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32 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2007 Three-peat for synchro swimmer Jennifer Knobbs secures another provincial junior title By Herb Garbutt ty to the Olympium and because the school offers a program for high-performance athletes that meets the demands of her education Familiar surroundings helped out Jennifer as well as her training and competition schedKnobbs once. Now she hopes for an opportuni- ule. Each weekday starts with a five-hour ty to have them aid her again. training session that begins at 6 a.m. On weekCompeting at her home pool, the Etobicoke ends, she dedicates seven or eight hours to Olympium, the Oakville synchro swimmer training. won the Tier 7 provincial junior title last Knobbs said it can be difficult balancing the weekend for the third year in a two -- it's tough to stay up late to row. Her victory moved her to "There's always study or finish an essay when you within one step of returning to pressure, but it's have an early morning training the nationals in Saanich, British good pressure. Some session -- but said it is worth it Columbia. That would mark a people might expect to compete in the sport she got return to the same pool where hooked on after seeing it on TV you to win, but you she won the 2003 national 15when she was seven. still have to fight to and-under championship. "I always like gymnastics, In her final year of junior com- make it happen." swimming and dance, and (synpetition, Knobbs said there was a chro) had them all combined into little stress involved in going for a Jennifer Knobbs one," she said. "It was the perfect third straight title, though it evichoice." dently didn't show in her performance. She has excelled at the sport, earning a spot "There's always pressure, but it's good pres- on the Canadian junior team two years ago. sure. I like it," she said. "Some people might She hopes to move up to the national B team expect you to win but you still have to fight to but concentrated her efforts on the junior make it happen." team this year because of the opportunity to go Knobbs led after the figure portion of the to the world junior championships in China. competition after posting a score of 75.2795, There, she helped Canada earn a fifth-place finthen put an emphatic stamp on her victory ish in September. with the highest score, 82.6667, for her rouKnobbs has competed in solo and team tine. events and, until a couple of years ago, was Though she'll still have to qualify for also active in duet. nationals at the divisional competition in "I love solo. It's fun to express yourself and March, Knobbs is looking to improve upon a have all eyes on you, but it's also fun to be a sixth-place finish at last year's nationals. She'll team member working together to achieve be adding extra hours to an already demanding something," she said. training schedule in preparation for the event. Whether it's on her own or with a team, The 17-year-old attends Silverthorn Knobbs hopes to eventually represent her Collegiate in Etobicoke because of its proximi- country at the Olympics. OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER TRIPLE GOLD: Oakville resident Jennifer Knobbs displays the hardware she has earned by winning the past three Tier 7 provincial junior synchro swimming titles. Need a goalie on short notice? New website can help It's tough to win a hockey game without a goalie, but a new website based out of Burlington wants to make sure local recreational teams never find themselves without a netminder. Meshminder.com, launched just over a week ago, hopes to bridge the gap between teams and goalies. "It's always a hassle," said Meshminder president Frank Fortino, himself a recreational player. "You leave a message but you don't hear back and you're left wondering. I thought there's got to be an easier way to do this." Since Meshminder started, the company's president Frank Fortino said, more than 60 goalies have registered. While other sites offer the same service, Fortino says what sets Meshminder apart is that it automatically matches up goalies with teams upon receiving a request. When goalies register on the site, they list criteria such as playing level, available nights and times, how far they are willing to travel and what they charge. When a team submits a request, the site automatically sends an e-mail to all the goalies that fit the criteria. They can in turn contact the team. Fortino said the system works better for goalies because they only receive requests that fit their designated criteria. "A lot of services are just a classified listing and 90 per cent of the goalies have taken their name off because they are being bombarded with calls. This filters the junk out." Within a month, Fortino said, it will be possible for players to make requests and confirm games from mobile devices. While Fortino is currently focusing his efforts on recruiting goalies, he said the site already has the capability to provide a similar service for referees, trainers or players looking for a pickup game. "Goalie rental is really just the starting point," he said. Another added feature is an arena locator with more than 45,000 arenas in its database. If you are a registered player, the site will automatically provide directions from your home to the arena. Fortino said another unique aspect to the site is that it does not charge finders fees. Though it cost between $60,000 to $70,000 to develop the software, which was created by Pd MAIN, and get the system operating, Fortino said the cost will eventually be recovered through advertising. -- Herb Garbutt, staff