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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, December 10, 2015 | 38 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Former NFL kicker Christie returns to where it all began VHS footage from 1985 Halton final led to NCAA scholarship by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff T he 1985 Halton football final was well in hand. Playing on the big stage at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils were delivering the same dominant defensive performance that saw them surrender just a couple of touchdowns all season. The Red Devils led Nelson 31-0 with time winding down when OT coach Tom Johnson sent his field goal unit on to the field. Johnson could almost feel the stares coming from the opposing sideline. OT kicker Steve Christie lined up the ball, stepped back, waited for the snap, then stepped forward, swung his right leg and booted a 42-yard field goal through the uprights. "After the game, their coach, who was a friend of mine, comes up to me and says, `What are you doing? Rubbing it in?'" Johnson said. "I told him we had a pretty good kicker and I wanted to make sure as many people could see him as possible. Bernie Ruoff, the Ticats' kicker, was see Christie on p.39 Former NFL place-kicker Steve Christie, flanked by Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils football coach Guy D'Alesio (kneeling) and members of this season's team, returned to OT Tuesday to present a commemorative golden football to his former school. Each past participant in a Super Bowl has been given a gold ball by the NFL to donate to their alma maters as part of this year's Super Bowl 50th anniversary celebrations. | photo by Justin Greaves -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Oakville Soccer Club elects new president, offers program for disabled youth New Oakville Soccer Club president Randy Bi- in both the financial services and telecommunianchin says he plans to follow the same game- cations sectors. He has overseen product marplan as his predecessor. keting and pricing strategies for several North Bianchin was elected OSC president at the American wireless companies, including Disclub's annual general meeting Saturday. The ney/ESPN, Virgin Mobile and Bell Canada. 39-year-old Oakville resident replaces Jennifer In 2006, Bianchin was nominated and inMadill, who had completed a maxiducted as one of the youngest memmum six-year term with the OSC bers into Society of Industry Leaders board of directors, the past four as for Telecommunications & Media. president. He currently oversees RBC Contact "The overall governance model that Centres retail banking business relahas been established, which then altionships in Canada and the U.S., and lows the staff to flourish under it, is was formerly responsible for managgreat," Bianchin said Monday. "There's ing the largest authorized insurance a great brand and reputation that portfolio in Canada with RBC Insurcomes with our club being around for Randy Bianchin ance. 40 years, and being one of the larg"I can bring a diverse view from est in North America. It's just making time to time, having been able to learn sure we're leveraging that and delivering on our from the different organizations I've been at," Bipromises to our members. anchin said. "Really, it's continuing Jen's legacy... and just OSC executive director Dave Harris endorsed trying to take this from a great organization to a the election of Bianchin, noting the new presigreater organization," he added. dent's "analytic background and dynamic vision Bianchin, who is entering his third year on for the club," and also praised the work done by the OSC board and has been involved with the Madill. club for five years, has held leadership positions "The Oakville Soccer Club owes a great deal to Jennifer Madill for her tireless efforts on behalf of the organization," Harris said. "As president, her leadership and efforts to create a board which demonstrates strong governance has put the club on a path to success moving forward." Also elected to the 2016 OSC board of directors Saturday were Rudy Dahdal, Palma Petrilli and Marc Tremblay. The new directors join Al D'Addese, Arlette Edmunds, Claude Gauthier, Brett Huntington and Sean O'Brien on the 10-member board. Breaking Barriers Beginning next month, the OSC will offer a program designed for youngsters with intellectual and/or physical disabilities. The initiative, facilitated by OSC's Active Start certified staff and volunteers and titled Breaking Barriers, will introduce participants ages 6-13 to the fundamentals of physical literacy and the sport of soccer. Breaking Barriers aims to offer players a comfortable, inclusive environment and the chance to learn and engage at their own pace while making new friends. "The Oakville Soccer Club is thrilled to unveil this exciting new program to our members and to the community of Oakville as a whole," said Harris. "Breaking Barriers is designed to do just that, break the barriers for those with special needs to learn and play the game of soccer in a fun environment." OSC piloted Breaking Barriers this fall with an eight-week program involving a small group of participants from various community organizations. Each week, players participated in warmup activities; worked on soccer skills such as dribbling, passing and shooting; and concluded each session with a fun player/coach/volunteer soccer match. Registration is now open for this winter's Breaking Barriers session, which will run Friday evenings from Jan. 29-March 25. Those interested in participating in the program can visit www. oakvillesoccer.ca and complete the online registration form. Any questions about Breaking Barriers can be directed to Melanie Bradley, OSC's long-term player development co-ordinator, at mbradley@oakvillesoccer.ca. Anyone interested in volunteering with the Breaking Barriers program is encouraged to complete a Volunteer Application Form, also available on the OSC's website www.oakvillesoccer.ca. -- Jon Kuiperij