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SPORTS Editor: Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson@haltonsearch.com W E D N E S D A Y , A I C .U S T 7 . 2 ( X) 2 · Page* l)l By Norm Nelson BEAVER S P O R T S EDITOR larnm wm Senate® IOr fm lO StkffllomcS ® Cm m W *305> CURRENT POWER MACHINERY INC, (2 block east of Southdown ,, Q 0 0 A O M Road in Clarkson)________ % Q L L 9 ^L\ JfSW 1661 Lakeshore Rd. W. Mississauga National badminton champ turns to body building, finishes in second place at Musdemania competition No doubt Jennifer Aziz would have won the Grand Masters category at the popular M usdem ania competition held over the July 19/20 weekend -- but there were no other competitors in her 50-plus age class. "So I'm always having to compete against the youngsters -- 40-year-olds and 42-year-olds," chuckled Aziz. Still, she still managed to add another trophy to her creaking trophy case, settling for second place in the 40-plus division. That's quite an accomplishment for the married Oakville mother of four grown children (three daughters and one son, all between the ages of 20-24) who went into the gym at the begin ning of last year simply to fulfill a res olution to look good on her 50th birth day. Also earlier this year, she won a national badminton title, winning the over-45 doubles crown with her sister Sally Dakin while finishing second in over-50 singles. But more on the badminton later in the article. "Three months before I turned 50 my big goal was to look good at 50, so I went in determined more than ever that I was going to make a difference -- and I did," she said. By her birthday she had dropped 30 pounds. Instead of pushing 180, she was pushing 150 pounds. And she didn't stop working out. "I was going to maintain this new life style, for sure. It's not something you do, meet a goal, and then go back to your old eating habits and don't train." She continued to train and her train er kept floating the idea of body build ing. "He put the idea in my head. And, of course I'm saying to him, there's no way I'm putting on a little dinky posing suit and standing up on a stage, on TSN, no less." They say a women's prerogative is to change her mind, and in May, there she was, in a two-piece bathing suit for the first time in her life. "I said to him (the trainer), okay I'll do this, and the reason I did it was I was very interested in seeing, basically, what my body could be like if I did exactly what my trainer said. "If I ate exactly what he said, if I trained exactly like he said. It was more like an experiment." At last year's M usdemania, she came third, and then she did one in October and finished second. For last year's M usdemania, she was pushing it, to be ready. From January to her April birthday she had dropped 30 pounds. By the time M usdem ania rolled around in July she had dropped another 20 pounds -- for 50 pounds in total -- to come in at around the 130 pound range. Her body fat had followed a similar downward spiral from 38 to 16 per cent. The proper range for women, she said, is 20-25 per cent. For the October competition, she lost a few more pounds getting per ilously close to 120 pounds, which they actually didn't want. "It was too light," she said. For last month's competition, she was 125 pounds on competition day. So her weight had actually risen slightly from the October competition. What had kept dropping though, fueled by an entire year o f dedicated training, was her body fat ratio which came in at about 12 per cent. This definitely isn't a story about a life-long couch potato, transformed into a body building contestant. Sports has always been important to Aziz and her family. Her father, Sid Dakin, is a renowned sailor, finishing in second place at Canada's 1976 Olympic trials, just missing out on an Olympic berth. He is a six-time world champion in the Shark (non-Olympic) class. Her husband, Julian, is also an avid sailor, competing, in many prestigious international races. In fact the two were slated to race in the Shark World Sailing Championships out of Port Credit, this past weekend. Her son, C onnolly, has com peted in the world youth sailing championships in Australia (as recounted in the Oakville Beaver). Connolly has sailed in the Shark World's with his father and grandfather but couldn't do it this year because he is teaching sailing in Bermuda. Jennifer was a national badminton champion in her heyday in the early 70s, making it to the world (AllEngland) championships on two occa sions. She's also a phys ed teacher at Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School in Mississauga. Her training regimen for the most of the past year consisted of getting up at 5:30 a.m. for a half hour of cardio. Then on to the school in time to coach the badminton team practice at 6:50 a.m. After school, she did about an hour of weights followed by 20 minutes of cardio. And that's not to mention, plenty of badminton along with squash and racquetball. Along with this very active lifestyle is a healthy diet which, she said, her family loves. Well, they love it, that is, until 12 weeks out from competition when she kicks off a special diet designed to get her body in competition shape. For this pasi complntiOti, ahe explains the regimen: "I started my mornings, actually it was quite a big breakfast, with l/3rd cup of oatmeal and a carton of breakfree eggs -- they're low in cholesterol and low in fat. · "Four hours later I would have half a cup of rice and three ounces of lean ground beef. Yummy, yummy. No salt. Just that. That would be my lunch. "And at 3 p.m. I would have 2/3rds of a can of tuna fish. "And then after my workout I would have a protein shake and a carb drink. "And then about 8:30 at night, for dinner, I would have 3 ounces of chicken or fish and all the salad I want ed. Just green green salad. And that's all I lived on for 12 weeks. "I could have dressing and I could have mayo with the tuna. Just a bit though. Cause you do need some fat in your diet." Last year, though, was even tougher since she only had a six-week lead-in time and was still losing weight. "Last year, I remember all I lived on was tuna fish. I think I had it four times a day. I just had tuna fish. And three hours later tuna fish ... "This time, I was training all winter (See 'Aziz' page D3) Photos Special to the Beaver J e n n ife r A ziz h as a h uge collection of b a d m in to n tro p h ies, a n d now she can s ta r t a d d in g body b u ild in g tro p h ie s, as well. S h e 's p ic tu re d in co m p etitio n at M u s d e m a n ia (left), ju s t a fte r th e com p e titio n (top rig h t) a n d a t h e r 24hr. F am ily F itn ess gym a t W in sto n P a rk a n d Q EW . Gold and silver for Oakville body builders By Norm Nelson BEAVER S P O R T S EDITOR Their sport is their body. And like most sports, they have to take it to extremes to succeed. Oakville body builders Paul Rudolph and Doug Derma started training together in the past year and it paid off over the July 20/21 weekend as they both hit the podium in their respective competitions. Derma, an Oakville resident for more than a decade, competed in the provincial championships in London, winning the open lightweight category. He finished fourth in the masters division (over 40), behind three heavyweights. "I was more than happy," he said. "It was very competitive." His top three finish earned him a berth into the national championships in Toronto in September for which he is continuing to train for. `T o tell you the truth, my goal was just to get to the provincials and place in the top three or four. "After winning it, getting to the nationals is beyond my expectations. Just to compete there will be more than enough for me." Derma, who is married with an eight-year-old son, has been involved in body building for most of his adult life. He even competed previously for a while in his mid-twenties, but gave up competition to devote more time to his family and job. He's a computer technician with a Toronto school board. A few years ago, however, he decided to com pete again. His return was a triumph, winning a local com petition in 1999 in Mississauga. His top-three finish qualified him for regional competition. He was in no hurry, though, and spent 2000 in training. It paid off, as he had a very good year in 2001. winning both masters and open lightweight divi sions at a couple of competitions, including a regional one, which qualified him for last week's provincial's. "I love going to the gym. 1 love training," he elaborated. "Especially as you get older, you don't feel the aging process. "I can do the same things, if not more, than when I was 18." For Paul Rudolph, a White Oaks Secondary School grad, he couldn't have asked for a better start to his competitive career, earning the silver medal at the M usdem ania competition in Toronto in the entry level (novice) division. "When they called me for second (place). I near- Top Photo by Barrie Erskine/ Bottom photo special to the Beaver Paul R udolph (left in both photos) and Doug D erm a a re seen a few days a fte r th eir com petition (top photo) and ju s t before (bottom photo). ly leapt over everyone on stage to get the trophy. I was pretty overjoyed. "People said I could do it but I didn't believe it until it actually happened." Rudolph will now take stock and start setting goals, likely trying to follow the same route as Derma, in trying to qualify for regional, provincial and then national amateur competition. A 31 -year-old cabinet maker in Oakville, Rudolph is a recent convert to the sport. His back ground was in endurance sports like triathlons and marathons. "I was always interested in body building but I could never put size on when I was doing endurance sports because it was two different mus cle types." (See 'Oakville body builders' page D3) <") t'J