BS - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 12, 2000

| ———_--— Zoe TERRACE STANDARD —__— - — — > ; =
= CHRISTIANAWIENS S PORTS 838-7283

| Clinic launches fastball season

National coaches and players come here to teach youth new skills.

BATTER UP: Pameta Austin practices her swing at
the fastball clinic at Skeena Junior Secondary last
weekend. Austin plays on Terrace's midget team.

YOU KNOW summer’s just around the corner, when
Terrace Minor Fastball hosts their annual spring train-
ing clinic.

This year, organizers of the third annual fastball cli-
nic at Skeena Junior Secondary April 7-9 did some-

ROB BROWN thing special.
They invited the head coach of the women’s natio-

lin nal team,
Check out the es From 1982 ta 1996, Ron Clarke coached the men's
TT practice of splicing fly lines dates back to national team.

antiquity, when anglers knolied together differ- After coaching the women’s team for three years,
ent lengths and widths of horse hair and, later. | he plans to take them to the Olympics in Sydney this
catgut to meet the demands of their fishing. Today, September.
poly vinyl chloride and nylon have supplanted hair Clarke said he likes to talk to minor league coaches

and intestines as the material of choice for carrying
flies to fish. Mono and PVC have only been around a | because they teach the athletes of tomorrow.
“I think this is where it’s at,” said Clarke while on a

i e than 50 years; the idea of shaping them into >
ne ot for a shorter period tha aha with the break from teaching local fastball coaches.
ishing Anes Lor pertoc’. , “We have to get information to grass roots coaches.”

result that some of the pioneer line splicers, like my And with registration numbers dropping across the

good friend Bob Taylor, are still wading rivers. ; country every year, Clarke thinks it’s important to put
Though I can’t substantiate this contention with a the fun back jn fastball.

foomole and a reference, I suspect the first attempt at “There’s too many games,” he said. “We've got to
line splicing with plastics originated in the | get back to practicing.”
Mesopotamia of steelhead fly fishing in Northen That way, he said, young players can build their skills

Califomia, where some fisherman recently converted to the point where they fee! confident about what they’re
from spin casting, knotted 30 feet of lead core trolling ] doing. a
line to a spool of monofilament, attached a shorter And when you're good at fielding and throwing,
chunk of monofil to the front, knotted a fly to the ter- | Clarke says, you can’t help but have more fun.

. , Clarke joined former and current national players
munus and cast the whole works a distance greater than Wendy Sophiak, Chantal Vougen and Lesley Attwelt in
a city block but less than country mile.

: can teaching 40 youth from Smithers, Kitimat and Terrace
As crude and laborious as it is, a small corps of

a , : basic drills they can do to improve their skills.
hardcore leadcote devotees still cling to this surpris- Attwell said she also enjoyed the grass-roots aspect of

ingly effective technique. The problem with lead core, minor ball.
apart from the fact that its use requires a lot of strip- “It’s how I learned,” she said, while teaching 12-year
ping, and that it hangs up on the bottorn with frustrat- -old Kitimat rep player David Wuensche to hit hard and
ing frequency, and the running line gets tangled despite | stay through an odd-looking drill with a plunger and a
the most careful tending, is that once it’s out there in | basketball. .

the currents it acquires a mind of its own and becomes ‘This is what everybody does, she said. “Some of
as difficult to control as a headstrong adolescent. It was | he kids look at you and say ‘you want me to, do what?’
this kind of déviait line behaviour that prompted men JM We Ho these sare ors a mu mee el

like Russ Peak and Bob Taylor to take up line surgery. i mprove her pitchi n : skills. pstin snopes:
Using needle, thread and a foul smelling flexiglue

att
° ; “I think it’s really cool that they came all the way to
called Pliobond, these men patiently peeled the PVC | Terrace,” she said of the national players and coaches.

and stitched together all manner of special tapers. Her team of 16 and 17-year-old girls, called the Ter-
While a new sinking tip built thus might suffice for | race Thunder, should qualify for the provincials in Lan-

some currents, stiffer flaws or colder climes some- |  gley this year.

times demanded faster sinkers . To overcome this, the The bantam provincials will be held here in July.

line surgeons started sewing loops to the ends of heads Local fastball teams are scheduled to hit the fields

with a variety of sink rates and lengths, then cleverly,| May 2, but organizers still have one problem — they

slinni at fishi di- | 8eed more players. .
Sipping the loops together to match the fishing condi Some of the older age divisions are fielding so few

Now, years later, line manufacturers have begun players this year, local teams may be forced to travel
3 :

‘ : ; : just to play a game,
offering off the rack versions of lines formerly tailored “Everythine’s in jeopardy if 1 le a
by the likes of Taylor. The first to light on the shelves ne jepparay Uwe can | opera

season,” said organizer Kelly Yasinchuk.
of sport shops were made by a company called RIO. She encourages girls who want learn the sport to re-

These came in two tapers with four heads, and were | pister for the upcoming season by calling her at 635-
specific to two-handed rods. One version, the Wind | 7144. .

Scope

Youth soccer kicks off

Cutter, was junk. The other version, the Accelerator, “Tt’s only two months of the year, it's recreation, and Cl ke new season

was not very good as a floater, but fished beautifully | it’s good clean fun.” she said. Ron Clarke THE TERRACE youth soccer association season is
when either of the sinking tips were attached to the kicking off with a bang this year and association organi-
running line zers want everyone to know coaches are needed!

oo oo. . . Organizers need coaches in most divisions, girls and

wie raiiuinengaintaen| LOCal skiers Qualify for —— |ytysherstn ates iintcea
7 , eith at 638-7677.

tipped fine that comes in all weights. I bought a six 2 " The youth soccer association also advises all referees

weight for my beloved Hardy five/six and gave this Al r C a Nn ad a Wh ist Ge f C U p thal, according to a BCYSA ruling, all referees must

Hine a workout on the Lakelse River last week. renew their certification annually.

Like the RIO line, the SA comes in a wallet along] =cTACEY BLAKE and To recertify, class 5 referees, aged 12 or older, meet at
with looped heads. The colour of the line is a pale Leah Leclerc attended Northwest Community College in room 1105 Saturday,
green with a fluorescent glow thal is understated but | their first international ski April 29 at 9 a.m, Class 4 referees, aged 14 or older,
highly visible. Because there were salmon fry about, | competition last weekend. meet in room 1101 on April 29 and 30 at the same lime.
tried the floater head first. With it the line reminded me The Shames Mountain For more details, call George at 635-3719.
of Lee Wulff’s triangle taper: a running line attached to | Skiers attended the Air Ca- And natlys mis ais s youth soccer shae swap hap-
a floating head tapered from back to front. When short | ®ada Whistler Cup, for pens Saturday, pri’ 1S at from 10 a.m, to 2 p.m. at the
casts are needed, which is most of the time in trout] Skiers 12 to 15 years old,

Christie Park Pavilion, Drop off is scheduled Friday,
fishing, this taper acts like a double taper, landing soft- | 97 April 14-16. April 14 from 7 to 8 p.m. Call Paulette at 638-1833 for
jy and capable of performing spey and roll casts effort- The event acts as the

more information.
. innacle event of their
lessly, When longer casts are required the lapered head P

Curling winds down with
2000 racing season. ,
pulls the running line a long way enabling a fisherman Both girls qualified Log gers Bo nspiel

to throw longer casts than those allowed by a double | after their outstanding per- TERRACE’S curling season comes to an end April 20-

taper line, . : formances in the provin- 23, with the arena’s bigpest event of th -
i After seven decent trout I slipped offthe floater and] = cial competition at Panor- Men’s Loggers Bonspiel. é year — the

looped on the clear head made of clear intermediate | ama last month. “Loggers ‘spiels usually atlract 40-55 teams and usu-
sinking line. This so-called “slime line” is wonderful Blake placed 14th for ally 20 out of town teams,” said club manager Keith Me-
stuff originally developed for bone fishing, It looks ne 49,13 second nee wee lanson.

like fat monofilament but is extraordinarily ‘supple, Siaiom run, Uniy three sec- The bonspiel committee has lined up $12,000 in
and, since it has no core, nearly invisible. The stuff onds behind Blake, Le- prizes, including four all-inctusive two-day guided sal-
casts beautifully, sinking slow enough to fish a dry fly. Clerc finished 24th in the mon and halibut fishing trips at the Wilp Syoon Wilder-

, : same run, 1s Rie :
With it I spey cast 60 feet using a single haul to gain The girls finished 22nd ae aenee The registration deadline is April 17, Call
the last 10 feet. and 27th in the afternoon + , ;
The heavier the head, the harder itis to cast, yetthe | race. ; were Ron Towney (Monday Mired Lena etal
15-foot head that sinks at three inches per second was In the Giant Slalom

Dougall (Tuesday Men’s League), Kim McDougall

(Wednesday Ladies League), Dave Dennis (Thursday

| Men’s League and Friday Mixed League).

The Dave Dennis, John Evans, Mel Anderson and

| Murray Keln team won the men’s club championship.
Lynn Apolezer, Linda Kawinsky, Lynn Tryon and

Elaine Anderson rink won the ladies division playoff

almost as easy to cast and cast further than the floater. | morning run, Blake and
I tried it jus! above Upper Coldwater and caught a big Leclerc finished three one-
dolly varden and a brace of cutthroat. hundredths of a second
At Lower Coldwater and in the flat tract of water aah and placed 36th and
downstream, I spent two minutes changing -heads overall, ;
again, this time to the dense line supposed to.sink a he ee Better in
half a foot a second according .to its manufacturer, their way to a ast d ne title.
Though not as effortless to work as its lighter counter place Fishes an ——____<—_— : . —— The winners of the Totem Mixed Bonspicl March 31
parts, the heavy line cast better than any similar line | "Jn the men’s downhill ON YOUR MARK: Leah Leclerc blasts off -the sla- Cea ene Andrew Simpson ieam, which “erea
I've used, To spey cast this kind of line is usually an | event at Purden Ski Hill fom starting blocks at the Air Canada Cup at Panor- Hal Vousden and his team took the “Bevent final
impossibility, but I.did, almost. across the river. near Prince George, March ama Mountain Village last month. and the Randy Hall foursome won the ‘C’-event
A leap forward that will make fishing less cluttered ne, 7“ Gingies ame TT F instruclore car More than 30 teams, including seven out of town rinks
he new Sci-Angler lines are a ichael Butler finished: . ts ieuLe- and instructors course, was.” : ‘ dng efi
and more plensant, the ne ci | eler ee TL 7th and 23rd through two lena ‘Menifee. | unabl @ to attend beta use Participated in the three day bonspiel.

‘una, pleted a Level 1 coaching of @ knee injury