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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, November 6, 2015 | 26 Sports A hero's welcome Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com "Connected to your Community" Local speed skaters eager to watch Patrick Duffy at World Cup in Toronto by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor With the International Skating Union (ISU) short-track speed-skating World Cup circuit coming to Toronto this weekend for the first time ever, Oakville native Patrick Duffy understands he'll be a focal point. What he might not fully understand, however, is exactly how big of a focal point he'll be. In a sport dominated nationally by Quebec -- nine of Canada's 10 short-track athletes at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games were from La belle province -- the 24-year-old Duffy is both a trailblazer and an inspiration to speed skaters in the area. He is the lone Ontarian on the senior national team, and his hometown club has been eagerly awaiting this rare opportunity to see him in action. "The entire Oakville club is so very proud and excited to have Patrick skate so close to his home, with and against the highest-level shorttrack speed skaters in the world. Young and older members of Patrick's home club in Oakville will be out in full force, loudly cheering him on and offering encouragement," said Oakville Speed Skating Club president Mark O'Donnell. OSSC skaters also chimed in: · "We've bought our tickets for the Toronto World Cup meet and we're hyped to see Patrick Duffy competing against the world's best! Go Patrick!" said Daniel and James Nelson. · "I think it's great how just a couple of years ago, he was skating at my level and being taught by the same coaches who teach me. And now he's skating at the World Cup," said Alex Giannotti. · "It feels great to see someone who started off like all of us, barely knowing how to skate, and getting to go see him skate at this level. It shows how hard work and determination pays off," Adam DeVellis said. · "Patrick Duffy has been a constant source of Claude Gauthier (centre), flanked by Oakville Soccer Club board member Randy Bianchin (left) and executive director Dave Harris, was this year's recipient of the OSC President's Award. | photo submitted Oakville Speed Skating Club product Patrick Duffy is the lone Ontario native on the Canadian senior short-track speed-skating team. | photo courtesy George Simpson -- ISU Short Track World Cup marketing committee inspiration for me as long as I have speed-skated. I wish him the best of luck in the World Cup. I can't wait to see him succeed," said Tom Watson. Duffy determined to enjoy experience Duffy, who opened his second World Cup season with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500-metre race last weekend in Montreal, acknowledged the pressure that is on him to perform this weekend. "It's pretty tough, I've got to be honest with you. You want to do well. But the most important thing is that I have to enjoy it. This is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime competition," said Duffy, who has six tickets reserved for his parents, brother, sister-in-law and two friends of the family, but admitted he has no idea how many past and present OSSC members might attend the event. "Part of my philosophy in training is that I have to have fun in order to do well. If I'm not having fun, things are going to go south pretty fast." Last year, Duffy claimed one individual med- al (a bronze in the 1,000m) and two relay medals (a silver and a bronze) in six World Cup competitions. At the senior national championships, he won a silver in the 1,000m and finished third overall. His final national rankings were fourth in the 500m, second in the 1,000m, sixth in the 1,500m and third overall. One of Duffy's toughest competitors at both national and World Cup events is three-time Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of SainteJulie, Que., who won 1,500m gold last year in Sochi. Duffy finished ahead of the 31-year-old Hamelin (who fell) in last weekend's 1,500m race, and said he benefits from training with the legendary teammate. "He's a monster. He just keeps on going... how many years he has left, that's hard to tell because he just keeps surprising people," Duffy said. "I think he's preparing for (the end). He understands this upcoming Olympics could be his last one in short-track. I think he's doing a good job of handling everything and he's em- bracing it a bit more, too. That's the one thing he's working towards, setting up the next generation." This weekend's World Cup meet at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence begins today (Friday) with heats. Another qualifying session will be held tomorrow morning (Saturday), followed in the afternoon by quarter-finals, semifinals and finals in 500m and 1,500m competition. Sunday will feature finals in 500m, 1,000m and relays. Duffy's individual events will be the 1,000m and 1,500m, and he's targeted podium finishes in at least one of them. But he's most eager to earn a medal in the relay, looking to atone for not being able to hold onto a Canadian lead last weekend while skating the anchor leg in the semifinals. Canada was relegated to the B final, which it then won handily. "The relay is the one I'm looking forward to the most, getting a little revenge for this past weekend," Duffy said. "To get onto the podium with those boys is going to be awesome." Soccer club recognizes top volunteers, players, coaches Oakville Soccer Club recently held its 11th annual Volunteer Recognition and Awards Ceremony at Le Dome Banquet Hall to recognize the hard work and dedication of its 900-plus volunteers and to honour its top players, coaches and officials. Dinner was followed by a formal ceremony that included remarks by OSC executive director Dave Harris and board member Randy Bianchin. Ontario Soccer Association president Ron Smale later presented OSC with the OSA's Gold Club Excellence Award, and several attendees shared their experiences as OSC volunteers. "I saw coaching as this opportunity for me to give back, a way for me to extend to these young players the knowledge, skills and values that my coaches had bestowed upon me when I was learning the game," said Larkin see Volunteers on p.27