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Junior Slider next year? by Fred Ford Without Junior participation a sport has no future. Curling in Scugog Township has a great future, Every week there are over 40 Little Rock Curlers playing hard at the Port Perry Curling Club. The Port Perry Club has made a+ major investment in the Little Rocks and have purchased or leased a set for each sheet. There ip no High School curling this year at Port but with so many curlers being generated by Little Rock I can see that junior curling will be a force to contend with in the next few years. This draws curlers from all over the Township and so I am sure that Blackstock Curling Club will benefit too. Meanwhile at the Blackstock Curling Club, junior curling thrives. The High Schoolers led by Mn. Scott will be combining teams for the second light with the Public School curlers led by Marie James, Mrs. Beaton, Dave Shearman and Sharon Logan. I dropped by last Tuesday and just some of the kids that I saw there having a great time are Scott Swain, Matt Bell, Kirk Swain and Mark Shearman. They will be playing for a new trophy that was donated this year. I wonder who will be the first team to have their names decorate Yt. Hopefully a healthy competition will be generated between these two Clubs and there cquld be a Junior Golden Slider Challenge for 1997. 'We will update you on the Blackstock Men's Curling Golden Slider standings next week. The fourth prestigious Golden Slider Challenge will be held at Blackstock Curling Club on February 26, 1996. We have lined up our sponsors and hope that you will support, them with your business. I will be mentioning a few of them each week, so we want to thank M&M Meat Shop, Blackstock Country Hardware, Bank of Montreal, Cashway Building Centres and Country Lane Realty. Support them, they do support us. Watch for how you cah win $50. for just reading our Golden Slider ad. Sports Cor ner by Todd Healey Quiz time. Think of smalltown Canadiana in the depths of winter. An easy enough task at the moment, right? Now where do you suppose the real action js during winter in a small town? The Municipal Office? Not. The yimmerings and yammerings concerning budgets this time of year are about as interesting as Gilligah's Island re-runs. (They both start out as 3 hour tours only to become never-ending sagas). The lake? Maybe on special event weekends but not over the long haul. No, the real hot spot, the hub of town in winter, is without a doubt the arena. Beyond the sheer volume of humanity that crosses it's threshold on a weekly basis, the games played in this facility are capable of stirring passions rivaled only by hormones. The brief ire of constituents towards local politics pales in comparison to the bonfires of debate raging in coffeeshops and on streetcorners created by a bad call during a critical playoff game. But the real games, are played off the ice by people and characters from all aspects of life which give any sport it's flavour. The parents of rep hockey players are a story in themselves. By large, the same players stay in rep hockey throughout their minor hockey careers and consequently, the same parents follow them. This scenario allows and promotes the natural progression of cliques, which happen in such a slow manner over the course of years that most parents are not, consciously aware of it, And like any rou spending a comparatively large amount of time together, idiosyncrasies abound. Some members have personality clashes (this is only natural) and some like each other too much (this too, is also natural). But collectively, they share a common altruistic goal, which is to lend vocal 'and moral support to their children. Is the presence of parents at the games important to the kids? You bet. How often have you heard of a young phenom spending his first bonus cheque on a dish for his parents so they wouldn't miss any of his games? This is a gesture as much for his benefit as'it is for Mom and Dad. The parents of goaltenders are of special interest because of their unique lot in the spectators world. Given that most coaches employ goalies alternately, their sons will play only half of the time. Come playoff time, again depending on the coach, this split may become more along the lines of 70-30. And yet, they. seem to bear their cross of fandom remarkably well, attending all the games, suffering the emotional highs and lows vicariously through their children, who play a position which, though solitary in nature, has several moments throughout the course of the game that directly influences the fate of the entire team. The players themselves are non-descript on the ice, all wearing identical uniforms and equipment. But once removed from the ice and stripped of their armor, they are as individual as any group of young kids - some with long hair, some with short, clothing styles representing every era from the hippies to the yuppies. But if you look closer, you notice that the game never truly leaves them for almost all of them wear, in varying degrees, crest or paraphernalia of NHL teams. Obviously the dream is always at the surface even if the talent is not. And talent, after all, helps determine off-ice traits as well as on. To view young hockey players off the ice at their most transparent, emotionally vulnerable stage is to attend early season try-outs. The kids can be basically lumped into 3 categorjes: the made its, the maybe make its, and the won't make its. The make its and the won't make its are easily identifiable by their nonchalance. The made its straggle into the arena scant minutes before their ice-time, revelling in their exclusivity. They know they won't be cut unless they cause trouble, so they push the envelope far enough to demonstrate fuperiority but not so far s to jeopardize their position. The won't make its are also tardy but for a different reason. Any athlete knows in their heart of hearts when they are competing against superior talent and do not need a coach to enlighten them. Knowing their pssition in the talent pool, they consequently put forth very little effort in both on and off the ice endeavours. It becomes much easier for these players to be cut and say "Well, I didn't make the team because I didn't try" than to say "I was cut because .others were better". The maybe make its are in no-man's land. They know they are on the bubble and therefore do everything in their power to enhance their odd§. They arrive to the arena early, standing in the most conspicuous areas, hoping the coaches notice their dedication. They risk conversation with the coaches, hoping to gleen a hint as to their fate. When they take to the ice, their ID numbers are pinned perfectly to their backs, ensuring there will be no error as to their identity. And they hope. With all of these distractions, how is one to focus simply on the game being played on the ice? Certainly, one is able to identify with John Lennon when he sang of "sitting here watching the wheels go round and round". Bored of winter? Come to the arena and take in a game. Or the games. Scugog Citizen -- Tuesday, January 23, 1996 -- 23 --- \ | Home RENOVATIONS Colorations provides top quality products Laurie Lyon of Color- ations Paint & Wall- coverings has been in the business for almost 8 years now. She started for Jennifer Cherry just after she opened in January 1988. Laurie worked part- time for two years-while studying Interior Design at Durham College, in their full diploma course. In 1994, she bought the store and changed the paint line to 'Para' in June 1995. She now operates under the name 'Colorations Paint & Wallcoverings'. Laprie specializes in providing a top quality product at an excellent price. Being an indepen- dent retailer, she is able to negotiate sales on every- thing from paint and brushes, to wallpaper and blinds, This allows her to pass these savings on to her customers. When part of a franchise, all goods were bought at a certain price, and sold at a certain price. Currently, Colorations has 156 wallpaper bins and approximately 130 border patterns, all at half price or better. They also have about 170 sample books with a varity on sale 12 months of the year. As astore owner living in Port Perry, the dollars spent in my store stay in + our community. Customer Service sets Colorations apart from their competition. They give value, top quality paint at comparable prices, quality and choice of in- stock patterns, a comfort- able atmosphere in a large, inviting, 2000 ft. store. Being independent also allows Colorations to be more flexible in the goods for sale. Colorations has the only 'Wallpaper Ladder' pro- gram in Port Perry. The program consists of 40 wallpapers and 20 borders from a reputable supplier, Provincial Wallcoverings. Add that to 160 inbtock wallpapers, and 180 instock borders, and you have the largest stock program in Port Perry. They also have attest to's a spectometer, which is a colour match computer. Just bring in a competitors colour number and we will make the colour in 'Para Paint'. Our customer service, quality & price therefore value, choice, and expertise are the reasons our customers return time and time again. 985-3 7272 SEAGRAVE INTERIORS ( MINI & VERTICAL BLINDS | ogg Clebrating 14 years in business! FREE SHOP AT HOME SERVICE Pat Fisher 985-8218 OVERRIDGE 02920 4 WAX SR U.N 048 21 5 (0) BS) 8 FAIR PRICING & GUARANTEED SERVICE ... Right Here-at Home! 180 CASIMIR STREET, PORT PERRY The Perfect Fire A builder's and homeowney's dream ... A full-sized, cost and highly heat efficient gas fireplace for new home construction and rerlovations. (905) 985-071 1-800-638-4751 . HUGE SELECTION of IN-STOCK (07. V2 {od 03 VINYL 155 MAIN STREET UXBRIDGE AEMNANTS , For your Free Estimate Call : 852-9215