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economist suntribune sports thursday sept 26 2002 21 staff photosjoerd witteveen born to run cross country members of the stouffville district secondary school spartans crosscountry team take to the schools track to prepare for their upcoming season which includes a meet tomorrow at markhams milne park conservation area starting at noon for high school students among those in the photograph include from far left tim dunham andrew lowrie alanna lloyd allison lloyd denise reesor carolyn tubb and jen lloyd koert s live arm earns lots of respect canadian senior team selects stouffvillite to play in pan am qualifier by jim thomas correspondent a career in fastball why not there are career hockey players career tennis players career soccer players and career golfers why not career fastball players thats what stouftvilles paul koert began asking himself following ongoing successes in team canada champi onships within a period of seven years the 23yearold hardthrowing south paw helped lead his club to four firsts one second and two fourths in november hes headed for the dominican republic where as a mem ber of canadas senior team he hopes theyll qualify for the 2003 pan am games in rio isabela santo domingo only the top five will go canada is the defending champion in 2004 hes hopeful canada will advance to the world championships in new zealand formerly of union ville koert moved with his parents to whitchurch- stouffville 13 years ago he attended ballantrae public school and stouffville district secondary school even as a student at sdss koerts pitching prowess was recognized his team won the york regionals four years paul koert stouffville native pitched this past season with a team based in amsterdam new york in a row other players he remembers included evan and brett boyd dan tardella and jody infurnari at age 19 he pitched for team canada in junior world competition finishing third behind new zealand and australia in 1997 with team ontario his team won gold the meet was held in brandon man more recently koert played with amsterdam new york in world play over the season he had a record of 16 wins five losses and 187 strikeouts his earnedrunaverage was 164 this year the world tournament was held in waterloo ont there he recorded two wins one loss with an era of 103 next year koert is headed for green bay wisconsin where he will suit up with the 51 classics in addition to the 2003 worlds koert will also participate in the american nationals in midland michigan and the canadian nationals at owen sound he holds both us and canadian citizen ships koert admits that back in grade 9 at stouffville district secondary school he never dreamed fastball would take him this far back then i didnt know fastball had so much to offer said koert whose pitches have been clocked in the low 80s but koert possesses more than speed his arsenal includes a dropball a riseball a changeup and a curve good movement and picking spots are important he says you also must study every batter get to know their strengths and weaknesses koert admits he depends greatly on his catcher i do the pitching and he does the thinking he says standing 6foot3 and weighing 225 pounds koert poses a formidable opponent to opposing batters fastball has always been a pitchers game he claims with a distance of 46 feet and a ball speed of 85 miles an hour the hitter has little time to react how long can he last as long as my arm holds up and i remain competitive he says whenever koert decides to hangs up his glove and spikes he will have a roomful of trophies plaques and medals as constant reminders of an out standing career stars settle for silver at willowdale tourney the markhamstouffville stars ban tam a girls hockey team took home the silver medal from the recent willowdale mwstoaffvffle tournament after suffering a heart breaking 10 shootout loss to the niagara falls rapids in die tide game in reaching the final the stars batded the vaughan flames to a 22 tie before being edged 10 by the rapids but the stars rebounded from that loss to blank scarborough 30 to reach the final scoring for the stars were hayley hughes nyssa kuwahara and corliss bean with one goal and one assist ashley mclellan and stephanie krucas one goal each and jordanna peroff amanda fawns bethany oeming and alexandra forsyth one assist also contributing to the stars suc cess were kelly setter brittney bince lauren chinfook jenna callaghan and jade penna goaltending duties were shared between danielle skoufranis and cassandra mcnichol persistence pays off for chubbuck stouffville resident is a latebloomer on the fastball diamond withmarkham womens team by jim thomas correspondent from benchsitter to most valuable player such is the cinderella story involving cera chubbuck a resident of stouffville the 19yearold unionville high school graduate patrolled rightfield this past season with the markham lynx in a junior womens fastball league while great during the summer schedule chubbuck proved herself outstanding in a recent twoweek tourna ment at the canadian national exhibition her team won a run nerup trophy team members received silver medals and she was voted the tournaments most valuable player i was shocked i could nt believe it said chubbuck on hearing the announcement i didnt know what id done to deserve it but the judges knew they saw her 500 bat ting average her sparkling defensive plays and a throwing arm that contin ually cut off runners at the plate at first i thought it was a joke chubbuck said then she heard her mother screaming thats my girl thats my girl she was mobbed by her teammates what a way to end a season she said it was some thing ill never forget but the heros role was something chubbuck never thought would happen for as a select in the whitchurch- stourrville minor system she spent most of the time on the bench i guess the coaches lacked faith in me she recalls but i decided to stick with it shes glad she did when the stouffville bantam team folded chubbuck was invited to try out with markham coaches there saw something in her others hadnt seen she was asked to stay she toiled this past season with the junior rep club one of two markham entries that played in the same league the markham pumas are arch rivals chubbuck says eventually defeating the lynx to win the cne tournament chubbuck has always enjoyed sports representing whitchurch highlands school in regional meets on several occasions the long jump was her specialty she also partic ipated in volleyball and basketball chubbucks early house league years were less than memorable i was horrible she recalls i was afraid of the ball how different today she will do anything to keep a ball from going through sometimes turning sure hits into rou tine outs often its a case of do or die she admits you can be a hero or an idiot at the plate chubbuck claims she doesnt possess a lot of power but always endeavours to get on base chubbuck holds markham coach al loughery in high regard hes great she says he expects everyone to do her best yet still have fun what might have sparked chubbucks interest in the sport was the 1996 summer olympics in atlanta georgia it was here where chubbuck attended the inaugural womens fastball competition it was awesome she remembers ill never forget it as for her playing future chubbuck hopes to continue it by earning a fastball scholarship and attend a university in the united states cera chubbuck stouffville resi dent played a key role in fortunes of markham lynx fastball team