AT 22 Ria ort ane Team training for qualifying round West Vancouver’s Mark Watson has secured a spot on Canada’s national soccer team. By Carlo Cusanelii Contributing Writer The team is hoping to qualify. for next year’s soccer World Cup, which is being hosted by the Unit- ed States. ; The third and final round of . "qualifying begins next month, and Watson has once again been nam- ed to the squad. : Watson played his juvenile soc- . cer on the North Shore, spending his. first five years of divisional soccer with the West Vancouver Spuraways before making the leap . to the Lynn Valley organization. With the Falcons, he played his final three seasons of youth soccer “and credits ex-coach and North Fire Chief. - for making the* _largest impact: on his soccer ca- Vancouver District Richard Grant, reer, and for keeping the game enjoyable. “He gave the game a new light with his relaxed views,’’ said Wat- ‘son, ‘tand he showed me how to “approach the game and enjoy it.”” After graduating from Sentinel secondary school in 1988, Watson continued his education at _ Capilano College, where he played ‘a season with the Blues. and helped capture a national title for the college. ; In 1990, he transferred to. the University of British Columbia (UBC) to pursue a degree in phys- ical education. He is currently. between his third and fourth years and is specializing in sports administra- tion. At UBC, Watson continued his soccer success’ by helping the Thunderbirds win back-to-back CIAU national championships in 1990 and 1991. Outside of college and universi- ty, Watson’s soccer credentials are even more remarkable. He has played professionally in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) the past three seasons with stops in Ottawa, Hamilton (where he was selected to the CSL all-star team) and Montreal. He is hoping t> catch on. with the Vancouver 86ers this upcom- ing season as they make their debut in the American Profes- sional Soccer League. Watson has been with the Ca- nadian Soccer Association training centre for the past five years, dur- ing which time he was chosen to represent Canada as a member of the Olympic qualifying team. The team’s failure to qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Spain did not hinder Watson’s play, as he was selected to wear the captain's arm band for many of the quali- fying matches. Involvement in soccer has given Watson the opportunity to travel the worid. The list of stops on Watson’s resume include Florida, Los Angeles, Bermuda, Trinidad, Honduras, E! Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, England, Wales, Por- tugal, Hong Kong, China and Japan. He has seen action for Canada in exhibition play during the . Three Nations Corona Cup in Los Angeles and in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, also in L.A. Watson’s superb play as a cen- tral defender prompted current national-team head coach Bob Lenarduzzi to call upon Watson for an important second round qualifying game against Bermuda during the last round. The decision to start Watson came when veteran defender Ran- dy Samuel was forced to return to his professional club in Holland. Though nervous, Watson did not disappoint. He came through with a -solid performance as Canada went on to defeat Ber- muda and eventually gain a berth in the upcoming third and final qualifying round, set to begin next month in Honduras. Watson is pleased to be playing under head coach Lenarduzzi. “He is good with the piayers and is a real ‘player’s coach,’ ”’ said Watson. ‘‘He has a lot of experience, nationally and interna- tionally, and he’s the right man for the job.”’ Watson, currently training daily with the national team and a member of the North Shore Pegasus of the Vancouver Metro League’s premier division, — feels that the upcoming qualifying round is key to the future of Ca- nadian soccer. Griffiths leave the impres- sion he and his family business empire intend to get involved in a bid for a National Basketball Association (NBA) fran- chise,or was the message the Griffiths Clan would simply love to have an NBA team as a tenant in. their new building? Methinks the latter. Five years ago, new franchises were handed out like bags of pop- corn to Orlando, Miami, Charlotte and Minnesota. The price tag at the time: $32.5 million. Today, as NBA honchos con- tinue to be pursued by even more potential investors anxious to gain entry into the lodge, the selling price has increased to $100 million ve a more than 200% increase from the last expansion sweepstakes. How can this be? “To be perfectly blunt about it,’ Phoenix Suns’ owner and chairman of the NBA expansion committee Jerry Colangelo said, perfectly bluntly, ‘‘when you have a monopoly on a hot product, you can afford to charge top dollar. We are not going out looking to add expansion teams. We’re sim- is issu NEWS photo Mike -Hisiotield NORTH VANCOUVER Cruisers’ swim coach Steve Klassen instruct 3 a club member during a recent practice at the William Griffin pool. Cruisers swim into new season THE NORTH Yancouver Cruis- ers swim club is gearing up for another season with a registra- tion day on Sunday, April 4, at Ron Andrews pool, 931 Lytton St., North Vancouver from: 10 a.m. to noon. The club is a parent-operated organization offering profes- sional coaching for. boys and girls (aged five to 18) who can swim one length of the rec pool. The club currently has close to 150 members, and spaces are limited for the summer swim season. The coaching focuses on the Greg Douglas: GOAL LINES ply willing to entertain bids.’’ Translated, it means the NBA owners aren’t going to turn a deaf ear if somebody comes along will- ing to pay the inflated and outra- geous cost of doing business with them. Apparently, there isn’t any shortage of well-heeled groups anxious to part with a $10) mil- lion. When the expansion commit- tee meets again next month, it will entertain bids from ‘Toronto, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and ‘‘perhaps’’ Vancouver. One NBA official said: ‘‘To this point we have only heard about four competitive strokes freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly —. and the glub also offers professional coaching in the Cruiser’s highly successful water palo program. Practices are held at the Ron Andrews facility and at the William Griffin pool. During the summer season _ (from May to mid-August), swimmers from the club are en- couraged’ to attend weekend swim meets throughout the Lower Mainland, leading up to regiona! and provincial-meets in August. ities line up to pay NBA asking price “SAY WHAT? Did Arthur The club also offers a strong development program for non- ‘conipetitve swimmers who are not interested in competitive meets. ; ; All that you need to register your child on the registration day is a copy of his/her birth certificate. Also, bring your bathing suits and meet the coaches and other families. A two-week trial period is also available. For more information call Judy (980-5587) or Ken “(988- 6607). &é kt will entertain bids from Toronto, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and ‘perhaps’ Vancouver. 99 Vancouver’s interest; the others have come forward with written proposals.” To which Colangelo added: “The Canadian market is some- Sing unique. Toronto is a great city. We are looking favorably toward an expansion team open- ing there for the 1995-96 season.” The Toronto contingent refers to itself as the Palestra Group. It is composed of Joel Rose, a wealthy lawyer and group spokesman; Anthony Sigel, pro- ject director; and Lawrence Tanenheum, owner of the Warren Company, one of the_ largest road-building companies in North America. “We're prepared to come: in negotiating to buy an NBA fran- chise for anywhere from $80 mil- lion to $100 million,’? Rose said. “We've done our number pump- ing. We know the revenue streams and the market potential. The $100 million franchise fee is the number we have to be prepared to do business at with the NBA owners.” Rose suggested his group’s NBA team would play its home games in the 16,182-seat Maple Leaf Gardens and the 60,516-seat SkyDome on a short-term basis, with the understanding a. new state-of-the-art building would be ‘operational no later than the year 2000. “Of the original six teams in the NHL,’’ Rose continued, “Toronto is the only one that doesn’t have a new facility either already built or on the drawing board. We would like to have a situation similar to that of the Bulls and Blackhawks sharing the same arena in Chicago.”’ The. new United Centre, which is tied into promotional fees paid by United Airlines, is due to open in 1995-96. At this point, it would appear Toronto’s interest in the NBA is leaps and bounds ahead. of any such thoughts in Vancouver. Unless Arthur Griffiths knows something he’s not sharing with. us.