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22 stouffville suntribune thursday aug 19 2004 stouffville suntribune sports cairas delivery buoys jaguars to national fastball crown staff photosteve somerville in the swing of things markhams gajan sivabalasirigham 10 watches intently as his drive travels down the fairway at last weeks canadian junior golf association linksters event at bushwood golf club which is just south of stouffville a member of the mandarin golf and country club in markham gajan won an unprecedented ninth straight cjga event of this season he carded a threeover par 75 to win the oneday event in the 10andunder division by three shots gormley resident earns mvp honours in playoffs by jim thomas correspondent you cant hit what you cant see this ageold adage was never more prominent than during the canadian bantam girls fastball championships in winnipeg using a delivery clocked at 60 milesperhour plus a backbreaking offspeed pitch and a vicious curve jenna caira hurled markham jaguars to a 41 victory over white rock bc renegades to win the national title por the 15yearold gormley resident this was her third time attending the nationals the cardinal carter catholic high school student was a pickup player with london in 2002 with the leaside lightning last year and with markham this sea son the jaguars earned the right to advance by placing second in the provincials held at kitchener at both the provincials and the nationals caira was voted the playoffs most valuable player beginnings in oak ridges cairas introduction to fastball occurred at oak ridges where her family resided for 18 years later she suited up with aurora and jenna caira markham jaguars pitcher displays mvp playoff trophy she won at nationals in winnipeg scarborough before moving over to leaside and now markham wherever the manager goes i go says the 5foot8 righthander she describes bob acton the markham coach as wonderful he acton has a passion for the game she says he keeps us focussed at the same time caira notes he insists his players enjoy themselves have fun acton said much of what the jaguars accomplished this season would not have been possible without cairas per formance shes in a class by her own he said what makes her a success he said is how she approach es the game she works harder than anybody and she takes care of herself he said caira would be the first to acknowledge much of her success would not have been possible without the coach ing shes received from julie brooks a former pitcher in the markham girls system who plays professionally in houston texas making cairas perform ance at the nationals even more impressive was the fact that shes just a firstyear ban tam but played like a sea soned performer at the nationals the majority of players were secondyear bantams plays yearround for caira fastball is a year- round sport during winter months she trains indoors up to six nights a week her regular softball sea son from may through august includes 16 tourna ments and more than 115 games in both canada and the united states this season was very spe cial says caira because as a firstyear bantam team we expected to do well but not win a canadian champi onship were all very happy and extremely proud as for her future caira hopes to attend university oh a fastball scholarship and maybe just maybe have an opportunity to pitch for canada in a future olympics that would be the ulti mate caira says ill keep working hard and improve every year fleury teaches the game of golf for the love of it stouffville resident helps youngsters to improve their game by jim thomas correspondent a golf pro residing in the heart of golf country this is the situation in which rhonda fleury finds herself and the stouffville resident loves it were surrounded she says of the many courses in the area with more on the way she pre dicts fleury is a partner in the henry brunton golf academy which operates out of angus glen golf club in unionville while the program is open to all ages fleury spends much of her instructional time with young people a group she describes as the future of the game the school currently accom modates 28 juniors including 26 boys and two girls while age 13 is a popular start ing point its not unusual to have children as young as four honing their skills fleury says she has no gender preference when it comes to teaching but admits boys for the most part have a better work ethic and seem more committed than girls competes as a pro fleury joined the pro ranks fol lowing a fiveyear apprentice pro gram and while she still com petes using her talents to teach others is a top priority she has worked out of several clubs including midland credit valley lambton and maple downs rhonda fleury is a partner in the henry brunton golf academy that is based at angus glen golf club shes in her first year at angus glen a course she describes as wonderful during the offseason she instructs out of the ultimate golf facility at hwys 7 and 427 there much of the program involves extracurricular advice on proper nutrition and physical fitness while somewhat of an oddity the 36yearold righthander never had a professional idol while advancing through the ranks idolized father my hero was my father she says he loved the game and was good at it too the brunton academys strive for excellence program includes fitting students into various col leges and universities on scholar ships while important fleury con siders it unwise for boys and girls to pin their hopes solely on bids to become part of the progolf tour all have dreams she says but an academic education should come first less than one per cent make it to the tour she notes while fleury concentrates on instruction she still enjoys com peting over the years shes won sev eral pro events her average is 72 and her distance range around 240 yards with respect to living here fleury calls stouffville an unbe lievable place i love the smalltown atmos phere she adds its a wonderful experience while instructing young peo ple on the finer points of the golf game is her passion fleury says players of all ages must never lose sight of one essential golf should always be fun she stressed