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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, D ec em be r 9, 20 21 | 34 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST DIRECTORY If you would like to advertise your place of worship in this featureplease email Fionafrudder@starmetrolandmedia.comWorship PENTECOSTAL UNITED Tel: 416-892-8123 Fax: 1-866-281-5983 Bishop M. Brissett (Pastor) Email: mjbrisse@yahoo.ca Jesus is lOrd Oakville PenTecOsTal aPOsTOlic cenTre 454 Rebecca St (St. Paul's United Church) Oakville, ON Sunday Service 12:30 - 3PMWorship Service Sunday Evening: 7:30-9PM (Via Zoom Virtual Platform) *Covid-19 Safety Protocols Strictly followed.* 1469 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville 905-825-5292 www.glenabbeyunitedchurch.com GLEN ABBEY UNITED CHURCH REV. TED VANCE SUNDAY DECEMBER 12th The 3rd Sunday in Advent- JOY! It's your choice: WORSHIP SAFELY AT 10AM! FULL VACCINATION PROOF OR NEGATIVE COVID TEST REQ'D, OR VIEW LIVESTREAM ONYOUTUBE Click on www.glenabbeyunitedchurch.com To help your Church survive the pandemic, please send e-transfers to: donations@glenabbeyunitedchurch.com Thank you and God Bless you! Oakville Seventh-day adventiSt ChurCh tel: 289-830-6717 Mark ewen (Senior Pastor) Carl Cunningham (associate Pastor) dean lashington (lead elder) Twitter: @Oakvillesda Email: oakvillechurchsda@gmail.com Saturday (Sabbath) Worship Service: 10am-1pm Wednesday Evening Service: 6:30pm-7:30pm Thursday Evening Service: 6:30pm-7:30pm Zoom id 867 6764 2331 Password: worship Theme: in Jesus nameWe Press On Website Promotion: www.oakvillesdachurch.org Sienna Caesar and Naya Patel had a chance to make history recently. The two co-captains of the Thomas A. Blakelock High School AA girls bas- ketball team were told, through their coach, that they would be competing in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associa- tions (OFSAA) champion- ships. This would be the first time that the school's girls basketball team would compete provincially. But just as fast as their hopes were raised, their hoop dreams were crushed. They were told they wouldn't be going after all -- and their inclusion was an error. "Some people were cry- ing, some people, you could tell, were frustrated. I was frustrated inside," said Naya. Added Sienna: "It was re- ally devastating and I was really upset. I was more an- gry than sad." A series of emails pro- vided to the Oakville Bea- ver by their coach, Scott Stevens, tells the story of how this happened. On Nov. 4, members of the Golden Horseshoe Ath- letic Conference (GHAC), the local athletic associa- tion TAB belongs to, were informed by OFSAA that a second entry position was available. Second entry is when a second team is al- lowed to enter the OFSAA championship to balance out numbers. GHAC then informed TAB that if it won its Nov. 17 game against St. Mary Catholic Secondary in Hamilton, it would qual- ify for the provincial stage. TAB won the game. After a girl was unable to buy custom merchandise from OFSAA, suspicions arose. Stevens emailed OF- SAA to confirm TAB's en- try. The tournament direc- tor assured Stevens that she "got it all sorted out" and that TAB's team was "in." But then, Acting Execu- tive Director of OFSAA Shamus Bourdon told Ste- vens in a letter that "an un- fortunate error occurred in the association commit- ment process for the 2021 Girls' AA Basketball Cham- pionship." The letter continued: "An additional entry was awarded to GHAC and the entry should not have been offered." The letter went on to explain entries were re- corded improperly. Bourdon apologized in the letter and said that the task to "correct the error" was "difficult." "The girls were warming up at (King's Christian Col- legiate) when I arrived and I had to, with 12 minutes be- fore the tip off, pull the team off the floor. That's when I had to tell them," Stevens said. "You can imagine there were tears. There was shock and anger and disappointment." Stevens emailed back saying he wished the asso- ciation would have ho- noured the second entry and allowed 12 teams to compete instead of 10. In a statement emailed to the Beaver, OFSAA said that it has been "transpar- ent with all parties and we regret any miscommunica- tion during the additional entry process prior to this championship." The statement also said: "All member associations confirmed their participa- tion in the championship and GHAC was notified that a second entry was no longer required." When asked if GHAC did its due diligence to confirm the second entry existed and was genuine, spokes- person Marnie Denton of the Halton District School Board said, "yes, all paper- work concerning the accep- tance of the additional/sec- ond entry was filed with OFSAA correctly." She further said that GHAC found out about the error on "the morning of Friday, Nov. 19, the day (TAB) played King's Chris- tian College." The OFSAA tournament ran Nov. 25 to 27 in Niagara Falls. Stevens told the Beaver he and assistant coach Mi- chael Pearson are proud of the how the girls handled the disappointment. "I think they've shown a lot more grace and consid- eration than some of the adults who made the deci- sion," Stevens said. BASKETBALL TEAM'S CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES DASHED DUE TO 'ERROR' Back row (L-R) - Michael Pearson (Asst. Coach), Emma Zelenovic, Ella Skelton, Clarice Stinson, Adriana Bianchin, Manon Grincourt, Keira Mackenzie, Victoria Petrucelli (Student Teacher), Scott Stevens (Head Coach); Front row (L-R) - Hayden Sims, Emma Oliveira, Abbey Whittington, Sienna Caesar, Naya Patel, Alyssa Mella, Teresa Do, Zania Jackson. Thomas A. Blacklock photo MANSOOR TANWEER mtanweer@metroland.com NEWS