Sport Orillia would like to thank everyone that attended this years amazing Hall of Fame Gala Dinner. The event hosted by Casino Rama was the fourth annual Hall of Fame Dinner put on by Sport Orillia. This year we were honoured to induct: Jayme Davis, Toben Sutherland, Brittney Fess and Ken “Jiggs” McDonald. View images of the event below.

Fast and Female is an organization that motivates and inspires young girls to stay in sport, leading to strong character development.  Girls drop out of sports at much higher rates than boys and we are trying to change this.  Champ chats are like a one-day camp where young girls participate in non-sport specific activities lead by elite level volunteer ambassadors from across many sports.  There is a also an inspiring Question and Answer session where the high level athletes share their stories to motivate the girls, followed by a yoga session.

In order to hold a Champ Chat we are seeking supporters/sponsors to help cover the cost of a Fast and Female event at Hardwood Hills on June 16, 2018. Since funding for the event is limited we are trying to reach our goal of $5,000. The costs going towards schwag for the girls and volunteer ambassadors (t-shirt, buff, hoodie), posters, website registration organization, organizer payment, and overhead.  The cost for each girl to register is $30 like all previous years, but if we surpass the $5,000 minimum, we can offer a lower registration price.

For more information or to become a supporter / sponsor please download the Champ Chat information package below.

Champ Chat Document: 2018 Champ Chat – Sponsorship Information

Sport Orillia is a proud sponsor of the Orillia 2018 Ontario Winter Games. Supported by the Ontario Government, through its Games Ontario program. This program delivers or supports multi-sport events, including the Ontario Winter and Summer Games for youth, the Ontario 55+ Summer and Winter Games, the Ontario ParaSport Games, the 2017 North American Indigenous Games and the 2017 Invictus Games.

Supporting Ontario sporting events is part of Game ON – The Ontario Government’s Sport Plan, which is encouraging as many people as possible to play organized sports, helping Ontario’s high-performance athletes pursue excellence and promoting increased tourism and economic development.

The Winter Games games which are held over four days will bring over 3000 athletes and 600+ volunteers to the area. The athletes aged from 12 to 18 will compete in events comprised of 25 different sports, spread over 20 facilities. It is estimated that the event will produce around $6 million dollars in economic activity for the surrounding area.

Visit their website: http://www.orillia2018.ca

Sport Orillia hosted its 2017 Breakfast of Champions event Thursday morning at the Bayside Restaurant at the Barnfield Point Recreation Centre.

Gill Tillmann, chair of the committee organizing the 2018 Ontario Winter Games, hosted by Orillia, spoke at the event and urged athletes to not only be champions in their chosen sports but to champion important causes that can result in positive change.

Orillia City Councillor Jeff Clark and Sport Orillia President Martino di Sabatino presented 12 Orillia students – three from each of the local high schools – with Breakfast of Champion certificates. The student athletes were chosen by their respective school’s coaches for their athleticism and sportsmanship; the winners also received custom hoodies courtesy of Artech.

“It’s important to us, at Sport Orillia, to celebrate youth in sport,” said di Sabatino. “This event is a great way to recognize the amazing things youth in our community are doing.”

The goal of Sport Orillia, a non-profit, volunteer-run organization formed in 2013, is to enhance the economic, social and personal health of Orillia residents through sport and active living. One of its marquee events each year is the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which will be held this year at Casino Rama on April 21. Deadline to nominate athletes, coaches or builders is Dec. 15. Applications can be downloaded from the website, sportorillia.com.

Successful, hard-working local high school athletes were celebrated by the Orillia Sport Council at its fourth annual Breakfast of Champions Thursday morning at Bayside Restaurant. The students were also schooled about Orillia’s rich sports heritage by one of this city’s pre-eminent athletes, Rob Town.

The only two-time winner of Orillia’s Athlete of the Year Award, Town, who is being inducted into the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame Saturday night, exhorted the local athletes to work hard and to be thankful for their opportunities.

“I think when you’re an athlete you never really appreciate your coaches enough,” said Town. “When I was thinking of a message for you guys, it was this: Cherish your coaches because they don’t have to do it. They give you advice, they help you achieve success and that experience, as a young athlete, can help you in the future with whatever you do. That experience as an athlete can be life changing.”

Town speaks from experience. After discovering hockey was not his sport – though he still remembers the two goals he scored when he played at the all-star level as a 10-year-old – Town turned to swimming and has fond memories of training at the old Peter Street YMCA and its 50-foot pool now home to Pauline Barratt Aquatics.

“It was a tiny little tub of a pool,” recalled Town, noting 20 swimmers completing laps in its narrow six lanes often had to turn sideways to avoid contact. “But out of that little pool, as a 12-year-old, I became an Ontario champion and set three Canadian records.”

But Town found swimming boring and as he hit his teen years, he did not relish 6 a.m. practices. So, when he started high school at ODCVI, he tried other sports, excelling in both volleyball and basketball before really hitting his stride as a member of the track and field team. He became a thrower of renown, hurtling the javelin, shot put and discus further than any of his vintage. In fact, 45 years later, he still holds a provincial high-school discus record.

During this time, he fell in love with the decathlon and became one of the world’s best in the grueling 10-sport event. He finished sixth at his first Canada Games in 1976, improved the following year in Newfoundland and then represented his country at the Commonwealth Games in 1978. When he went to the University of Waterloo, he focused on getting into its optometry program in Year 1 but after that, much of his focus was on his athletic pursuits and his goal of competing at the Olympics.

“I thought maybe I had what it takes to get to the Olympics, so I took a year off from school and moved to Toronto to train,” said Town. But fate was not in his favour. Canada and other western nations opted to boycott the Moscow Olympics of 1980. As the reigning national indoor champion, the news was devastating. It got worse. At the national championship, with an insurmountable lead, the decathlete tore the cartilage in his knee.

After recovering, he set his sights on qualifying for the 1984 Olympics. He soon broke his elbow training for the pole vault and later tore his hamstring. At the Olympic-qualifier, however, he felt he had regained his form but in the final event, he knew he needed to run his fastest-ever time and fell agonizingly short. “But I was the Canadian champ and there was lots to be proud of,” Town said.

He told the local students he credited his success to hard work, good genes and the help he received along the way from various coaches. “I had a swim coach as a 10-year-old who introduced us to interval training which was innovative at that time,” said Town. “In high school, I had a track coach that motivated me to break records and encouraged me to get in the weight room… and a basketball coach that developed in us an attitude that even though we were a team from small-town Orillia, we could beat anyone. I had a hurdles coach at university who introduced us to a speed ball, circuit training and running sand hills.”

Town encouraged the local athletes to take time to thank their coaches. “I appreciate the quality coaches that helped me along the way,” he said. “I appreciate all that Orillia has done for me. I’m proud to be an Orillia boy.”

Orillia mayor Steve Clarke, who lamented his many track and field defeats against Town when the two were student rivals, said Town is an example of perseverance and a worthy role model.

“When you participate in athletics in high school and university, you learn to be competitive in a healthy way: to win and lose gracefully,” said Clarke. “I have often used that in business and family situations to overcome adversity and to prepare for the next challenge. As (Town shared), when you get knocked down, don’t quit — that’s a lesson that will put you in great stead the rest of your life.”

Clarke presented certificates to 12 students – three from each of the local high schools – who were chosen by their schools to be recognized at the Breakfast of Champions. The students also received custom hoodies courtesy of Artech and, thanks to a donation from Casino Rama Cares and Sport Orillia, the students can attend Saturday night’s sold-out Hall of Fame Gala for free.

“We organize the Breakfast of Champions because we want to celebrate youth in sport,” said Jeff Marchildon, president of the Orillia Sport Council. “We want to make sport better in Orillia, we want to make it more accessible for everybody and we want to celebrate our successes and our past.”

Original Article by: By Dave Dawson, Orillia Packet & Times
ddawson@postmedia.com – twitter.com/davedawson67
Link to Article: 2017 Breakfast of Champions
Photo By: Orillia Packet & Times
Date: Thursday, April 27, 2017