Cloud still hovers over high school sports

It's been a while since my last post, largely because not much has been going on.

District 8 schools returned to action on Monday in basketball, volleyball and hockey but as you're all very much aware, public high schools are still sidelined because of the ongoing labour dispute between teachers and the Ontario government.

District 8 will still crown champions and send them to CWOSSA and perhaps OFSAA competitions, but all victories beyond the local ones should carry sone sort of asterisk. They just won't mean as much with the majority of Ontario's high schools not participating.

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I'm still not sure whether OFSAA should actually stage championships during the winter season but that's the plan and one will be held just down the road.

The OFSAA wrestling championship will be held March 6-7 at Guelph's Sleeman Centre with the championship schedule to follow at a later date.

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Teams from two Cambridge schools have reached the Gore Mutual Ontario school curling championship that will be held Feb. 14-16 in Haliburton.

The girls team from St. Benedict  (Sabrina Anderson, Elana Lachaine-Demarchi, Kirsten Leusink, Tess Wittmann and Veronica Reitmeier) and the boys team from Preston (Kieran Scott, Nathan Scott, Grant Fraser and Justin Fraser) advanced with victories at a regional playdown in Bradford this past weekend.

The Ontario Curling Association event is limited to eight high school teams from across Ontario.

Preston is competing because the team did not require a staff representative, just the go-ahead from the principal and an adult to supervise.

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Story tips and feedback are still and always appreciated at mbryson@therecord.com

 

 

Comments

[D8 Sports fan]

Hey Mark - just because the Public schools don't have any league games doesn't mean that the D8 (and other) leagues should get passed over. There are still lots of hardworking highschool athletes who deserve some spotlight during the winter sports. Please use this time to highlight their efforts - CKCO news thinks it is important and been giving D8 schools great coverage.

The athletes and teams appreciate all of your feedback and comments - so please don't stop writing about highschool sports. We miss your top 10 athletes of the week column.

PS - not all WCSSA teams are stopping their hunt for some kind of CWOSSA hardware ... WCI Jr Girls Volleyball has continued to practice & play in a tournament this past weekend.

[Mark]

I can see your point about not penalizing those that are playing but, as an observer, I'd have a hard time getting excited about a best-of-the-best tournament that doesn't feature the best.

[SportsFan]

Mark, I understand what you mean by the asterisk comment, but I disagree with you questioning whether OFSAA should be held. Waterloo County isn't participating (and perhaps others), but there are areas that haven't skipped a beat with extra-curriculars, and they shouldn't be penalized by the decisions made around them. My son's in Grade 12 and we certainly hope that his hockey team will do well at CWOSSA and even perhaps OFSAA. To not finish the season with playoffs wouldn't be fair to them. Love reading your blog, btw - you've been missed.