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36 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2012 Keepaway Elite girls' hockey camp will feature Olympians By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER: White Oaks Wildcats player Morgan Caissie (left) kicks the ball away from Nelson Lords opponent Erin Williams-Weir during Halton high school senior girls' soccer play last week. Nelson downed the Wildcats 3-1. The area's top young female hockey players won't have to go far to work on their skills this summer. The first annual Blades With Braids Rep Hockey Camp, slated for this summer in Oakville, will feature on-ice instruction from several former and current members of the national women's hockey team. Jayna Hefford, Vicky Sunohara, Gillian Apps, Cheryl Pounder, Cherie Piper, Becky Kellar, Lori Dupuis, Christina Kessler and Liz Knox are already confirmed as instructors for the camp. Hefford, Sunohara, Apps, Pounder, Piper, Kellar and Dupuis have all represented Canada in at least one Olympics; Kessler is the winningest goaltender in Harvard University women's hockey history; and Knox, another goalie, was the Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year for women's hockey in 2010. According to Steve Lester, who organized the camp with the assistance of several volunteers, there's also potential for more notable instructors and guest speakers. "There are a lot of good hockey instructors in Oakville and the Greater Toronto Area, but what we've discovered over time is that most of the camps during summer are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or something like that. Not the full day, so what do you do with the girls?" Lester, a coach in the Oakville Hornets rep system, said of his motivation to organize the camp. "Some kids have started to go to Peterborough, where they offer a camp that some Olympians go to, just for girls. But if they're in atom, you can't send your kid to board for a week because the girls are just too young." Lester said he was able to recruit the Olympians and ex-Olympians through hockey relationships he has built over the past few years. Hefford and Sami Jo Small were both involved with Lester's atom A Hornets squad this past season, with Small even coming to visit the team's dressing room during the provincial championships. "They're all giving people. I think they genuinely like to do that sort of thing," Lester said, "and they know how important it is for the game and for the girls." The camp, scheduled for Aug. 27-31 at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex, is intended for repcalibre players at the atom, peewee and bantam age levels. Lester said a typical day would feature three hours of on-ice instruction, an hour of dryland training with Twist Conditioning Inc., a talk/video session with the Olympians and an hour of recreational time. "We don't want to make this a grinding boot camp. We want this to be fun," Lester said. "But on the other hand we really do want to focus on giving bona fide development to these girls so they come out five days later as better players." All profits from the camp will be donated to two charities, Right To Play and Halton Women's Place. Right To Play is an organization that works with volunteers and partners to use sport and play to enhance child development in areas of disadvantage. Halton Women's Place provides shelter and crisis services for physically, emotionally, financially and sexually abused women and their dependent children, and is dedicated to ending violence against women and their children. For more information on the Blades With Braids Rep Hockey Camp, log onto www.bladeswithbraids.com. National volleyball team two wins from Olympics Dan Lewis (left) and his Canadian teammates are two wins from realizing their Olympic dream. The national men's volleyball team will play in the semifinals of the Americas Cup Olympic qualifying tournament today (Friday) after earning a bye to the semis with a 3-0 record during pool play. The winner of the tournament will qualify for this year's Olympic Games in London. Canada, ranked 18th in the world, upset fifthranked Cuba 25-21, 25-17, 25-21 in its final game of pool play Wednesday. Cuba finished the preliminary round with a 2-1 record and was forced to play a quarter-final game against Trinidad and Tobago yesterday (Thursday). Lewis, 36, is Canada's veteran libero (defensive specialist who plays in the back row). The Oakville native has played professionally in Spain, Switzerland, France, Poland and Slovenia. The final of the Americas Cup is scheduled for Saturday. All matches are carried live with playby-play at www.usavlive.com. Canada has not sent a men's volleyball team to the Olympics since 1992.