32 - North Shore Nows — Wednesday. May 31, 2000 NORTH SHORE RIDER RIPS IT UP AT WESTBEACH North Vancouver's Kevin Sansalone grabbed $3.000 and top spot in the men's big air competition at the Westbeach Classic 2000 held at Whistler May 22. Sansalone. who trains at Mount Seymour, performed switch rodeo 720s to claim his second crown since 1998. Quebec's Rube Goldberg, despite having a bro- ken wrist, finished hot on Sarisalone’s heels to pocket $1,500. Jan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer A pair of young West Van stick handlers may soon be bending the twine in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Centre Andrew Lord, 15, was selected in the eleventh round of the May 4 WHL Bantam draft in Calgary by the Prince Albert Raiders, while right winger Ryan Gibbons, also 15, went in the third round to .the Seattle Thunderbirds organization. Lord and Gibbons, who are both honours students at Sentinel secondary school, were pvo of only 30 boys drafted in B.C. from a field of. about 1,500 eligible players. Gibbons led his team to victory at the Bantam “A” provincials this past March while Lord was the.top goal scorer in the “AA” Midget provincials, “It'll be nice to play for a team that’s close to home,” said Gibbons of his Washington State suitor. “That way, maybe my parents _can come down and see some mes.” . Lord’s folks, however, will be out. the- plane fare to” Saskatchewan if they want to cheer on their young charge. Lord and Gibbons have a long history of serving time , on the same squads. . Both boys were teammates on a West Van Rec centre novice team when they were just youngsters and they’ve joined forces on a line for Scoff’s - Warriors — a spring recreational hockey squad — for three years now. The duo was a vital part in the Warriors making it Fallenge Cup competition at to the finals of the C Burnaby 8 Rinks recently. The'squad, unfortunately, went down in an over- time shootout to the Island Selects from Victoria. GYMNAST FLIES HIGH IN MONTREAL North Vancouver's Breanne King of the Flicka Gymnastics Club wrapped up her first-ever appearance at the Canadian Gymnastics Championships in Montreal this weekend by fin- ishing sixth in the floor competition. The 14-year-old gym- nast also tied for 10th in vault and 13th in the ali-around event with a score of 69.862. COVERING THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY W. Van hockey duo drafted Rugby wraps — up play THE Baimoral junior boys rugby squad handed Semiamhoo a 31-5 loss to take the provincial crown on Friday at Klahanic Park. ; Leading the. way for the victors were Steve Paddon with a pair of tries, Scott Bowden with’ one’ try" arid . Kevin Guidi, who kicked ‘the converts and penalty markers. The win caps off a perfect 11-0 regular season for the team. Coaches Harold Heer and Bruce Bourdon, led | ‘the squad into the final. ” In other action, the two-'- time defending champion Collingwood boys AA seniot rugby erquad settled for the silver after. getting blanked 30-0 by Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman secondary at the provincial | Championships held at UBC on the weekend. The squad = defeated Kamloops 23-12, Williams Lake 30-20 and then handed _ Garibaldi a 20-17 loss in the NEWS: photo J julle Werson ANDREW Lord (left) and Ryan Gibbons were both selected by WHL teams in the league’s May 4 first-year Bantam draft. Lord was chosen by the Prince Albert Raiders while Gibbons went to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Next up for Lord and Gibbons is a tourney in Calgary during Stampede festivities. . “He’s got a great shot,” said Lord of his team- mate. “He came second in the Challenge Cup com- petition for hardest shot at 79 miles per! hour. He’s just an all-around great player out there.” Gibbons, likewise, has nothing but praise for Lord’s style of play. . “Andrew's great to play with. You give him the puck and he aways makes the right play,” he said. Both boys — who are not eligible to play in the WHL una they turn 16 — will attend rookie evalu- ation camps for the Thunderbirds and Raiders this If the teams are impressed with their selections, Lord and Gibbons will be invited back the following year to training camp. And who knows — in a few years you may sce these old stickmates mixing it up in an even bigger national hockey league. semi-final tilt to get to the. _ title match. : “We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said coach Dave Spiers. “We were disap- pointed in the way we played but we it was a huge accom- plishment for this team to. make the final.” The team was: led- by” coaches Dave © Spiers and ; Roger Hatch. . : On the boys AAA side, Carson Graham dropped. their bronze medal match’ against Semiamhoo 18-15 to . end up with fourth spot. . —- Jan-Christian Sorensen : . Life is but a little dash, celebrate the struggle. WHEN it comes down to defining how we can best spend the small amount of time we actually have on this planet, an extract from a poem written approxi- mately 2000 years ago says it as well as just about anything I have read. Pree The Swahili Warriors of Africa created this gem and it reads as follows: “Life has meaning only in the struggle. Victory and defeat are in the hands of the Gods, so ler us celebrate the struggle.” Weil if you look around at our so-called advanced soci- ety it would appear that many of us would do anything humanly possible to avoid anything that would even suggest a little discomfort, let alone a real struggle, whether it be for themselves or the people around them. We are evolving into a pablum-fed culture where Just saying you’re going to achieve a goal or fulfill a promise seems to have value, irrespective of whether you actually get up and follow through. This distorted atti- tude holds true in many areas of our lives, including the area of physical health, physi- cal challenges and overall fit- ness. About a week ago, my wife Debbie and I had just finished a fairly tough swim workout at our local peol and as we were about to head off to the change rooms we passed a bulletin board with a note artached. It had been put there by highly regarded North Shore masters head swim coach Cullen Goodyear, presumably as motivation for her swim- mers. While it does not specifically focus on physical well being, I would like to reprint the anonymous com- mentary as possible nourish- ment for the brain, the heart and the soul. “Tread of @ man who stood to speak At the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone From the beginning.to the end. He noted that first came her date of birth And he spoke the following date with tenrs, But he said what mattered most of all Was the dash between those years [1934-1998]. For that dash represents all the time That she spent alive on earth And now only those who loved Know what that little line was worth, For it matters not, bow much Ie own The cars, the house, the ensh, What matters is bow we live and love And how we spend that dash. So think about this long and hard — Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know bow much time is left, That can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough To consider what’s true and real, And always try to understand The eWay other people feel, And be less guice to 0 anger, And show appreciation more And love the people in our lives Like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, And more often wear a smile — Remembering that this little dash Might only last a while, So, when your eulogy’s being ad ven With your life’s action’s to rehash Would you be proud of the things they say Abou; how you spent your dash?” Got any plans you’d like to modify or change?