadership and Spanish. In April, James travelled to Ecuador with his classmates and teachers – living, working, teaching and playing with the local people in a rural community along the coast in Manabi. This year, the class raised $10 000 which will be used to sponsor four local students to attend high school, pay for a teacher’s salary for the year ($150/month), buy materials to construct a brick fence around the school yard, renovate school washrooms and build desks and chairs for school children. In some rural areas in Ecuador, approximately 10% of students attend high school. Living with a number of host families provided each of the students with a memorable and authentic experience and an opportunity to help to make a real difference not only within their ‘host’ families but within the larger community, as well. More importantly, the class returned with a greater awareness of a bigger picture and a greater appreciation of standards of living. Already, James is talking about when he will return to this beautiful country and its people.


18U Men’s and Women’s National Club Water Polo Championships, May 15-18th, Winnipeg

Titans Piranhas
Submitted by Penny Stein

The Ottawa Piranhas (a team of 18 girls) travelled to Winnipeg for the 2009 18U Men’s and Women’s National Club Water Polo Championships on May 15-18th and came home with a strong 5th place finish – behind DDO, Pacific Storm, Calgary Renegades Gold and CAMO.
  
The games varied in intensity as the weekend progressed resulting in some great victories and some tough losses.  The tournament started with a win over the Winnipeg Neptunes (10-4) and Fraser Valley (7-5).  After a loss to Calgary Renegades Gold (4-7), the Piranhas had a nail-biter of a game against CAMO that went into overtime, resulting in a loss with a score of 6-8.  After a win over Calgary Renegades Black (11-3), the team earned their 5th place finish with an exciting win over Winnipeg Bushido of 11-8. 

The girls showed tremendous camaraderie and team spirit during their own games, as well as finding creative ways to motivate the Great White Sharks during their game against Pacific Storm.

Piranhas cheer on the Great White Sharks (and team member Rodrigo :)


The team played each game with grit and determination, with Nathalie Gallant, Danielle Hirsh, Stéphanie Le Saux-Farmer, Evie Marshall and Rebekka Steenkamer earning game stars throughout the weekend.  Rebekka was also named to the All Star Team.

Not only did this tournament cap off the end of a successful season for the 18U girls; it was also an opportunity for the team to congratulate their six graduating teammates – Annie Chinneck, Emily Hodgson, Stéphanie Le Saux-Farmer, Evie Marshall, Gillian Massel & Rachel Stein – who have been terrific athletes, role models and friends throughout their many years with the Titans.

Congratulations to our coaches, Celso Rojas and Adrian Steenkamer, and all our athletes for an exciting weekend of water polo!


Titans Great White Sharks
Submitted by Christine Taschereau

On a sunny but blustery Thursday last week the Great White Sharks arrived in Winnipeg for the U18 National Championship. The trip had been uneventful but with energy levels high it was decided to expend some of that energy by walking from the hotel to the pool. Not a bad walk but also not the greatest, it was cold, spring definitely comes late to Winnipeg. The Pan Am pool is an odd concrete bunker facility built for the 1967 Pan Am games held in Winnipeg. The guys were not particularly impressed with the pool and used the time to spy on York and Pacific Storm who were practicing manoeuvres in the water.

On the way back to the hotel the players needed to stop and refuel. Luckily there was an “All you can eat Riblet fest” on (riblets are baby back ribs). The players attempted to bankrupt the restaurant but after a heroic effort by 6 players eating 7 racks each with 6 ribs the restaurant won. Amazingly they still had room for dessert and jointly attacked a chocolate lava dessert that vanished in about 30 seconds.

The GWS’ first tournament game, Friday morning, was against the Calgary U16 team. It was a good warm up game but a 26-1 match is never very interesting to watch. Later in the day, the team went back to the pool to watch the York – Fraser Valley game. Coach Nick videotaped the game for the team’s review and analysis later that night.

On the way back to the hotel after supper, we saw blowing snow; spring was more than a little late in Winnipeg the wind seemed to be coming from the north pole.

After scraping frost off the windshield the next morning, the GWS made it to the pool for their 7:15 am game against Fraser Valley. The hope of revenge for last year’s U16 gold medal loss to Fraser Valley had the GWS pumped. The team’s determination made this game one of the best ones to watch. At the end of each of the first three quarters the teams were tied. Early in the fourth quarter John scored the go ahead point and the GWS never let Fraser Valley regain control of the game. It was a great win.

All the exertion that went into the Fraser Valley game may be why the GWS had such trouble with York later that same morning. Luke won the first swim-off but York was in control of each quarter. The 14-4 defeat is not reflective of the effort the GWS made. Lyle was rewarded with the game’s third star.

The GWS, with the two wins, ended up second in their division. Their quarter-final game was against Division B first place winners, CAMO - tough draw and it was another early morning game. Luke won the swim-off and tried to keep the heat on but CAMO was simply too strong and won 17-7. For his efforts Luke was awarded the game’s third star.

With losses against York and CAMO, the GWS were now excluded from the medal round and would have to settle for fifth to eighth place. Determined not to be eighth, the GWS were on fire for their late Sunday night game against Pacific Storm. John scored in the first 20 seconds. The Titans Piranhas cheered on “Holy Mollie what a goalie” Ben. It took Storm until the third quarter to get on the scoreboard but they really couldn’t catch up and lost 15-3. Happy with the win and full on late night pizza the GWS were allowed a well deserved sleep-in Monday morning.

The final GWS game of the tournament was against Scarborough for fifth spot. Arriving at the pool early to cheer on the Piranhas who were also in a battle for fifth, the GWS were a little jittery Scarborough had finished ahead of the GWS at the provincial level. No one wanted a repeat of that experience.

Scarborough was ahead 4-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter the GWS were able to score 4 times but their opponents also scored twice. At the end of the third quarter, with Coach Jerry nervous, the game was tied at 8 all. Ogi scored the go ahead goal in the fourth and John, Luke and, in the last minute of the game, Rodrigo ensured the win. Great way to finish the tournament.

To celebrate Boris, with the encouragement of his team mates, proved that even without a medal he was a force to be contended with. He devoured some 3 pounds of food for lunch. He is now memorialized on the “Wall of Fame” at the Muddy Waters restaurant at the Forks in Winnipeg. Check it out.

Our return trip was less eventful than our trip to Winnipeg, it was cancelled! Luckily turning bad into good, the team was put up for the night in a great airport hotel and the team, coaches included, amused themselves on the waterslide, in the hot tub and gym.

It was fun being with the team for this tournament. It was great being the team manager this year. Thank you Coaches Jerry and Nick for pulling this team together and congratulations to John Conway who was named to the all-star team for his final tournament with the Titans. Good Luck next season in Calgary John.

Boris have you had anything to eat yet?


Teamwork!


Great White Sharks refuel


Great White Sharks team spirit!


Gerry supervises team activity



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.