SportsOakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email [email protected] • SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2008 31 New Oldershaw at helm of Burloak Club ■ By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF

There’s a new name and face at the helm of the . Okay, the surname’s actually the same. And the face, well it’s been a fixture on the club’s docks for years. All of which gives new head coach Adam Oldershaw all the incentive he needs to maintain the club’s place among the best in the country. The 26-year-old takes over from his dad, Scott, who will remain with the club as its junior and senior high performance coach. The “The biggest change was necessitated after challenge for me the elder Oldershaw was will be keeping appointed head coach of the national canoe/ team. the momentum “It’s a bit of a change. I’ll be we’ve built.” doing a lot of stuff now that I didn’t do before, but I’ve been ■ Adam Oldershaw a part of those things, even if I wasn’t responsible for them,” said Adam, who was a junior high performance coach with the club. “I’ll be working with (Scott) and he’s still going to be here so the transition, overall, should be pretty smooth.” Scott said the most difficult part of the job is keep- ing track of the different groups — Burloak offers developmental and high performance programs in canoe and kayak as well as programs for and dragon — and making sure everyone’s needs are being met. But he has no hesitation in pass- ing on the responsibility to his son. DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER “I feel pretty good about handing it over,” Scott said. “He knows the job fairly well. He’s fair with PASSING THE : Adam Oldershaw (right), pictured with his father Scott at the Burloak Canoe Club, is the club’s new everybody, he listens well and he has good ideas.” head coach. Scott, the head coach of the club since 1990, will remain as junior and senior high performance coach, and is also the head coach of the national canoe/kayak team. Scott Oldershaw head coach since 1990 Scott has been the club’s head coach since 1990, Canadian sprint kayak team at the Pan Am Games in the podium at nationals and the club win its fourth just one year after the club was formed by the merger Brazil. A former national team member who repre- Canadian championship, Adam said he doesn’t feel of the Mohawk Canoe Club and the Oakville Racing sented Canada at the Pan American Championships, the pressure of expectations. Canoe Club. He led Burloak to national titles in 1997, Adam was coached by his father throughout his “The biggest challenge for me will be keeping the 1998, 2000 and 2007. In that time, he also coached career. For that reason, he said the club’s paddlers momentum we’ve built,” he said. “We expected to do Oakville’s , who won Olympic gold shouldn’t expect a big change. well (at nationals) but we came out way ahead of and bronze medals in 2004. Burloak members Mark “My coaching philosophy, everything I know about expectations. It was planned for and trained for, but Oldershaw, Chris Pellini and Brady Reardon hope to coaching, comes from him,” Adam said. there was a lot of good fortune too. I think most peo- join van Koeverden at this year’s Summer Games. With Burloak coming off what he calls “a ridicu- ple in the club recognize that. My job is to keep the Adam Oldershaw most recently coached the lously successful year” that saw every paddler reach programs running as well as they can.” OAK dominates relays at own invitational swim meet After dominating its own invitational included Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba (four Also winning gold medals for OAK were Claiming silver were Brittany Lantz, swim meet last weekend, the Oakville gold) and Olivia Sinclair (three gold) in Abbey Saunders, Alexandra Morris, Annika Hannah Burgess-Dines, Dominique George, Aquatic Club appears capable of challenging girls’ 10-and-under; Meghan Clark (four Grewal, Stephanie Nakamura, Hannah Tyra Sweet, Hayley Duncan-Snobel, Holly Etobicoke Swim Club for provincial gold) and Meredith Johnson in girls’ 11; Hunt, Bridget Jordan, Cassandra Pedro, Olsen, Jennifer Wilson, Nicole Mackenzie, supremacy at next month’s junior champi- Emily Hunt (five gold) in girls’ 12; Erin Jenna Wood, Marni Oldershaw, Mika Adham Assaad, Dan Andrei Rona, Alexander onships. Assman (five gold) in girls’ 13-14; Karina Spencer, Tera Van Beilen, Annie Harrison, Smith, Mackenzie Martyn, Owen Scarrow, OAK’s overall strength was perhaps best Sils (three gold) in Keslie McNeill, Connor Ward, Jaret Charbonneau, Peter illustrated in relay competition. Not only did girls’ 15-and-older; Veronica Davis- Serles, Dragan Poposki and David Wilson. the club win all eight girls’ races, but its sec- Matthew Mac (five Freeman, Katie Fox, Bronze winners included Emily Ramier, ond team won medals in all eight as well medals) and Alexander Marina MacDougall, Sarah Watt, Morgan Seto, Perrie Armstrong, (three silver and five bronze). On the boys’ Hayman (five medals) Bridget Scott, Sara Erin Jordan, Cassidy Ward, Michelle side, OAK teams won five gold, two silver in boys’ 10-and-under; Pearson, Julie Koszo, Carrabetta, Linda Wang, Milan Bowie, Clara and three bronze medals. Mitchell Gour (seven Hilary Turk, Elliot Armstrong, Julie Sinkovits, Jessica Fraser, OAK swimmers also won gold in all 38 of gold), Evan White (six Smith, Bennett Ho, Chrissa McDonald, Jacqueline Watt, Avery the 13- and 14-year-old boys’ and girls’ gold) and Connor Wilkins (11 medals) in Liam Charbonneau, Greg MacLennan, Longmore, Alana Boffa, Kaelan Chambers, races, led by Erin Assman, Kent Kikot and boys’ 11; Gamal Assaad (three gold) in boys’ Jarrod Baddeliyanage, Jack Cavanagh, Amanda Fraser, Scott Love, David Mack Darragh. The local club finished the 12; Mack Darragh (eight gold) and Kent Cameron Byrne, Nathan Lang, Ryan Whiteside, Joel Pearson, David Whiteside, meet with 125 gold, 108 silver and 118 Kikot (seven gold) in boys’ 13-14; and Maccarone, Dylan Kent, Steven Ritchie, Wezley Wright, Michael Luneberg, Connor bronze. Graham Fink (four gold) in boys’ 15-and- Jason Bysice, John Steadman, Brody Dyson Ward, Carter Yeudall, Ryan Lewis and Marc Top individual performers in each class older. and Christopher Carin. Ovsec.