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12 stouffville suntribune saturday dec 22 2007 journeys to europe britain long tradition but office itineraries growing whattodo is your team thinking of an overseas excursion but is unfamiliar with what to do tour company veterans gary mcdon nell and mike moore suggest the safest route is to use a specialist john king head coach of thevaughan panthers bantam a team that will visit northern italy from dec 27 to jan 6 said he elected to go with moores group since he used to sponsor some of the visiting european hockey teams moore brought into canada for exhibition tours king went on the recommendation of a friend who went on a tour moore organized while mcdonnell and moore recommend planning should start at least one year in advance they said any special travel com panies should provide necessities includ ing return flights tour guides accommo- dations meals and ground transportation to and from sites and games we will meet with a team rep and we will walk them through the whole process and give a power point presentation moore said moore said has a 10member staff from which one person will accompany a team and serve as a group leader the staff members are former coaches who have taken their teams overseas in addition to handling all of the arrange ments moore and mcdonnell said their companies can offer suggestions to raise money to offset costs when i coached i did two fundraisers that made lots of money mcdonnell said i liked to do things that were over the top regardless of how competitive a team is tours can be arranged to fit their requirements in terms of the calibre of opponents they will face and to create an itinerary to meet their needs each team has different wants moore saidtriple a teams want to play a lot of competitive hockey but ive got a peewee c team that wants to play four or five exhibition games and do some skiing in the swiss alps as well the current market is busy primarily due to the strength of the canadian dollar and the economy moore speculated for more information on overseas tours moore can be reached at mooresports com or 905 5136901 mcdonnell can be reached at 9056404399 christmas is time canadian hockey teams tour europe by mike hayakawa staff writer for these sporting tour groups the sights and sounds used to be secondary hockey teams often travel during christmas and while they usually travel for games today they are combining their matches with learning about other coun trys cultures tour operators say the priorities that teams have when they go overseas have changed said gary mcdonnell a stourrville resident who has orga nized overseas tours for teams since 1971 through his business sports tours international mcdonnell says the idea these days is to provide the teams with the most bang for the buck besides the friendly competi tion touring players want equal or more time in absorbing the sights sounds and tastes of other places any touring that teams did back then was a side thing he said the vaughan vipers ran a 17- day training camp including a 10game tour of italy austria and german just before this years pro vincial junior a season players used the time to bond a lot of kids tend to think everything revolves around what goes on in north america since its what they mostly see read or hear about they dont know theres another world out there vipers head coach frank car- nevale said when we went to europe we played in arenas sur rounded by mountainsthat the kids have never seen before and they discovered theres a lot of heritage in these places the stouffville clippers ban tam club would like to say the same when they head to the czech republic and austria dec 27 for a series of exhibition games and to watch the world junior hockey championships most of the players have never travelled outside north amer ica clippers head coach don easter said for some this trip represents a onceinalifetime opportunity to see other parts of staff file photosjoerd witteveen the stouffville clippers bantam teams leaves dec 27 for the czech republic and austria including seeing part of the world junior hockey championships the stouffville district secondary school rugby team is going to wales and england in march travel for sports teams is up and they want to to more than play the world and experience other cultures firsthand the stouftville district second ary school spartans senior boys rugby team will tour england and wales march 7 to 19 for spartans coach jamie hewitt it is a chance for his team to learn from some of the best the way rugby is played in england and wales is like the way canadians play hockey he said when our teams go there their coaches will run some of our practices it will be a unique way for our kids to learn a different culture and to make new friends along with doing some sightsee ing to a lot of historic places other teams such as the vaughan panthers bantam a hockey club hope their excursion to northern italy dec 27 to jan 6 will build character most players have played for head coach john king for the last six years its about teaching kids goal setting and making them a better person king said the trip will be something they wont forget and they can share with their families the biggest obstacle is cost the price was 3000 per person for the vipers to travel to europe in the fall having made 18 overseas trips with other junior a clubs car- nevale handled all arrangements often using contacts he made dur ing other trips youth and high school teams attempt to offset all or a good seg ment of their costs by fundraising the vaughan panthers trip that starts in milan will cost 3000 per player but most of that was fund- raised king said now its just a matter of wait ing for our final schedule and in putting together gift packages that we will give in exchange with the other teams we face king said to send his spartans rugby team which will also include five junior players hewitt said it will cost close to 70000 working closely with cocoach es rob edmondson and glenn tarver and a committee of three parents hewitt said fundraising has been brisk players sold 600 poinsettias along with school wrist bands as well they will con duct a yuk yuk night feb 9 at the markham fairgrounds the clippers bantams who used mcdpnells company to book their trip said their cost per player is close to 3000 the club received 1100 through interest accumulated from the remnants of a 10000 donation by art lat- cham in 1972 to a swissbound stouffville bantam b hockey club the express estimated the cost per player was close to 3500 per player they did fundraising including a golf tournament in the summer that raised close to 24000 as well he said they hope to run a texas hold em night if we can pay for all of the kids it would be great he said the costs are tough on the parents but were excited about our trip and were looking forward to it in the end what the teams hope to accomplish in making such excursions is to provide memories the players can remi nisce about for years down yorkregioncom