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Oakville Aquatic Club swimmers (from left) Evan White, Gamal Assaad and Mack Darragh took a break from their university studies to train together over the holiday season. The three friends, along with OAK teammates Marni Oldershaw and Dominique Bouchard, are attempting to qualify for this year's Pan American Games in Toronto. | photo by Justin Greaves -- Special to the Beaver Team's goal is to qualify for championship round continued from p.26 the Disney tournament. Other members of the Oakville FC team are Philip Biondich, Ethan Jackson, Vishnu Rao and Jesse Henriques. Jesse is filling in for Kailas Cooper, who helped Oakville FC go undefeated at the local qualifier in Albany, N.Y., and finish third at regionals in Lehigh Valley, Pa. Kailas is unable to make the trip to Florida after the arrival of a new sibling. All seven players are products of Oakville's RVDL Soccer Academy. Oakville FC will compete in the Under-9 Invitational Division, which features a tournament-high 26 teams. Expectations for Oakville FC are tempered. The team had no experience in 3-on-3 soccer before attempting to qualify for the tournament. Some rules are different, as are the strategies. Peter Barna-Zuzic said finishing in the top two of its four-team group would make for a successful tournament for Oakville FC. The top two teams in each group move on to the championship round, while the bottom two go into the consolation. Then again, by qualifying for the competition, the team feels like it has already won. "The goal has been accomplished," Peter said, "and after the tournament, most of the families are sticking around to relax and enjoy Disney." -- Jon Kuiperij can be followed on Twitter @Beaversports Convenient, Clean, and friendly. We're oakville's best kept seCret! 27 | Friday, January 9, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Five OAK swimmers attempting to qualify for Pan Ams Five Oakville Aquatic Club members are attempting to qualify for this year's Pan Am Games. Mack Darragh, Gamal Assaad, Evan White, Marni Oldershaw and Dominique Bouchard will compete in the Pan Am swimming trials in April, an event that will determine the Canadian swim team for the Pan Am Games Toronto will host this summer. Darragh, 21, finished second in the 200-metre breaststroke at the Canadian Swimming Trials last year in Victoria, B.C., and qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships. He is currently studying at the University of Missouri. The 19-year-old Assaad is a native of Egypt who moved to Canada at a young age. He was second in the 100m butterfly at least year's national swimming trials to qualify for his first senior national team, and hopes to qualify for Pan Ams in the same event. Assaad attends McMaster University. White qualified for his first senior national team in style last year, nearly setting a new national record when he won the 200m individual medley at national trials. The 18-yearold, who attends the University of Michigan, was the youngest male on Canada's Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific teams. Oldershaw, 20, hopes to become the latest member of her family to compete in an Olympic Games, setting her sights on Rio de Janeiro 2016. Her cousin Mark won bronze in canoe two years ago in London, while her grandfather, two uncles and father were also Olympic paddlers. Selected for the junior national team at the age of 13, Oldershaw was named to the senior national team last year for the Pan Pacific Championships. The 23-year-old Bouchard joined Oakville Aquatic Club a few years ago after stops in St. Albert, Alta., Toronto, Kirkland Lake and North Bay. She qualified for senior nationals when she was 13 years old, and was a four-time All-American and school record holder during her NCAA career at the University of Missouri. Bouchard also represented Canada at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships. 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