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economist suntribune sports thursday feb 28 2002 27 spartans hold court in yraa final discipline and defence key factors in spartans run to york regfan tier two senior boys basketball championship by mike hayakawa sports editor just five years ago members of this years stouffville district secondary school spartans senior boys basketball team failed to win a game in york region athletic association play now they can be called champions on tuesday the spartans capped off an unbeaten yraa season and laid claim to the yraa tier two title after defeating the visiting father michael mcgivney academy magic 5041 in their championship final trailing 101 in the early going of their contest and 125 after one quarter the spartans turned the tables with a 205 scoring spree in the second quarter to seize a 2515 halftime lead and never looked back after that through three quarters the spartans led 3728 and padded it to 4728 late in the final period tim lowrie was high scorer for the spartans with 14 points while shane timms added 10 cassidy franks nine tyler mcmaster eight and ben bellissimo five an elated spartans cocoach jim fletcher felt two key fac tors attributed to their success one was their overall discipline and second was a tenacious defence which after a shaky start held a fairly athletic magic squad iri check for the remainder of the contest the guys didnt panic when they were down 101 it was just a bit of bad luck we were a little nervous and we missed some easy shots but we knew the plays were there and we knew that we had the defence that was the big thing we played smart defence and we didnt give them the baseline the key to any game is defence leading up to tuesdays final fletcher along with cocoach steve shantz felt their team would be primed for the finale shantzie and i said we had some strong practices recently and it showed in todays game reflecting on the clubs progression since their winless sea son five years ago fletcher citedit was the players will that enabled them to reach a pinnacle on tuesday this group didnt play basketball in grade 8 and when we had them as grade 9s they didnt win a game but we kept on playing in the spring because they wanted to learn they were good athletes and good students two years ago they were southeast division semifinalists and we knew then that we had a strong team but with no basketball last year due to teacher labour problems the guys came out with vengeance this year the sense of accomplishment is unbelievable it was a good way to end the york region season added shantz in tuningup for tuesdays final the spartans took part in the mentor classic tournament in mississauga last weekend and settled for second placeafter being edged 54t52 by heart lake secondary school in the final lowrie earned the tourna ments most valuable player honours and was high scorer for the spartans with 24 points konga added 14 the spartans opened the tournament with a thrilling 5351 comefrombehind win over host mentor college lowrie led the spartans with 24 points and scored the gamewinning bas ket on a threepoint shot with just seven seconds left the spartans then faced john cabot in a semifinal game and prevailed 5649 lowrie scored 32 points for the spartans and timms added 13 although the spartans captured the yraa tier two title they dont intend to rest on their laurels they will compete in the ontario district high school championships in listowel next week the spartans will not compete in the ontario federationof staff photosjoerd witteveen a determined father michael mcgivney academy defender desmond rose attempts to block this attempted layup by stouffville district secondary schools tim lowrie foreground during tuesdays yraa senior boys tier two basketball final at stoufrville district secondary school the host spartans won the title 5 1 40 school athletic associations aaa playdowns larger schools in the region are competing for the york aaaa champi onship and berths at the ofsaa championships goodwood minor softball assn registration 2002 goodwood lions hall thursday feb 28 700 pm900 pm saturday mar 2 1000 am200 pm final registration saturday march 23 1000 am200 pm new volunteers needed contact ken white 9056492869 debbie martin 9056405086 plenty of good sports played at sdss by jim thomas correspondent all work and no play makes jack a dull boy and jill a dull girl such can not be said of students attending stouffville district secondary school the physical education program at sdss is looked on as one of the best in york region close to 500 athletes more than half the y total enrollment are involved in a sport of some kind many in two or three to oversee all yraa5 this requires a staff of six including jamie hewitt the department head sharon xn macfarlane sue leroy sandy bush steve shantz steve jimmo plus several volunteers a full line of sporting activities is available including- bas ketball volleyball field hockey football crosscountry bad minton ice hockey soccer rugby softball and track and field some students are interested only in intramural competi tion while others lean towards interschool rivalry a number play both intramural games are our strength macfarlane says while competitive theyre mostly about having fun this program comes under the wing of the schools athlet ic council in an effort to create a competitive balance athletes are divided into a junior grades 9 and 10 and senior grades 11 12 and oac categories with the exception of basketball intramural sports are co ed teachers too take part helping to break down barriers each participant pays a 2 fee funds collected cover the cost of tshirts for winning teams interschool competition is organized by hewitt under the york region athletic association there are restrictions though as all participants must meet academic and behav ioural standards to qualify moving to stoufrville from markville secondary school macfarlane wondered if the physical education program here would be comparable shes been pleasantly surprised were so fortunate when students arrive here from ele mentary feeder schools theyre well prepared she says because sdss is smaller in school population the athletic environment is excellent she explains parental support has also been tremendous macfarlane praises the efforts of the physical education staff which includes recently retired teacher jim fletcher as for herself im thrilled she says i couldnt be hap pier s progressive soccer club requires head coach looking for individualorganization with good communication skills high integrity and strong leadership qualities knowledge- of soccer in canada and internationally proper certification- minimum level iii coaching experience must be able to design house league and rep programs recruit and develop coaches players relate to both players and coaches on a physical technical and emotional level implement and impart the club coaching philosophy please mail fax or email resume to uniohvillemillikeh soccer club attention robert ortali po box 64548 4721 hwy 7 unionville on l3r 0m9 phone 905477kick 5425 fax 9054776772 email infoumsccom website wwwumsccom unionviu me m 9 m