The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

st weekender may 20 1995 pi 9 sports a winning toss stouffville district secondary schools mike schlotter lets this discus fly as he competed in the midget boys competition at the york region secondary schools athletic association championships at york univer sity on monday photasjoerd witteveen slopitch title at stake therell be 3000 up for grabs this weekend as 32 teams take to the memorial park diamonds for the 13th annual as raiders slo pitch tournament the threeday competition which was to get under way on friday will see teams coming from as far away as rochester new york to contest the first big slo pitch tournament of the 1995 sea son in stouffville there are nine stouffville area squads entered with none of the 1994 defending champions returning it will be wide open in the mens c mens d and coed d divisions in addition to the cash prizes the top four fin ishing teams in each division will qualify for the labatts provincial slowpitch championships in hamilton in september the rochester club preferred care is competing for the third consecutive year in the tourna ments mens c division teams from barrie and orangeville are also participating tournament organizers are hop ing for cooperation from the please see page 20 some suggestions for better utilization of recreational sites sport notes bruce stapley it has long perplexed this scribe that despite the chronic crunch of dimin ishing ball diamond and arena availability in town more imaginative ways havent been found to make better use of these facilities during nonpeak hours the town ball diamonds sit unused monday through thursday until 6 pm as well as friday nights and saturdays when there are no tourna ments scheduled and with the lure of cheaper facility rental out side town theres a danger that the number of those tournaments may dimin ish the arena also sits vacant for many a week day up until schools out although for some reason friday nights and week ends are seen as prime for hockey leagues but not for ball in summer the reason usually given for that phenomena is that people like to go away on weekends in summer but i would suggest that with the increase in shift work and the wonky econ omy in recent years the old fashioned weekend retreat to cottage country has become a pipe dream for most of us while the lack of pick up ball on town diamonds on summer weekday after noons would indicate the kids are quite content with what theyre getting from the local minor ball associ ation those hours could be of interest to the growing number of adult players i would be interested in hearing from adults avail able to play in an informal lunch time league similar to the current monday night mens league no umpires just an emphasis on fun and safe ty and a chance to get out and play i envision a set up where 20 someodd adults either men women coed or seniors would head down to the diamond at noon for an hour or more if possi ble there could even be a friday midafternoon slot scheduled for people who knock off early on friday during summer months all it would take is some basic organization on the part of concerned groups and the recreation depart ment it would be ideal for adults looking to add some extra recreation to their summer calendar without having to dig deep into their pockets the town would rent the diamond for 25 per ses sion or you could just take your chances on a diamond being available and pay zip with four diamonds at the town park there would always be some thing to play on as for the arena stu dents teachers and even parents from stouffville district secondary school have for years been taking full advantage of early weekday morning slots for their successful morning hockey league why couldnt this extend into the school day with the local minor hockey association working out a coop arrangement with area schools to allow the kids a chance to add to what is now less than an hour a week on the ice for many houseleague play ers if each school was given a regular time slot it could perhaps be tied in with the physical educa tion program once again it would take a few visionaries to get the thing rolling but it might be worth investigating after all it was that kind of cooperation between the school board and the town that resulted in the construction of the stouf fville community track a few years back difficult times call for creative solutions despite the current incentive which would have us add a second ice pad a pool or maybe a combination of both to the list of town recreational facilities its hard to imag ine the current time crunch disappearing from our arena anu ball dia monds especially if adults are going to continue to want to get out there and play as well as the kids as is the trend in society today i would be glad to pro vide a forum for anyone willing to take the initia tive here it worked for the commu nity track didnt it just ask julian franklin j i 1 i i have you hugged your teen today adolescence can be a mutually enjoyable tine for lam dies ind communities cto 8822081 lor more k information markhaiui youth summer hockey markham centennial arena july 5 to september 9 4th season wednesday night league saturday morning power skating senior division players born 198082 full junior division players born 198284 limited space power skating for players aged 714 also one goal tender required to register call steve macaulay at 905 6493053 markham minor hockey association would like to thank all our house league sponsors for their generous support this past season glenn and kathys no frills 2 dixongarland funeral home m m meat shops north pointe 2 pink flamingo iii inc royal lepage the shoppes of unionville prestige trophy and awards blacks photography terry tech drives ltd j f waste systems mighty ducks dr kerlow bay sports unionville iga big v pharmacies co ltd rotary club of markham softsider canada inc unionville motors ideal collision markham convenience and fine foods markham lions club motfs music pet value 8565 mccowan road house of cakes hammer construction immense contracting inc cibc west beaver creok sylvia houghton remax pronto muffler markham carson and weeks select auto collision refinishing ltd toronto dominion bank wootten way 2 markham fair pearson transport chouinard bros roofing active tires and auto centre hwy 7 soloman and balinsky weed man bank of montreal main street thrifty car rental hwy 7 markham cleaners markham district veterans assoc optimist club markville toyota sponsored itoo tom ml ii yh