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-Milton boxer hopes to show strongly at Ringside tourney t>restigious event set to start tomorrow Matt Hart Jr. headed south yestcrday. Hopefully bis in-ring prucess followed suit. Milton's 26-year-old welterweigbî, and ouly known active boxer, bas tumed back juît about every opponent over tbe past two years. He's banking on that dominance lu transcend national boundaries at thie weck's Ainerican Ringsidc Toumainent in Kansas City, Missouri. Needlcss to say. the weck-long shuwcase wbicb begins îomorrow- prescrnts a stift challenge fur the aspiring prof essional pngilist. And stamina cuuld be an even bi g- ger rcqntremcnt thian skill this ime aronnd. wiîh each competitur eligible for up to tive ftgbts - dcpending on tbcir success. "Tbis is definitely the biggesî test ut mv amateur carcer," notcd Hart Jr..,seho's cur rcntly riding a tbree-ight win strcak and is 13-2 under the tutelage ut' Brainalea Boxing Clubs Billy Martin. The local figbter said be's been training particularly bard for this cross-border event and hopes that a solid sbowing will be a springbuard lu provincial championship success this faîl in Windsor. A top placing there could equal a spot on the national teain. wbich would be a cruwning jewcl in his amateur career. But first Hart Jr. bias lu shine down south. And to do that- he strcssed- siinplv means staying the course. He rcmarked. "Ive jnst gut tu kecp doing wbat I base -being fast and busy in there. I've guI to sîcp it np Io another lesc!. File photo by GRAHAM PAINE Ultimately i's unly Matt Hart that's going Matt Hart Jr. is eager to compete at this week's Ringside to beat iinself." Tournament in Kansas City. The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, Augual 26, 2003-21 Jr. Sox outdistanced Shortstaffed lineup and tate errors too much to overcome By STEVE LeBLANO The Champion Froin feast lu famine. The Junior Red Sox captured basi- cally every cbampionship available lu thein last year. But tbis suinier - which with an equally-talenîed roster held juet as much promise - al four tille defense bids felI heartbreakingly short. At Clarkson Park Salurday ater- noon, Milton had une remaining shot at securing some hardware witb a une-gaine. winner-takes-all clash with tbe Mississauga North Bengals for COBA gold. Missîng several Key players- who were either injured or had retumed lu, univcrsity - tbe Red Sox were nu doubt the underdogs for the season-cuding sbuwdown. Third-inning surge Nes'ertbeless, hupes of salvaging the year witb a league playoff victo- ry looked bright when the Roxul Red Sox bit aruund in the buttoin of the third to, take a 5-4 lead. However, cracks in their defensive armour would soun show tbrougb and prove cosîly. Misîaking the fifth-inning ont total lu be threc instead of tbe actual two, catcher Mike Austen alowed a Bengal base-runner to take third and eventually score the tyng rmn on an impressive home-plate steal. Meanwhile, Nate Perront - patroling third base for the first uime titis season - made two crucial en-ors after some mas- terful fielding earlier ou. Ris second miscue brought home the winning mun. Mississauga North would score twice more and prevail 8-5. Quiet down the streteit A lack of clutcb hitting down the eîreîch was juet as big a stumblmng block lu viclory. as the Red Sox managcd just îwo singles - botb by Perrot through tbe final four frames. Overaîl Milton bad eighî bits on the day- the biggesî of whicb was a bases- clearing double by Mike Volpe, who pitcbcd the last onc-and-two-îbird innings. Other RBI wcre recorded by Evan Jeans and Jef MacLeud, wbile us wcrc scured by Austen, MacLeod, Evan Jeans, Jordan Jeans and Conan O'Brien. Starter Mike Grabauskas took the bs on the mound. Other tilles Miltun's juniors failed tu defend ibis summer include the COBA regular season and Ontario 'C' champi- onsbips, as well as the Wallaceburg Toumament crown. Meanwhile. Milton's Senior Red Sox will wrap np their season Ibis weekend at the Ontario 'B' championships in Cortwright. Steve LeBlanc van be reac-hed ut sie- hlainiEa'haltonsea-cýh.-ot I got bowled over - literally - on local greens this summer Looks as if I found yet another ting that I suck aI. I was pretly sure that lawn bowling was goiug lu break my treak, but ites a litîle more cumpli- cated than tl looks. Saine as everything cIsc. Mike Comba was rny buet at the Milton Lawn Bowling Club last week to help me learu about the club. leain bow to play. and then acîually play in a gaine. Donna Coulter iuvited me originally, then con- veuîeuîly ducked ont of town whcn I agreed. -I guess yo're stuck witb me," said Mike. Il would have been more accurate bad I said that. Mike sbowed me the ropes and I didn't tbink il was too diffienît. Thuse balle curve on their own, thougb, wbicb I didu't kuow. There are îwo side to the baIl, and the 'litîle part' wbicb l'il cal it becanse 1 forget the actual naine, bas to go on the inside in order for it tu curve inward. Otherwisc it gues ont and right off the 'playiug field' which F'il caîl it becanse I for- get the actual naine. "A lot of peuple forget which way lu hold it at firet." bc advised. Not me Mike. l'm nu idiot, and 1 catch on quickly. The Oirsi baIl I tbrew in the gaine, I held the wroug way and away il weut. Oh, okay, dub, l've leamned my leseon. The second baIl, the eamc tbing. Okay. eo l'u like a lawn bowling dunce. Appareutly, wben you do that, yuu're sup- posed lu buy evcryone a drink afterwarde, but l'd be broke before long, su I iguorcd that ruIe. Later, aI leasi une ot the halls I ibrese seent rîghî itt the ncxî playing field and knucked une uf their balle. The Milton Lawu Bowling Club was buili in 1909, ai preîîy mnch the saine location that il's ai now on Commercial Street. At that unme, it was a sport for the upper dlase. You eau sec how much that's chauged. if lin playiug. Lawn bowling bas a loi of the saine elemenîs as curling. We played wîth tbree players lu a teain. but they eau play with four. two. or une. Mike was the skip, Linda was the vice. and I was the lead. We were up againet Tina. Betty and Ray. Tbey just pick the naines in a draw su that playere bave différent teammates each ime. Each end starts when the lead froin the teain that scured muet recenîly throws a litîle white baIl called a jack down to the other end. Then, the skip centres it righl in the middle. You don't have lu wear wbites, ibuse are reserved for toumnamenîs. and even there i bas relaxed some. Our teain was up 6-0 afber îwu ends. Nu thanke lu me. AIl the balle I îhrew were oui of play vety quîckly. Mike had some excellent ehoîs lu gel us the pointe. Betty was very belpful lu me, even thougb se wae un the upposiug teain. Every lime I did someîbiug wrong, even if 1 did it 10 limes in a row, sbe'd still be euconragiug and giviug me pointers. Lawn bowliug bas a reputation of beiug a sport for older peuple. The average age ai the club was 69 a couple years ago. but now il's 55. Ou the left fi eld night l'm playing. I 2-year-old Amnanda Wilton ks also playing. The youngesi member jeis 1)-ycar-old Brandon Wilton. and the oldest ik 9!-year-old Fanny Clements. There are 45 members currently in the club. Tbey work bard at attracîing young bowlers îhrough schools and camps, part of the reason being that they know if tbey can get them out. they'll be booked and want to continue lu play. There are toumaments and activities froin May to October at tbe club. Membership ie cbeap ai $100, $75 for new members, and $25 for the jun- iors. Even tbough oui ieain took an early 6-0 lead, we blcw it and were losing 8-6 by tbe ninth end. My only contribution had been to the otber teain. For about five ends in a row, 1 îhrew the balîs rigbt through tu tbe gunter. Pour Benty was beside berself trying tu be belpful, while at tbe saine turne probably trying to figure ont how une individual cuuld be sncb a lawn bowling idiot. But. tben something bappened. 1 becami slîghîly better tban useless and 1 actually couni cd a point for our teain. And in the tenth end 1 go another. Kind of a double miracle. 1 bad stupped tbrow ing ilito mtbe gutter or intu tbe next gaine an bad a few decent ebuts. Not Hall of Faineinate rial. mind yon. but nu longer Hall of Sbaine eitber. Anybody could show up at the club on a Monday or Tbursday and play for free, at least a couple limes until tbey decide to become a inei- ber. Betier to caîl tbe club first and gelthte infor- mation, or better yet leain wben tbey bave an insîructional nigbt. Our teain ended up winning 11 -8, and wben tl was over 1 was disappointed. I1ssanted lu keep playing. It's a fun gaine to play for any age, alîhough not thai many peuple sein tu know it. Correction A sports story in tbe August 12 Cbampion contained incurrect information. The article stated tbat Brad Mewhinney bad backstopped the bantarn Mavericks lu tbree touinent ebampionsbips Ibis sea- son, wben in fact late-season addition Jobn Grant was in net for twu of those tbree wîns. Mie Champion regrets tbis error. Ansda hoe e - - ome. - ~ HaltonSearch.com