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G O L D E N S M I L E S Skate Oakville members sharp to start competitive season Although it is still summer for two more weeks, many Skate Oakville members are already well into their competitive season. Several local skaters have attended as many as four meets since July, combining to win two gold medals, four silver and two bronze. Most recently, Skate Oakville sent 20 skaters and two dance teams to the Summer Skate in Thornhill. Emma Dinda earned a silver medal in pre-novice women, while Julianne Li (silver) and Jaime Gabbard (bronze) collected medals in pre-juvenile under-11 women's action. Samantha Heard won bronze in her debut in open solo short dance, and Celine Dubroy-McArdle and Timuray Gokdemir were fifth in juvenile pattern dance. Summer Skate was preceded by the Summer Sizzle in Waterloo, where Eugene Zhang struck gold in his first-ever pre-juvenile men's freeskate competition. Gokdemir won a silver in junior bronze STARSkate men, and he and Dubroy-McArdle were fifth in juvenile pattern dance. In July, Emma Dinda placed third in the novice freeskate at the Skate Detroit competition in Michigan, and Gabbard won gold in pre-juvenile U11 women and silver in juvenile U11 women at the Minto Summer Skate in Oshawa. Skate Oakville members are currently training on and off the ice after a short break, finetuning their programs for the remainder of the competitive season. Skaters will compete at the Isabelle Henderson meet Sept. 20-22 in Paris, Ont., and the Octoberfest competition Oct. 17-20 in Barrie. These events lead up to the Skate Canada Central Ontario Championships, slated for Nov. 7-10 in Thornhill. 31 | Friday, September 6, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The Oakville A's are all smiles after winning the provincial minor rookie ball AAA baseball championship last weekend. | photo submitted Minor rookie ball A's run table at baseball provincials The Oakville A's won the Baseball Ontario provincial minor rookie ball AAA championship last weekend, defeating the Mississauga North Tigers 8-7 in the final. Oakville clinched the title in dramatic fashion, scoring in the bottom of the seventh and final inning to break a 7-7 deadlock. It was the A's second win over Mississauga North at provincials, following a 15-3 rout in the preliminary round. Oakville also downed East York 19-18, North York 12-8. Whitby 5-4 and Mississauga South 8-7. Members of the team, which also won the Central Ontario Baseball Association championship last month, are Joshua Beaupre, Aaron Bosnjak, Anthony Busseri, Louis Busseri, Brayden Gillespie, Joe Moszcelt, Ryan O'Born, Keze Tatem, Evan Tanaka, Trevor Woods, Jorge Valdes and Eli Zweig. The A's are coached by Tony Busseri, Peter Busseri, David Gillespie and Neville Tatem. Canoe polo played professionally in Europe continued from p.30 ation, they were pretty excited to have an Oldershaw playing (canoe polo)." Sport seeking exposure in Canada Canada still has a way to go before its name is recognized in the sport. Canada went 0-6 at last month's World Games in Cali, Colombia. Not totally surprising given that several European countries have professional leagues -- Oldershaw says a good Dutch or German club team could beat most national teams. Still, playing in a multi-sport event held every four years that serves as the pinnacle of achievement for sports not included in the Olympics was certainly memorable for the Waterdown resident. "It was a really neat experience," Oldershaw said. "It's not quite the Olympics but it's the closest thing for our sport. You would leave the stadium to go to the store and it would turn into a two-and-half hour ordeal. We were local celebrities there." They played in pools in front of thousands of fans -- far different than the open water games played in front of "friends, family and few passersby" at nationals. Oldershaw would be pretty excited to have a few more people take up the sport at home and help build the program. (His wife, Liz, is on the women's national team). It currently lacks in funding because of its non-Olympic sport status but it is among sports being considered as a demonstration event at the 2015 Pan Am Games. But beyond changing its Olympic status and the exposure that would come with it, the best way to promote the sport is by getting people involved. "It really is a great sport," the 30-year-old said, "especially if you want to stay involved after sprint. You can compete (at a high level) into your 40s. I train with one guy who is in his 50s. From a sprint point of view, that would be way over the hill." -- Herb Garbutt can be followed on Twitter @Herbgarbutt Wedgewood wins town swim meet The Wedgewood Martians were the champions at the Town of Oakville's 43rd annual Novice Swim Meet, held recently at Brookdale Pool. More than 300 participants aged 5-14, representing nine different town pools, competed in the friendly `pool versus pool' team competition that had an outer space theme. Brookdale was second in the team standings, and Bronte was third. Individual event winners included Meredith Steven, Kate Lengyel, Harper Treschuck, Nathaniel Carter, Makayla Carter, Cormac Adams, Eden Wykes, Edward Thornton, Jenna Thorpe, Parker Crawford, Libby Murison, Logan French, Samuel Boulanger, Andrea Driker, Kyle O'Grady, Arissa Derakhshan, Megan Spiller, Lea O'Flaherty, Max Boulanger, Alexandra Ruetz and Declan Adams. Victorious relay teams were Liam McKay, Oliver Bonden, Jakob Chafe and Thornton; Mattie Base, Amelia Smith, Abby Irwin-Lewis and Sarah Enya Nissan; William Hancock, James Goodfellow and Logan baraThe Wedgewood Martians cheer after winning the Town of Oakville's annual novice swim nieski; and Emily Fruscella, Sophia meet championship recently at Brookdale Pool. | photo by Nikki Wesley -- Oakville Beaver Tran and Aniah Arthur.