September

• Many of them had never laced up a pair of skates before, but by the end of the week, they were zipping around the ice like seasoned, veteran hockey players. Week two of the 2010 Sunshine Coast Hockey School at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre featured sessions for Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) and the One Goal program — programs designed to introduce younger hockey players to the game.

• Volleyball is king on the Sunshine Coast, as evidenced by a successful summer volleyball camp and summer beach season. The Chatelech Secondary School gym was the setting for the annual Sunshine Coast summer volleyball camp. Thirty-five players in grades 5 to 8 took to the court in the morning followed by 30 players in grades 9 to 12 in the afternoon.

University of British Columbia women’s assistant coach Bethan Thomas was the head coach at the camp assisted by Chat coaches Quinn Campbell and Sara Schutz, Elphinstone Secondary School coaches Dan Tsuji and Brittin Korsch and Roberts Creek Elementary School coach Jan Richey.

• Following on the heals of their resurrected junior golf program, the Sechelt Golf and Country Club (SG&CC) played host to its inaugural Junior Invitational tournament with great success. Twenty-eight players from Vancouver, Gibsons and Sechelt took to the links with Trevor Smith from the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club besting Sechelt junior club champion Cailean Hourigan in a two-hole playoff for the overall title.

• Garden Bay native Kyle Bruce is on the move again.

The Braehead Clan, based in Glasgow Scotland, of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), signed the 27-year-old right-winger to a contact.

• The Sunshine Coast Boxing Club had a new lease on life and a new squared circle to call its own. The club re-located from the Gibsons and Area Community Centre to a new boxing gym at 1010 Chamberlain Road in a building that formerly housed Alta Electric.

The facility is open Monday to Thursday and is permanently set up for boxing.

• Two kickboxers from Ostovic’s Gym in Sechelt showed off their Muay Thai skills at a competition in Seattle, Wash.

Both competitors, Tonya Stephan of Pender Harbour and Rob Michael of Roberts Creek came out victorious at the Ali’ I Warriors Fight Night 3, which was sanctioned by the United Southeast Asian Cultural Associations.

October

• Sunshine Coast senior athletes did their community proud with an impressive medal haul at this year’s B.C. Senior Games.

The Lower Mainland team (zone four) finished third overall in the standings with 337 medals with Coast athletes accounting for 41 of those medals. Vancouver Island North finished first overall with 479 medals. The largest account for the medals came from the swim team as they came home with 34 medals (10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze) — more than double the number of Sunshine Coast medals from the 2009 Games.

• The Elphinstone Cougars were off to a fast start picking up a number of top finishes at volleyball tournaments in the Lower Mainland. Elphi has four teams this season (Grade 8, juvenile/Grade 9, junior/Grade 10 and the senior team, Grade 11/12).

Practices have been going well and as a tune-up for league play, the junior girls team finished third at the Trinity Western University invitational tournament.

• More than 800 enthusiastic young soccer players came out to the Sunshine Coast Youth Soccer Association (SCYSA) training session put on by the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Youth teams from all over the Coast came out with their coaches to take advantage of the chance to learn from some of the best at Kinnickinnik field. Each player received one and a half to two hours of professional training from one of 10 Whitecaps FC coaching staff, here for the two-day event.

• Thirty-two youth, some putting on hockey gear and skating for the first time, received the hero treatment at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre. Year two of the successful Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) program was launched and will run every Friday until March.

• In the seven years that she’s attended the Toronto Marathon as either a webmaster or participant, Halfmoon Bay’s Teresa Nightingale says the event just keeps getting better and better.

And this year was certainly no exception as she finished third in the women’s masters category.

• For the second year in a row, Kirk Nederpelt, assistant golf professional at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club, was nominated as the PGA of B.C. Junior Golf Promoter of the Year.

The four finalists are chosen from different regions and Nederpelt is representing the Lower Mainland. Nederpelt found out he had won the award at a banquet in Penticton.

• Sunshine Coast Boxing Club’s Randy Hollett revealed his character as he won a hard-fought 20-14 point win over Pemberton’s Zak Tomas in a bout held at the Griffins Boxing Club in North Vancouver.

• The Sunshine Coast Martial Arts Academy and instructor Shawn Phillips became certified to teach the Gracie Bully-proof system to local students. In response to the near epidemic of bullying that goes on in today’s schools, the Gracies have developed a program aimed at empowering children of any age to deal with all types of bullying. In fact, the program has been so successful that it has caught the attention of CNN and NBC.

• Winning baseball championships is becoming a regular routine for Gary Pennington, but that doesn’t make it any less sweet. The Howe Sound Hounds won their seventh Lower Mainland Baseball Association (LMBA) championship by defeating the Richmond Legends 8-2. The Hounds, who have been part of the LMBA since its inception in 1994, defeated their long-time rivals with a total all-round team effort. The Hounds still have two original members from 1994, including Pennington, who, at age 74, is still keeping up with league players 30 years younger.

November

• Their first time in the cage proved to be little problem for a pair of up and coming mixed martial arts fighters from the Coast as Jordan Manning and Rick Peers each won their first pro fights at the Battle Field Fight League at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.

• The Harlem Crowns basketball team arrived in Gibsons at Elphinstone Secondary School with some old tricks and some new treats up their sleeves. Not only was it an excellent display of basketball, by both the Crowns and Elphi senior boys, but it was a laugh a minute.

• Dal Ghag has only been competing competitively for two years, but already he is a heavyweight among the weightlifting community.

The 18-year-old graduate of Elphinstone Secondary School in Gibsons, recently finished fifth at the International Powerlifting Federation sub junior and junior World Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

• Halfmoon Bay athletes Larry and Teresa Nightingale both had very strong races at the provincial cross country championships in Aldergrove. They competed in the eight km Masters (40-plus) event, over a tough two km loop course with three significant hills, at Aldergrove Lake Park.

• Halfmoon Bay’s Madison Shoemaker is taking her tennis talents to New York this September after signing a four-year full ride scholarship with Seton Hall University. The 17-year-old who is finishing Grade 12 at Pender Harbour Secondary School, said she is thrilled with the opportunity and can’t wait to get on campus with her new teammates.

• The Elphinstone Cougars have another North Shore banner to hang in their gymnasium. The junior girls volleyball team capped off their impressive season with a three-set sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas to capture the North Shore championship in North Vancouver.

• The recent World Volleyball Championships in Japan were a glass half full, half empty kind of experience for Roberts Creek’s Kyla Richey. Team Canada put in the effort and improved in every match, but the results just didn’t come as Canada finished 22nd in the 24-team tournament. Despite that through, Richey said the experience was amazing.

December

• It was quite the weekend for Teresa and Larry Nightingale of Halfmoon Bay as they both took top honours at a pair of major competitions. In blizzard conditions Teresa won the Masters Women's event at the National Cross Country Championships completing the 8 km course in 31:33. She qualified for Team B.C. by winning the provincial championships in Aldergrove on Oct. 30.

Larry overcame adverse conditions at the Seattle Marathon last Sunday to claim top Masters (40-plus) spot.

• Canadian snooker hot shot Cliff Thorburn put on quite a show at the Sechelt Legion in an exhibition match that provided an afternoon of entertainment to a packed crowd. Local snooker players Vern Joe, Clark Hamilton, Ron Qually and Kerry Eldred put in a gallant effort, but were outdone by Thorburn’s experience.

Thorburn saved his best for last though, as he challenged former Canadian senior champion Len Homenchuk. Thorburn broke the balls to a safety, giving Homenchuk his first shot. Thorburn then proceeded to run the whole table with a magnificent 138 score.

Thorburn then performed his legendary trick shots that kept the large crowd well entertained.

• This time they didn’t blow a four-goal lead.

The Sunshine Coast Hitmen picked up their second win of the season with a 7-5 win over the Mid Island Blazers at the Sunshine Coast Arena in Sechelt in West Coast Senior Men’s Hockey League action.

• The high school wrestling season opened with a flurry of action at Elphinstone Secondary School with the annual Rudolph Rumble.

The Cougars welcomed Balmoral, Sentinel, Collingwood and Arygle who brought more than 60 wrestlers to the Cougars Den for a series of matches.

• The senior boys basketball rivalry between Chatelech and Elphinstone was renewed in Sechelt, but the rivalry didn’t materialize on the scoreboard. In a battle for third place at Chat’s annual tournament, the Eagles opened up an 11-0 first quarter lead and cruised to an easy 70-48 victory.

• Fans were treated to some exciting bantam boys basketball action at the annual Cougar Classic at Elphinstone Secondary School in Gibsons. The top teams from the North Shore, West Vancouver and Handsworth locked horns with the Cougars, Chatelech, St. Thomas Aquinas (STA), Mulgrave, Hugh Boyd from Richmond and Pemberton.