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pio the tribune wednesday october 4rl989 leasing to iferve larry cotter leasing 6404541 all makes and models turnout at meeting disappoints softball league president battle for the hall photosjoerd witteveen brenda hachey wnite sweater prepares to hit the ball during a recent high school field hockey game between the stouffville district secondary school sdss spartans and gw williams of aurora the two teams battled to a pair of scoreless ties in the games played during some very chilly weather at sdss last week stouffville softball president mike davies cantake consolation in the knowledge that some volunteers are better than none however he still would have liked to see more people at the whitchurchstouffville softball associations wssa annual general meeting and executive elections thursday night at the recreation centre im always happy when we have people showing up at the meeting he said but weve got 1100 kids in the association and we had about 40 people at most here we hear complaints from parents all season but then theyre not here to help along with seeking more parents to volunteer for organiza tional jobs the meeting also elected a new wssa executive for the 1990 season davies was returned as presi dent after the only other nominee declined to stand against him last seasons vicepresident jack vankoughnet declined to stand for the job after being nominated and frank vanveen was elected to the post mary myers and cathy bennett were returned unopposed as secretary and treasurer respectively davies was hoping the meeting would also result in a large number of volunteers to help han dle the many jobs involved in running the towns softball league people did volunteer for a variety of positions but davies adults bickering over rep leagues harmful to youngsters who just want to enjoy sports stouffvilles minor hockey system does it uxbridges doesnt but many officials wish they did and while stouffvilles minor softball program does it as well i was warned there would be heated debate about it at last thursdays annual general meeting it was meshing of a towns house league sports program with its allstar or rep system the executives combine and teams representing the town at the rep level are made up of players registering at the basic signup just like the house leaguers ideally the cream of the crop of all signees are placed on the elite squads and the rest fight it out among themselves on a regular basis in house league those kids yearning for the ad vanced competition of allstar ball or hockey are given an avenue for their talents to develop while the average kids those who just want to get but on the field or on the rink for a little fun are looked after as well however in practice the ar rangement is always beset with i xt v sports notes bruce stapley problems and even bitterness especially when you consider there are never enough ball diamonds or arenas to provide enough playing time to keep everybody happy so what you end up with is the old argument that centres around whether the talented few should be given priority over the far more numerous casual athletes you often hear of how the rep teams are financed by the dollars paid to register the house leaguers the stouffville minor hockey people charge around 120160 as a basic fee with rep kids paying an additional 75100 not enough cry those who feel rep gets all the breaks along with a lot more ice time no way reply the rep peo ple saying how the parents of the rep players must pay admission to see their children play then there are the cries from the stouffville softball officials that just when they get their house league teams arranged the rep folks come along and grab a bunch of players forcing them to scramble to fill the holes and while it always seems to be the adults who make all the fuss the kids just want to play the truth of the matter is that there must be both an accessible house league program along with a welldeveloped rep system in any town worth its salt we all want to see our youngsters out there in the game with their peers playing a fun hockey or baseball match but we also feel a sense of pride in our own when the stouffville squirts and mites rep softball teams capture provincial titles as for playing time it does pre sent a difficult quandary for the hockey folks due to the limita tions of having only one arena in towns like stouffville or uxbridge but i have no sympathy for the ball people who claim they need more diamonds yet refuse to schedule games on weekends when the majority of people would find it easier to get out to the diamond instead we have only the odd tournament on weekends which gives diamond time to players who live for the most part out side the towns boundaries and theres even room for more imagination in the hockey system how many people realize that local school gymnasiums which are readily available after school hours make great prac tice areas for minor hockey teams maybe we would all be a lot far ther ahead if the energy that went into bickering was used to come up with imaginative efforts towards peaceful coexistence said he had hoped the numbers would be larger however he said the associa tion had more volunteers after the meeting than they did at the same point last season a number of other items were also discussed during what was a sometimes stormy threehour meeting some of the problems which younger umpires faced from coaches and parents was of par ticular concern to those at the meeting being an umpire is the most thankless job in the world and we should be thankful we even have someone to do it said former wssa president eldon wagg after the recent seasonending tournament in stouffville one umpire actually had his tires the wssa voted at thursdays meeting to offer the umpire an apology and reimburse him for the cost of replacing the tires nobody should have to take that kind of abuse said vankoughnet without um pires we wont be playing other items discussed included creating more rep teams from the house league ranks various forms of fund raising and whether a dress code should be enforced on the field in an effort to avoid having young players walking the streets selling chocolate bars or other items to raise money the wssa has decided to increase registration fees 5 across the board for next season acton traded keith actons journey through the national hockey league has found him back in canada the stouffville resident who played for the 1988 stanley cup winning edmon- ton oilers was traded to the winnipeg jets by the philadelphia flyers last thursday the 31yearold centre may be in for yet another move however according to his father gerry acton the elder acton told the tribune sunday that keith- had been told to stay put for the while by the jets and pot to join their training camp f its hard to say right now just whatfs happening- said mr acton sr we dont reate ly know anything at this tune acton started his careeri with the montreal cariaj diens then was traded tothej minnesota north stars before joining edmonton he finished last season with the flyersugbbbwi i