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Wednesday, June 16, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER REAL SERVICE FROM REAL PEOPLE. T H A T 'S STATE FA R M . Don't trust just anyone to insure your car. see me: Hal Mayer _ \ i T/ ___ 2861 Sherwood Heights D t - 829-5200 Sports An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON 845-3824 (Extension 255) Fax:337-5567 Photos by Ron Kuzyk Photo by Ron Kuzyk PINBALL CLEMONS: a passionate life By Amber Clarke SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER eing a star is never giving up, says 'Pinball' Clemons. Mike 'Pinball' Clemons, Toronto Argonaut running back, was the guest speaker at T.A Blakelock's athletic banquet Thursday night and his message was clear -- passion, perseverance and never giving up are the ingre­ dients necessary to make anyone a star. During an interview before his speech, Clemons said he hoped to positively influence the audience of coaches, athletes and parents and show them how normal he is -- if he can make it anyone can. 'The reason I'm here is to try and make a difference. I think it's significant to share and show them how normal I am. I'm so super­ normal, and shorter than the rest of you here, and from a bad neighbor­ hood and all of those things and if I can do it than so can you," said Clemons. Clemons explained the occasion is extra special because his nephew Demetrius Woodard, who is on the senior track and basketball teams (earning team MVP in the latter), was in the audience. Woodard recently came to live with Clemons and his family and they are all moving to west Oakville at the end of June. Clemons often drops by Blakelock to watch athletic games and support the students. "I've watched you play, I've hung around the school quite a bit this year and seen many of you perform and I've been impressed," Clemons told the audience. "On your skills, sportsmanship and school spirit I'd like to congratu­ late you." Clemons had arrived in Toronto only two hours earlier from a trip to the Bahamas to celebrate his seventh wedding anniversary. "Passion is where it all begins. If you don't care, if you don't have passion, you'll never be able to maximize your potential," he said. And then there's perseverance. Clemons' favorite athlete is Michael Jordan, and he explained how Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team before becoming a basketball sensation. But Jordan, never being one to back down from a challenge, got up at 6 a.m. every morning to prac­ tice and made the team with flying colours the following year. 'There are no shortcuts. You have to work at it." In addition to passion and per­ severance, never give up, says Clemons. When you want to quit, take just one more stroke and you will find the next ones get easier. "Quitters never win and winners never quit. You're all in this room because you are winners. Failure is when you stop trying, and give up and say I can't. Winning is when you don't stop trying." He explained everyone experi­ ences small losses and failures, but these are necessary for success and the personal learning process. In fact, says Clemons, if you haven't failed lately you haven't chal­ lenged yourself enough lately. Clemons himself has defied all odds and boldly challenged failure. Bom in the projects in Florida, and living with his young, single mother and blind great-grandmoth­ er, Clemons said he was called a failure before he even got started. "When I was a kid I was told I had two alternatives -- you'll either end up in jail or on welfare," said Clemons. But Clemons persevered. He was also told that he was too small to play college football and that pursuing a football career would be a lost cause. "By the time I was 11 years old I had my jersey retired at a local restaurant,"he explained. "So don't let anyone tell you you can't do it, you have the power to do whatever you want." In the end, Clemons was offered two scholarships to universities in the States and was able to pursue his dream of football and acade­ mics. He successfully studied eco­ nomics and played college foot­ ball. Standing at 5"5 and 165 pounds, Clemons has been a CFL all-star; a three-time Grey Cup winner and holds numerous Toronto Argonaut football club records. Vankoeverden is ready to take on the world By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR A Grade 11 Loyola Secondary School student has earned himself a trip to the world junior canoe championships in Zagreb, Croatia this summer. And 17-year-old Adam Vankoeverden did it emphatically, with tremendous performances at Canada's world junior team trials ear­ lier this month in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Vankoeverden left his fellow kayakers in his wake, winning the 1,000 metre race by more than six sec­ onds and the 500 metre race by more than two seconds. He actually won both events at the Canadian Canoe Association's nation­ al championships last August in Whistler, B.C. But that was more for pride, both for himself and for his Oakville-based club, the Burloak Canoe Club, which was able to defend its prestigious national championship. 'This is bigger," he conceded. 'The CCA national are not a pre­ requisite to something. The National trials are a prerequisite to the worlds." The world junior championships will be held in Zagreb, Croatia, July 23-26. Vankoeverden is excited, to say the least. Although he's paddled throughout Canada and the United States, he said "I've never been out of North America." He'll continue to practice hard with the Burloak club out on Sixteen Mile Creek for the balance of the month, joining up with the national team in Montreal in early July and then fol­ lowing the national team to a two- week training camp in Hungary. 'There's a big training centre in Hungary," he said. Vankoeverden just might have a welcoming committee to greet him there. "I have family in Hungary," he said. "My mom's uncles, aunts and cousins." Following the world champi­ onships in Zagreb, Croatia, Vankoeverden is also representing Canada in a 16K marathon and that race will be held in Hungary "in my mom's hometown." Vankoeverden got the nod for that event by virtue of winning a 6,000K event at last year's CCA nationals. That's quite a range of distance for Vankoeverden -- 500, 1000, 6000 and 16K. As for his best distance, it's some­ what of a moot point because only three distances are raced at the worlds and Olympic Games -- 200, 500 and 1,000. "On a world level you only race 200, 500 and 1000," he reiterated. "My best out of that is 1000m. "I think the longer it gets, up until 3000 metres would be best. My main thing is endurance." His goal at the junior worlds is lofty -- to make it through the prelim­ inary semifinal heats into the final championship heat of nine paddlers. "It's a big step for Canada, for a men's kayaker, to make the final in a world championship, just because everybody else is so strong, so I hope to make the final and establish myself as maybe top five or top six in the world. "Reaching the final is my base goal, I guess. The lowest I want to perform is to be last in the finals. The finals is the bare minimum." Burloak head coach Scott Oldershaw thinks he has the tools to carry out his goal. He "pretty well dominated the junior category" in Canada, .and now Oldershaw believes he's ready to take on the world. At the first national team trials, he noted, there was no junior category and Vankoeverden still did well in with the seniors. "He was second in the 1000m and made the 500m final. "I think that'll help him (at the junior worlds) because he did race people better than himself. And that's the kind of competition he'll see over there. "He didn't get intimidated at all. He's got a good attitude. He respects the guys in front, but he certainly doesn't give in to them." Vankoeverden has been involved in paddling since 1995, "I heard about the canoe club in the paper, and obviously living in Oakville and being a strong paddling community, I just came down to one of the club orientations and met all the coaches and people around here and got into it pretty quick." There was no shortage of role mod­ els. "People like (Olympic silver medalist) John Wood and (Olympic gold and silver medalist and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame member) Larry Cain and the whole Oldershaw family is a strong paddling family." Naturally, his knowledge of the sport grew almost as fast as his skill and one the paddlers he looks up to now is Norway's Knute Hollman. "He's the best in the world as far as anybody's concerned. Really, nobody can argue with that. He holds five or six world records. He's the best in the world. He's got fabulous technique." Vankoeverden, like most elite ath­ letes, is dedicated to his training. In-season, he'll typically ply the murky, duck-filled waters of Sixteen Mile Creek 13 times a week, each ses­ sion usually lasting anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours. At a national training camp he can spend four to six hours a day in his kayak. With this type of intense paddling schedule, his off-creek training is limited to just a couple of hours a week. But this rises significantly in the off season where he steps up his weights, running and swimming (the latter of which he likes the least). This past winter, he got a nice break from this training when he was able to attend a six-week national junior team training camp in Florida that ran from the latter part of February to early April. While his short term goal is to be among the nine top junior kayakers keying it up for the final world cham­ pionship race this July, his longer term goal, is certainly familiar to most elite amateur athletes. "It's an Olympic sport," he said. "I hope to make the Olympics one day and race for Canada -- 2004 and 2008 are probably the years I have the best chance, if not next year (2000). "But who knows what I can do this winter. I'll obviously try out next year, go the (Canadian) Olympic team tri­ als. And if I do make it, I'll be the youngest person on the team, and it will be a big step, really." Of course, to carry out these dreams, there's one very important non-competitive matter he has to tie up before he concentrate fully on his training -- and that's fundraising. Sport Canada and the Canadian Canoe Association do cover more than half of the estimated $5,500 tab for the worlds, but that still leaves him with a bill of around $2,000. Sponsors would greatly be appreci­ ated and the money is donated through the auspices of the Canadian Canoe Association so a tax receipt can be issued, said coach Oldershaw. Contact Adam Vankoeverden at 844-0957, the Burloak Canoe Club at 338-8287, his coach Dean Oldershaw at 849-9798 or head coach Scott Oldershaw at 681-1457. BHYC holds annual week- Bronte Harbour Yacht Club (BHYC) is hosting its annual 'Sailing for the Visually Impaired4 program this week (June 14- 18). This program is run by a group of club volunteers who offer their time and their boats to provide this opportunity. These sailors, some who rank among the best on Lake Ontario, provide class sessions every morning with instruction on safety, knots, lines using models and a Braille compass. The afternoon session is exclusively 'hands on', allowing the participants to experience sailing. Wednesday evening will consist of a barbecue followed by an evening cruise on the lake. This year, the program will provide the first annual regatta on Thursday (June 17) where the participants will race the boats on a 1 to 1.5 mile course with the assistance of sound marks provided by Sheridan College and two sighted crew members. They will helm the boat and with the assistance of their crew, attempt to be this year's club champion. An awards ceremony will follow the race. The week concludes on Friday with a sail to Oakville's Coronation Park for a picnic and presentation of certificates and certificates provided by Champion Sports Wear. Silver m edal fo r Cowan in Q uebec sa iling cham pionships Oakvillp niltivP Nathan r nu/on ti;oe oKla In __. vt.j r* . • 1 * . . . . . .Oakville native Nathan Cowan was able to take the silver medal in the Laser class at the Quebec sailing championships earlier this month. Cowan, fourth after the first day of com­ petition, was able to claw his way back to a convincing second place finish. In the 35-boat fleet, Nathan's finishes were 5,8,2 on the first day and an impressive 1,2,3,4 in the four races the following day. His third-place finish may have cost him the championship, though, as he capsized while in the lead. It is back to local practice for Cowan this summer as he trains from his home club, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. After sailing full time this year in five countries, he is quite happy to be back on the water at home. Coming up for Cowan is a plethora of (See 'Cowan' page D2) *