For Release: January 19th, 2000

As I write this, high school students across the region will be "hunkering down", hitting the books to prepare for first semester exams January 24th through the 28th.

As a result, co-curricular athletic activity is temporarily placed on hold and provides an excellent opportunity to bring you up-to-date on the four O.F.S.A.A. championships that will be hosted here beginning in March.

43 days and counting ...

From the Nordic Ski camp, Chair Mary Waddell officially recorded a sigh of relief at the executive committee meeting of January 17th, after the significant snow fall over the holidays actually made nordic skiing in the region a reality.

A substantial amount of work has been done on the Laurentian trails to prepare for this event, thanks to support from the City . A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at a special pre-O.F.S.A.A. meet to be hosted on February 5th to officially open the new trails and start the countdown to the O.F.S.A.A. event.

The official logo for the event, seen here, was unveiled at the January 17th meeting, and depicts a nordic skier toiling away inside the outline of a snowflake. You might see some of the Executive Committee members, myself included, wearing spiffy new fleece vests with the official logo prominently displayed.

And as reported earlier, the website in support of the event, designed by Lo-Ellen Park Secondary students, may be found at: www.rainbow.edu.on.ca/loellen/ofsaa/default.htm.

62 days and counting ...

Switching to Boys' Hockey to be hosted March 22nd to 25th, a tentative schedule has been hammered out, indicating Countryside, Walden and Sudbury Arenas as the venues of choice. All post round robin action will be hosted at the Sudbury Arena.

Executive Committee members have approved a concept for the official logo to be used in conjunction with the event, designed by a Lively District Secondary School student. The logo depicts an artistic outline of a hockey player following through on a shot, with the puck seemingly jumping out at you .... The logo will be used on all promotional material used to market the event, and should be available for viewing very soon.

The qualifier to this event, the N.O.S.S.A. Hockey tournament (dubbed as the "Road to O.F.S.A.A."), is now a featured link on the S.D.S.S.A.A. home page, found at www.rainbow.edu.on.ca/sdssaa. Look under the section entitled "Quick Links". The N.O.S.S.A. event will begin Tuesday, March 7th and will include two local entries in addition to the Soo District and North Bay District Champions.

Should a Sudbury entry manage to win the N.O.S.S.A. Championship, two local entries will be featured in the O.F.S.A.A. event, something local organizers are hoping for to increase local interest in the event.

105 days and counting ...

Chairs Clyde and Gundi Sheppard report steady progress in their effort to host the O.F.S.A.A. COED Badminton Championships May 4-6. The featured sites will be Lasalle Secondary and St. Charles College, with the use of Cambrian College a definite possibility as well.

Some committee clothing items have already been designed and executive members will be sporting them in the not-too-distant future. Look for these "spinnaker" jackets in a gymnasium near you ...

133 days and counting ...

Convener Linda MacKenzie is just getting started with her organizational effort, indicating that the main venues for the "AAA" Soccer O.F.S.A.A. event beginning June 1st will likely be the Lily Creek and Delki Dozzi fields.

Organizers look forward to the use of the Lily Creek soccer field, which should be in excellent condition since extensive renovations in the Fall.

You can see a preliminary website in support of the Girls' event on the S.D.S.S.A.A. website, again in the "Quick Links" section.

Of course, you can look forward to more updates and news items as the dates for each respective O.F.S.A.A. event draws nearer.

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