24 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 Representing Britain great experience for swimmer By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF Play at the plate For as long as she lives, Jennifer Knobbs will never forget it. Despite being submerged under water, she could still hear the waves of cheers coming from the crowd. From the time she was nine years old -- two years after she began synchronized swimming -- Knobbs had been saying one day she would be an Olympian. And now here she was, swimming in front of the entire world. For every Canadian kid who has ever dreamed of going to the Olympics, the dream is the same: competing in front of huge crowd, winning a medal and hearing O Canada played as the red and white flag is raised. For a dedicated few athletes, that dream comes true. For most, though, it remains just a dream with so many things to derail an athlete looking to Jennifer Knobbs reach the elusive goal of becoming an Olympian. And then there is Knobbs. The Oakville synchro swimmer's dream did not play out exactly as she pictured it in her mind. Instead, it turned out better. Knobbs was 19 when Canada's Olympic team departed for Beijing. It had been a dozen years since she began synchronized swimming. She had enjoyed plenty of success, winning multiple national and provincial titles, earning a spot on Canada's junior team and finishing fifth at the world junior championships. In 2008, she earned a spot on the national B team and moved to Montreal to train with the Canadian squad. Knobbs's Olympic dream seemed to be on the right track. But with the national team trials approaching the following year, she left the national team and disappeared from the Canadian synchro scene. "I just wasn't very happy," Knobbs said, "and if you're doing something over 40 hours a week, you'd better enjoy doing it." Knobbs had not abandoned her Olympic dream, though. Nor had she given up her sport. British passport Born and raised in Canada, Knobbs always held a British passport. Her father was born in England and See Swimmer, page 25 ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG PIRATES WIN OLL JUNIOR TITLE: Pirates baserunner Cody Dunn (in yellow) tries to get under the tag of the Rays catcher during Sunday's Oakville Little League junior division championship game at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre. The Pirates built a big lead and then barely held off a Rays rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 13-12. Burloak third at national championships Led by its two Olympic medal-winning paddlers, the Burloak Canoe Club won the senior men's burgee and finished third overall at the Canadian Sprint CanoeKayak Championships last weekend in Dartmouth, N.S. Adam van Koeverden, fresh off his silver-medal performance in the men's kayak singles (K-1) 1,000-metre event in London, continued his reign as Canada's top 500m and 1,000m male paddler. Van Koeverden won his tenth straight national K-1 1,000m title and added his seventh straight victory in the 500m. Mark Oldershaw, who earned Olympic bronze in the men's canoe singles (C-1) 1,000m, collected his fourth straight victory in the 1,000m, his seventh consecutive win in the 500m and his second straight title in the 200m. Burloak also had several gold-winning teams. The senior men's canoeing fours team of Jamie Andison, Mark Klevinas, Tom Thrall and Oldershaw nabbed their second win in as many years. The 15-member war canoe team of Rob Clarke, Cory Rublee, Jordan Vanveen, Geoff Clarke, Chris Andison, Aaron Rublee, Chris Mehak, Rob Sargent, Adam Oldershaw, Mark Oldershaw, Andison, van Koeverden, Klevinas and Thrall took home Burloak's ninth straight national title. For the fourth straight year, Burloak's women's war canoe team earned gold. That team included Abby Haines, Lise-Anne Laplante, Alanna Bray-Lougheed, Tessa Oldershaw, Delaire Nicholson, Rebecca Yoshida, Lucy Pennyfather, Lauren Clarke, Jillian Perrone, Taylor Potts, Courtney Stott, Dayna Wong, Morgan Oliver, Sheila Mehrvar and Mark Oldershaw. Van Koeverden teamed with Brady Reardon, Chris Mehak and Geoff Clarke to win the K-4 1,000m, extending Burloak's title run that began in 2005. Van Koeverden and Reardon also won the K2 1,000m. Jeremy Stott, Mark Oldershaw, Andison and Klevinas won the junior men's C4 1,000m; Courtney Stott and Bray-Lougheed won the junior women's K-2 500m; Haines, Mehrvar, Laplante See Burloak, page 25