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1 6 stouffville suntribune thursday june 14 2007 arrive alive please dont drink and drive this message brought to you as a cominunityservice of the economist suntribune all year long were committed to building strong communities from volunteering and fundraising to opening new community branches were involved in a wide range of activities that help keep our communities vital well be celebrating communities first week from june 18 to 24 throughout the week well be hosting dozens of local events wed like you to join us at your local rbc branch so together we can celebrate the communities where we work and live celebrate with us at your local rbc branch on june 22 registered triderairu of royal bank of canada rbc and royal bank are registered trademarks of royal bank of canada cassie sparks victory in internationa ball hockey stouffville resident on goldmedal canadian team by mike hayakawa staff writer assie sparks has only been playing competitive ball hock ey for three years r while the 19yearold stouffville residenthas enjoyed playing in the oshawa ball hockey asso ciation she recently parlayed her skills to a grander scale she was one of 24 players on team canada that recently went to ratingen germany to compete in the womens world ball hockey championships playing forward sparks compiled two goals and three assists as canada went undefeated throughout the tournament that was climaxed with a 20 win over slovakia in the final it sure feels good to win the gold it was pretty exciting she said upon returning to her stouffville residence tuesday during the sixteam tournament which also included entries from the united states czech republic germany and austria sparks felt canadas success stemmed from several factors we picked a really good team every one on the team was in great physical condition a lot of the girls played ice hockey but we also had a lot of girls who had experience in playing ball hockey on this team everyone got a lot of playing time and when we got there to germa ny we did a lot of team building since this was the first time that the girls got together and we hadnt played a game together until we got there she said debut sparks participation with team can ada marked her debut not only with a national entry but in an international event as well recently completing her second year at queens university where shes major ing in physical education and is a for ward for the golden gaels womens ice hockey team sparks said her selection to the team came after her oshawa ball hockey team played at last years nation al championships in montreal where they finished third shortly after the tournament con cluded sparks received a letter from a selection group asking her to join the national team that notification caught her offguard she acknowledged it felt a bit surreal because ive only been playing ball hockey for a couple of years she said despite being required to pay her own airfare and accommodations for the tournament the stouffville district sec ondary school graduate felt the tourna ment was everything she had expected it to be i never played against international competition before but it was different and exciting we did a lot of trading of tshirts hats and jerseys with the other teams she said