Over 1000 gymnasts, coaches and officials will come together in unison and compete for National titles. All four disciplines will hold their championships together under one roof. Ottawa looks forward to hosting Canada for this celebration of gymnastics!

The Venues

The 2013 Canadian Gymnastics Championships will take place on the campus of Carleton University in the centre of Ottawa, just a short drive from downtown.

Rhythmic Gymnastics and Trampoline Tumbling

The competitions for Rhythmic Gymnastics (May 17-21) and Trampoline and Tumbling (May 22-25) will be held in the state of the art Raven’s Nest triple gym, located in the main the main Athletic Centre building (AC).

Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics

The competitions for Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics will take place in the Fieldhouse (FH) which is located north of the main Athletic Centre building. Click here for a campus map; Athletics Centre is marked (AC).

Canadian Gymnastics Championship Website

Denis Blondin joins the Jr. Storm U-18 team, focusing on the squad’s forwards. Blondin is the head coach of Carleton University’s varsity women’s rugby program. He also has a wealth of experience within Rugby Ontario’s Jr. women’s program, coaching U-17 and U-19 sides from 2006 to 2010. Blondin is currently completing a doctorate degree in human kinetics at the University of Ottawa.

Head coach Sean Dunleavy comes to the team with experience coaching at representative, club, and collegiate levels. Dunleavy is a mainstay within Queen’s University’s rugby program, having been an assistant coach of the school’s varsity women’s rugby program since 2002. Dunleavy brings prior experience within Rugby Ontario’s Jr. Women’s programs, coaching with the U-17 team from 2007 to 2010, including a role as head coach. He is also the head coach of the Kingston Panthers U-18 women’s team, and is a former head coach of their senior women’s team (’11). He is also the head coach of the Napanee District Secondary School’s girls’ rugby program.

Joining Blondin as an assistant coach is Dan Valley, focusing on the squad’s defence. Valley is currently an assistant coach with the Canadian National Women’s U-20 team, is the head coach of the Oakville Trafalgar High School’s girls’ rugby program, and is heavily involved in the rugby nonprofit Gainline Africa. Valley also has prior experience with the Rugby Ontario Jr. Women’s program, coaching at the U-17 level in 2009. He is currently completing a Masters of Sport Coaching degree through the University of Queensland.

Rounding out the staff is incoming team manager Susan Heald. Though Heald is new to the Jr. Storm program, she has plenty of team management experience through the Queen’s University varsity women’s rugby team, where she is both the captain and president. Heald is also a former Rugby Ontario player at several levels as well as a national team age-grade player, representing Canada at the U-20 and U-19 levels.

The Jr. Storm U-18 team is set to play fixtures against other Canadian rep sides throughout the summer months, and will see their season culminate at the 2013 National Championship Festival, held Aug. 7-11 in Vancouver.

The Carleton Ravens were represented at the event with 3 student-athletes participating as well as the Head Coach Sandy MacKie on the East All-Star Team. “Michael Calof, Joey Kewin and Sam McHugh all played significant roles in the game,” says MacKie. “It was a great game for OUA Soccer and Carleton Ravens in particular”.

Kewin comments that “The game was a good one. Both sides were relatively equal, tons of quality on each.” The game appeared to be a tie at 3-3 until Team West scored within minutes from the game’s end. “It’s a lot of fun playing with players of the ability because everthing flows. It was more competitive than most all-star games, which was nice.”

All-Star Team East in Vaughan, ON

The U20 Team Ontario will centralize for a training camp in Montreal on Saturday June 29th. This is to prepare for the 2013 Youth Cup Tournament in Montreal from July 1-7th that include Provincial Teams form BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.

Six Ravens will be playing with the Capital Wave Water Polo Club at the Under 22 National Event in Gatineau May 24-26th:

• Evie Marshall – Goalie – (Ottawa): MVG at 2012 OUA Championships & 2012-13; Outstanding Female Raven Graduating Athlete

• Sarah McIlveen (Scarborough): MVP at 2012 OUA Championships & 2012-13 Ravens MVP; All-Star at Senior Nationals

• Meaghan Broddy (Calgary)

• Veronica Rojas (Ottawa)

• Natalie Luciano (Ottawa): 2012-13 Rookie of the Year

• Ceilidh Parsons (Ottawa)

Smythe now joins the CIS national champion Carleton Ravens to make them a bigger threat in every sense of the word. He also had an offer from Niagara (NCAA) but in the end, the #1 team in Canadian university basketball wouldn’t be turned down.

“I chose CU because I thought it was a great fit for my style of play. CU also has great coaching and it is shown in past years by getting CIS championships. They are clearly doing something right with the program and I want to be a part of it,” Smythe told NPH.

The 7’0 centre is very skilled with a good passing game and a dependable shooting stroke that stretches out behind the arch at times. Defensively, his length will help him alter and block shots while snatching rebounds over his opposition.

On the other hand, Smythe’s weakness has always been his physical strength, which he’s been working on over the past season, adding 15 pounds of muscle.

“I still need to get a lot stronger but that will come with time and hard work sticking to the weight room.”

This is an exciting addition for the Ravens as Smythe has great upside, and will undoubtedly be pushed under Dave Smart, the Ravens coaching staff and each member on the team.

“Going up against Tommy, Tyson, and others will be very beneficial for me in my freshman year because I am playing against the best players in the country every day,” said Smythe.

“Tommy and Tyson have such high accolades in that regard. Learning from them will just push my developement so much further in a posititive way.”

Written by: Tariq Sbiet

Link to original article

– Sportsnet is the new home of the Vanier Cup, starting in 2013

– The Score to be main hub of CIS coverage, continuing longstanding tradition of delivering university sports

– Multiplatform deal includes rights for television, online and mobile

TORONTO (May 8, 2013) Sportsnet today announced it has reached a six-year agreement with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the national governing body of university sport in Canada, for the multiplatform rights to an all-encompassing portfolio of sports across television, online, and mobile.

The agreement, which begins this season and runs through the 2018/19 school year, features expanded coverage of men’s and women’s CIS sports, headlined by the Vanier Cup and including the following marquee events: Football (Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl), Men’s and Women’s Hockey Championships; Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, and more to be announced at a later date.

Coverage for the 2013-14 season features 13 events, beginning with men’s football later this year. Sportsnet’s The Score will be one of the main hubs of CIS coverage, continuing its strong tradition of broadcasting university sports and amateur athletics, which began in 2002. Broadcast details will be announced in the coming weeks.

“CIS athletes have proven they can compete at world-class levels, and now they will receive the world-class coverage they deserve,” said Navaid Mansuri, Vice-President, Programming, Sportsnet. “The CIS is a highly-valued, long-term partner, and we look forward to working with them to significantly increase the profile of Canadian university sports and expose the country to some of our best athletes and stars in the making – along with sharing the game-day excitement from campuses across Canada. The sky is the limit from here.”

“This is a historic day for university sport in Canada,” said Pierre Lafontaine, Chief Executive Officer of CIS. “This expanded, long-term partnership with Sportsnet will help elevate the CIS brand and provide our 11,000 student athletes, 700 coaches and 54 member institutions the recognition they deserve. It will serve to shine a light on the many outstanding accomplishments of our student-athletes who will move on to become future leaders in this country and around the world.”

In addition to the various men’s and women’s events, Sportsnet now becomes the exclusive home of the Vanier Cup, the historic championship football game played each season between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. This year, the 2013 Vanier Cup will take place on Saturday, Nov. 23 on the campus of Université Laval in Quebec City. The Vanier Cup will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2014.

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Jenny Vaughan (Dundas, Ont.) of the Western Mustangs and Carleton rookie Lindsay Shotbolt (Markham, Ont.) were named OBA Players of the Game for the West and East, respectively. Vaughan notched 14 points for Team West, meanwhile Shotbolt was the game’s leading scorer, putting up an impressive 22 points in her team’s losing effort.

The OUA Women’s Basketball All-Star game headlined an action packed weekend in Sault Ste. Marie. On Friday afternoon, the all-stars visited Holy Cross Elementary School and talked to a group of enthusiastic grade seven students about what it takes to be a successful student-athlete. Following the school visit, the athletes and coaches were honoured at a dinner attended by representatives from Algoma University and Ontario Basketball.

The following morning, the all-stars joined Head Clinician and Algoma Thunderbirds women’s basketball Head Coach Ryan Vetrie to lead an OBA Mega Hoops Clinic at Algoma University.

Following the clinic, the all-star’s shooting ability was put to the test in the annual OUA Recharge with Milk 2-Ball Contest. Celebrity shooters included Brier-winning curler Ryan Harnden and CTV Northern Ontario sports broadcaster Lincoln Louttit. Teamed up with Algoma University Director of External Relations, Kevin Hemsworth, all-stars Liz Boag (Kingston, Ont.) of the Queen’s Gaels and Rachael Sider (New Westminster, B.C.) of the Toronto Varsity Blues outshot the competition and were named the 2013 2-Ball champions during halftime of the all-star game.

The all-stars were treated to brunch at the home of Algoma University President, Dr. Richard Myers, on Sunday morning.

“Algoma University did an outstanding job as host of the 2013 OUA Women’s Basketball All-Star Game,” said Ward Dilse, OUA Executive Director. “The hospitality was top-notch and it was great to see the town of Sault Ste. Marie come out to support OUA basketball. We’re looking forward to the Algoma Thunderbirds joining OUA league action this fall.”

Prior to flying home on Sunday evening, the all-stars handed out medals and banners at the OBA U15 Midget Girls Provincial Championship. A number of all-stars were fortunate enough to hand out hardware to their former OBA club teams and coaches, highlighting the close tie between OBA development and Ontario University Athletics.

“Ontario Basketball is proud of its growing relationship with Ontario University Athletics. Our partnership is a true definition of collaboration,” said Michael Cvitkovic, Executive Director of Ontario Basketball. “Combining the OUA Women’s All-Star Game with Ontario Cup girls championships, educating upcoming OBA players about financial assistance for OUA student-athletes, and growing Mega Hoops community programming through OUA channels are just some of the ways our two organizations are working together for the growth of the game and its stakeholders.”

OUA West Division first team all-star from McMaster Hailey Milligan (Brantford, Ont.) spoke on behalf of the OUA all-stars.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate this weekend as an OUA all-star. The experience in Sault Ste. Marie can only be described as amazing. I really enjoyed participating in the OBA Mega Hoops clinic, presenting OBA winners with medals and visiting Holy Cross. These events allowed us athletes to connect and share our successes with the next generation of basketball players. The highlight of my weekend was being able to spend time with the best female basketball players around Ontario. On the court we can compete and play with an intensity that is bar none, yet once we were able to take off our shoes and leave the gym, we made memories that will last a lifetime. I look forward to playing each and everyone of them again next year, but I am more excited about the friendships that we developed together.”

OUA recognizes the following sponsors for their support of this event; Recharge with Milk, Wilson Sports Equipment of Canada, Ontario Basketball (OBA), Porter Airlines and Algoma University.

Ontario University Athletics (OUA) recognized Brianna De Souza (4th Year Commerce) from Carleton Women’s Soccer as one of nineteen female scholar-athletes from across the province at a luncheon held on May 7 at Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst, Ont.

The event honoured female student-athletes who have excelled in their chosen sports and fields of study. Canadian women’s national soccer team midfielder Diana Matheson spoke at the luncheon. Diana told those in attendance about her personal journey through the Canadian soccer ranks. She talked about the importance of having a vision, and how that vision can translate into reality once every member of the team understands and buys into the goal.

“The team had two visions for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. We wanted to leave a legacy in the history of Canadian soccer and we wanted to stand on the podium. Once we had determined our vision, the rest came easy.”

After a heartbreaking loss to the Americans in the Olympic semifinal, Diana scored the the winning goal in the 92nd minute of the bronze medal match versus France to earn the Canadian team a place on the podium.

Diana emphasized the importance of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone and learning in order to grow and develop as both an athlete and as a person. Diana applauded the young women for their drive to succeed in each of their academic, athletic and community related pursuits.

Breanne Hilhorst, Lakehead’s 2013 Woman of Influence served as valedictorian and spoke eloquently on behalf of the award winners.

“It was such an amazing experience to be here. Being a woman in sport is so important, and something I hold such pride in, as do the rest of the female athletes here today,” said Hilhorst. “Listening to Diana was amazing. She told all of our stories, we all came from small towns and small teams, or have had a door shut on us at some point. Hearing about her success inspires us to achieve our dreams too.”

OUA recognizes and thanks the following sponsors for their support of this event; belairdirect, Centaur Products, Pioneer Energy and Wilson Sports Equipment of Canada.

ABOUT ONTARIO UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and its 20 member institutions are developing Champions For Life. Giving 9,000 student-athletes the opportunity to excel academically and on the playing field, while preparing for life after university. For more information, visit OUA.ca.

For additional information, please contact:

Jessica Barrett

Communications & New Media

Ontario University Athletics

905-540-5156