B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Navember 13, 2002

| TERRACE Ss ANDARD

.. SPORTS.

638-7283

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SKEENA ANGLER | - ROB BROWN

Bear Scares

wanted to return to the Totems’ Run I in the worst way. Two days earlier I’d found myself alone on the middle’ teaches except for two young fellaws fishing spoons over crimson coho in at deep pool I hadn’t planned to fish anyway.

I waded below them and fished Bannister’s. without touching a fish. 1 made the wade to the. tun I’ve called Ramsey’s Favourite since the, time [ ran into Ron Ramsey there some 20 years, ago. He was casting at bright coho lying in dark water with a rifle slung over his shoulder,

“Fishin” or huntin’?” | asked.

“The last time I was here,” said a very ser- ious Ron, “a big grizzly put the run on me. I’m_ not going through that again.”

At Ron's run a large cutthroat smashed my fly on its second pass through the riffle. Shortly after that I beached one almost as big.

Things are looking up, | thought; and indeed they were, for at Spruce Grove Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout - some of impressive size —. beat on my fly so badly its wire rib snapped and the palmered grizzly hackle came unwound. The fish were still biting when I looked at my watch and realized there was no time to fish on if ] was to make an afternoon appointment.

Now, two days later, I was back, eager to fish the Totems’ Pool, one of the most produc- tive runs on the entire river. As before, two an- glers were working the pools upstream of where [ wanted to fish.

Unable to resist, I stopped at Bannisters fora few casts to ‘confirm that the fish Wweré still there. As I was playing my third fish, Greg Buck and his friend, Frank, appeared on the trail op-. posite me. They were packing gear and fly rods. ; I noticed that Frank had a canister of bear re- pellent stuffed into the taps of his neoprene wa-. ders.

Seeing Greg on the river is a mixed blessing. Having worked with him at Nicholas Dean; |

knew he was a good fisherman which meant we ~

would be pool hopping from here on in unless [ put some distance between us.

“You fishing the next one down?” | asked, then told him I'd hop down to the Totems’ when he said that he planned to.

[I beared down and fished the Totems’ care- fully, but caught only one small Dolly Varden. | left it and the adjacent pool and strode down- stream until ] reached Gledhill’s where there were fish aplenty, including a ferocious looking summer steelhead,

Sated, I had lunch and made my way back upstream, wondering how far Greg and Frank had fished. ] found them in the Biuff Pool. Frank was playing a ripe coho he’d hooked on a pink jig. Greg was looking upstream.

“A grizzly came out of the side channel up there,” said Greg. “We came down here to get out of his way.”

I looked around the bend. No bear there.

“Maybe we should head upstream together,” I suggested.

Greg who had been charged by a black bear this summer when out fishing with his three year old son, Josh, needed no convincing. He called Frank and the three of us made our way up- stream behind my dog.

“He’s right there,” said Frank.

“T don’t see him,” I was looking upstream.

“In the grass,” said Greg.

I looked across the Totems’ Run to where the bear had hunkered down in a meadow of yellow grass at streamside, a mere 40 feet across the shallow run from us. His giant brown head moved as he followed our passage. | looked to Paws. She hadn't noticed, her nose obviously filled with the scent of decaying sal- mon.

“Look at him just sitting there,” said Frank ‘contemptuously, incorrectly ascribing some de- vious, malevolence to the bruin.

We waded the fast channel sloshing through a knee-high pile of ghostly humpbacks before . reaching Spruce Grove.

Greg said, “I think we'll stop and fish here again.”

“It’s all yours,” I said generously.

I stopped and pulled some more trout from Mink Creek. The long grass on the island behind me now seemed mysterious and troubling. I re- called telling Fred Seiler, the CEO of Silvertip Eco Tours, of the fresh bear tracks with long claws I'd seen last season.

Fred grabbed his camera, his shooting tool of preference these days, and hunted the area, re- turning with some nice close ups and reported that there were five different brown bears in the area.

Not wanting to bump into another bruin, |

made my way back to the truck with haste,

Visualizing success

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN WHEN {T comes to swimming, the Terrace Bluebacks are all about technique.

While competitive swimmers rain lo post. faster times, the Bluebacks fotlow the philosophy that top times also come through Visualization, ~

With the help of Prince Geor- ge-based sports psychologist, Dr. Peter Usher, club members: have been working on goal-setting and

‘mental imaging for the past three

years.

“The swimmers have a number of cue words,” explains head coach Mike Carlyle. “This cues them into the technique that we're looking for to have those great strokes.”

“Cyclops eye,” for example, is a cue to help freestyle swimmers with their breathing technique.

“One eye is just out of the water and the other eye is in,” explains Alastair Beddie, 12, about rembering to keep only one eye, like a cyclops, above the water,

By doing this and using an- other cue — “the broomstick” ~ keep the body in line, swimmers avoid wasting energy and creating resistance. Limiting resistance translates into better technique and faster times, says Carlyle.

Athletes say using cue words is making them better swimmers.

Chris Morris, i7, has been swimming competitively for 10 years.

He spent the first six years training with the Kitimat Marlins and hooked up with the Blue- backs four years ago when his fa- mily moved to Terrace. Morris says the two programs are very different — the emphasis on visua-

CHRIS MORRIS. 17, demonstrates the “cyclops eye" — a cue to remind ‘him that just one eye should rise above the water while taking a breath, SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

lization is something he didn’t learn with the Marlins, but it’s central to the Terrace program.

Cue words help Morris improve on his form particularly during his specialty — long distance races, Races such as the 1,500 freestyle test his focus and endurance.

“Sometimes your shoulders start to really hurt,” Morris says. “That's what happens in a race — you get tired and more sloppy which makes you even more tired.”

It’s times like these where cue words help him focus. Poorly ex- eculed turns can add unwanted seconds to a time, Thinking of cue words such as “rocket off the wall” or “spin dryer” help Morris concentrate on harnessing his. en-

ergy off the wall and getting-into-

his turn quickly. “Tt makes a big difference

when they are petting tired,” agrees Carlyle. “It will help them understand better what techniques they have to use to do the great job.”

Each athlete keeps a swim- mer’s stroke checklist which re- cords how well they’re translating cue words into proper form.

Bluebacks are evaluated on every aspect of each stroke — from the timing of breathing, to arm and leg positions to how turns and kicks are being executed. The team took advantage of a recent all-level regional swim meet in Kitimat to concentrate on the tim- ing of turns using the checklist.

“We were the only ones who took the initiative to time the turns,” says Carlyle. “By doing

that focus now,. at-the beginning’

of the season, it will pay divi- dends at the end of the year.”

Beddie says focussing on cue words is helping him work toward achieving goals.

He posted a major success at the Kitimat meet earlier this month by meeting the age group provincials qualifying time in the boys I-12 200m breaststroke. It was the first time he’s achieved a provincial level qualifying, time.

Now he’s working on the 100m butterfly. At the beginning of the season his time in thal event was 1:42 - with his goal being 1:22.

That's a whopping 20 seconds ta take off. In Kitimat, Beddie proved he’s on the right track — he took six seconds off his time and posted a 1:36 in that race.

“Bang and pow,” he says smil- ing. “With your legs you-da ‘two kicks. ‘Bang’ is the small one and i ‘pow’ is the finishing kick.”

Now visualize that.

F E > : : TYLER SHEASBY, above, and the rest of the Ker- mades are off to Burnaby to battle it out in the pro- vincial AA high school boys soccer championships.

Kermode boys win soccer zones

THEY'VE done it again. The Caledonia Kermodes boys soccer team has

earned a spot at the provincial AA high school cham- -

pionships for the second year running. The zone finals were held in Prince Rupert Nov. 2

and saw Smithers, Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert.

battle for a spot at the provincials,

Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth Senior Secondary defeated |

Smithers 3-1 in round robin play earning a spot in the fi- nals against Terrace. Terrace defeated Prince Rupert 7-1 en route to the fi-

nals, Continued Pg. B10

Bantams nail second spot at AAA tourney

THE TERRACE Inland Kenworth Bantam reps are adding some wins to their record after going on the road recently for a AAA tournament in Quesnel.

.The Terrace crew proved they’ve got what it takes to play in a level up from them — the local ban- tams plays at the AA level, making the Nov. 1-3 tournament a good chai- lenge for the team.

The first game of the tournament saw the bays face the Fort St. John AAA Bantam reps but the team lost that one 8-4,

Tristan Murray scored two goals while Ryland Findlay and Bryan: Hull

_added singles.

The next day Terrace was in better shape and came out on top in a game against the Quesnel AAA

*, Thunder 8-3. Bryan Hull

chalked up a hat trick with singles coming from Ry- land MacDonald, Brad To-

manocy, Calen Findlay and Adam Gillis.

Next up was the Daw- son Creek AA Bantam Ca- nucks — host team of the 2003 AA provincial cham- pionships.

Terrace won 7-1 on two goals courtesy of Bryan Hull and singles by Kenny McColl, Ryland MacDo- nald, Tristan Murray, Tay- lor Quinn and Brad Toma- nocy.

“In the championship

game we faced Fort St.

John again,” John Amos.

It was an uphill battle with Terrace starting out slowly, going down 2-0 in the first two minutes. The boys came back and tied it up 6-6 going into the third,

But Fort St. John out- scored the Terrace team in the last frame and ended up on top 9-7. The final game saw loads of scoring opportunities for Terrace but the pipes just seemed

says coach

+

to be too close together.

“We hit five poal posts in that final game,” says Amos. “Bryan Hull hit four of them and he already had three goals.”

Terrace netminder Eric Bevan played very well given he was in net for all of the tournament’s games because the bantam’s other goalie, Travis Gor- iak, was ill, Amos says. Despite the loss the ban- tams still came home with a second place finish.

“They were down a lit- tle but we told them any time you can get to the final in a AAA tournament is a good thing,” he says.

The team is also work- ing on some off-ice train- ing to help the players de- velop more endurance.

They’re hoping to have another go at the Fort. St. John team Nov. 15-17 when they hit the ice in a Williams Lake AAA tour- nament.

Medal haul marks martial arts tourney

YOU COULD cali it a gold medal weekend.

Thirteen martial artists from the Northern TaeKwon-Do Academy in Terrace took part in the Burns Lake regional tournament and man- aged to come home loaded up with 21 medals among the group.

The Terrace group's performance at the end of October was exceptional and earned kudos from tournament organizer Al Ford whoe com- mended the Terrace athletes for their conduct and attitude al the tournament.

One of the tournament highlights came in an outstanding performance by Trina West- Johnson. The local teen was taking part in the girls 13-16 blue belt division and earned a gold medal for her palterns, but when it came to sparring she faced some tough competition.

“The two girls in her category were just way smaller than her,” explains instructor David Burk.

Because there wasn’! another women’s sparring category for her to fight in, she ended up in an open men’s category which saw com-

petitors of all ages and weight levels partici- pating.

West-Johnson didn’t earn a medal — but she did manage to log an impressive win against her first opponent — a 32-year-old blue belt.

“The first guy she fought was built like a iruck — like someone you'd see in wreslling,” says Burk. “She creamed him.”

In subsequent fights she met talented, ath- letic competitors which accounted for her standing outside of the top three.

In the yellow belt boys aged five to eight category, Reid Genaille, 6, picked up a gold medal for sparring and a silver in patterns. Oscar Farkvam earned a gold in patterns and a silver in sparring in the same category.

Bays fighting at the same age level but wearing the green belt also did well.

Robby Wallington picked up two gold me- dals — one in sparring and one in patterns. Tory Taphouse earned a silver in both events. and Andrew Martel earned a bronze in each cate-

gory.

The yellow and green belt boys’ aged nine- 12 division saw Evan Farkvam and Stephan Martel tie for silver medals in patterns.

Christina Farkvam, fighting in the gitls 13- 17 yellow belt category, picked up silver me- dals in sparring and patterns,

Andrew Coates earned a gold for sparring in ihe green and biue belt men’s 17-34 division.

David Farkvam picked up two gold medals for his patterns and sparring in the 35 plus white and yellow belt men’s division.

Teammate Mike Turner, a red belt, ended up fighting at the black belt level because only two red belts were in attendance, says

Burk. With 12 competitors in the ages 17-34 -

men’s open weight category Turner was able to hold his own picking up a bronze medal for his patterns.

Instructor David Burk earned a gold for pat- terns. He picked up a silver medal in Sparring «

against fellow Team Canada teammate Jordan

Boudrea who won the decision three judges to .

one.