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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, April 2 1 , 2 0 1 7 | 26 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community " Siblings making their mark on water for Burloak Canoe Club By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Sam Pennyfather had the reaction you would expect from an 11-year-old taking his m oth er's suggestion about a fun way to spend the summer. Lisa Newman had paddled growing up and represented her native Newfoundland in the 1981 Canada Games. But when she suggested that her son join the Burloak Ca noe Club, she didn't get an overwhelming response. "I was not that interested," Pennyfather said. His mom didn't want to push too hard, so she let it slide. By the next summer, Pennyfather was on Sixteen Mile Creek paddling a canoe every chance he could. If there was an extra prac tice, he was there. He loved being outside on the water, or often in it during his introduc tion to a racing canoe. He loved learning a new skill and seeing the improvements from his efforts. So how did mom finally convince him? Well, she didn't. "My friend Robbie (Andison) said I should come out. W hen he said it, it seemed like it would be more fun," Pennyfather says with a smile. "He was also a kid so I trusted his judgm ent." W hile Andison eventually moved on to pursue skiing -- he' s a member of the Ca nadian moguls team -- Pennyfather is not only continuing to paddle, his sisters Lucy, 17, and Kate, 14, followed him into the sport the year after he joined Burloak. Seven years later all three are making their mark. Sam, 2 0 , is a member of the national canoe team while Lucy, 17, (kayak) and Kate, 15, (ca noe) are part of the national academy team. down and talked about it being two years to world juniors, how m uch time he would have to dedicate to training." Following the plan set out by his coach es, Sam qualified for the 2015 world junior championships in Portugal, reaching the semifinals. Last year, the family was represented at world juniors for the second year in a row. Coming off a second-place finish in the K1 (kayak single) 500m and a win with Burloak' s K 4 crew at nationals, Lucy qualified for world juniors in Belarus. Competing with Canada' s K4 crew, she finished 11th overall. "Your goals get bigger as you get older. It's Ontario and then nationals," Lucy said. "(Ju nior worlds) is that first step of international competition. It shows you where you want to g ° ." It took her to Hungary for the Olym pic Hopes Regatta last summer where she helped Canadian crews reach three A finals, highlighted by a fourth-place finish. She will graduate from Oakville Trafalgar High School this spring and is taking a year off to focus on paddling. Then she will head off to university, having narrowed down her choices to those schools with nearby pad dling opportunities. "Lucy just wants to go fast," George said. "She would run through a brick wall to get to practice." Kate is following a similar path, which led her to having to decide between her two sporting pursuits. She went with the one that has provided a great deal of her child hood memories. "W hen I joined (Burloak), I was eight," she said. "I can't even remember what sum mers were like without paddling." The Grade 9 student at Oakville Trafalgar finished second in the under-16 C1 200m at nationals and won gold in a Burloak crew boat. The Pennyfather siblings, (from left) Kate, 15, Lucy, 17, and Sam, 20, just returned from a training camp in Florida. All three are part of the Canoe Kayak Canada national team program. | photo by Gracie Postma - Oakville Beaver Though all three have climbed the ranks, they had other options. Sam skied. So did Lucy, who finished sixth in the high school division at the OFSAA championships in February She was also a competitive danc er until a couple of years ago. Kate played volleyball and was a member of the Halton Hurricanes' under-14 Division 1 provincial championship team. But something always brought them back to the little club tucked in the heart of Oakville. "We seemed to fit in right away," said Kate. "It was the same type of kids. I liked to be here and I made friends fast." "It gets you with the atmosphere," Lucy said. "It's like a family" It's a pretty impressive family, too. One where, on any given day, you could find yourself paddling beside an Olympian or run into a national coach or team member on the dock. (Burloak also counts national teamers Rob Clarke, Alanna Bray-Lougheed, Mark Oldershaw and Jillian Perrone among its 2 2 0 members). That can't help but open your eyes to the possibilities. "W hen you know multiple Olympic medalists -- or anyone who is that good at anything -- when you know the person, it makes it real," Sam said. "You still know how hard they've worked, but it' s not mythi cal." Sam' s realization of what was possible came at nationals in 2 0 1 3 when he won gold in the under-16 C1 (canoe single) 1,000-m e tre -- the first of 2 7 national titles for the Pennyfather siblings. "I think he was a little surprised," said Burloak coach Hunter George. "So we sat see Whole on p. 27 MADE IN Nr ' J / CANADA FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED FOR 35 YEARS BUILDING FINE ART INTO YOUR HOME. MANUFACTURER SHOWROOM We together. H I Brockley Dr., Hamilton, Ontario 905. 573.2311 Visit our showroom online @ www.laurentidekitchens.ca Monday-Friday 9am-4:30pm, Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday & Evenings by appt. only