Midget B House Rangers knock off Lions in two straight

  The Seaway District High School Spartans put together a pair of spectacular victories against the visiting Rothwell-Osnabruck Lancers, Monday afternoon (October 19), the seniors to come from behind a 23-18 deficit at the half […]

It may not seem like it due to the cold winter weather, but spring is just around the corner and soccer with the South Dundas Soccer Association is not far behind.

Coming up on Saturday, March 7, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Iroquois Civic Centre, is the first of two registrations for this year’s soccer program in Iroquois.

Good news for all participants is that the fees for the 2015 season remain unchanged at $40 per child. For the $40 per player participants receive his/her shirt and lunch during the final tournament. 

In addition the $40 covers 10 weeks of fun, playing soccer and making new friends and it will all start this year on Saturday, May 23. 

The year end tournament will run July 24-25, and association president Phillip Blancher says some special events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the South Dundas Soccer Association and the 15th anniversary of the World Cup Soccer finale weekend are in the works.

South Dundas soccer runs on Saturday mornings in Iroquois from 8 am. until 11 a.m. and this year’s program is available to youth born from 1997 to 2010 (the youngest). Soccer is offered in  five age divisions U-6 (5-6 years), U-8 (7-8 years), U-10 (9-10 years) U-13 (11-13 years) and U-18 (14-18 years).

The number of players in each age category determines the number of teams, and the Saturday morning schedule is a fixed schedule with the U-8 and U-10 playing at 8 a.m., the U-6 and U-13 at 9 a.m. and the U-18 at 10 a.m.

It is because player numbers determine team numbers, that it is so important that players are registered at one or the other of the two upcoming March registrations. (The second is Friday, March 27 from 6-9 p.m. at the Civic Centre in Iroquois). There is also a late fee of $20 per child.

“Last year we had just over 400 kids on 34 teams across the five divisions. We played a total of 253 games of soccer including the tournament games,” says Blancher of the very popular program.

Players participate in one hour sessions on Saturday mornings with the first half used to work on skills and the second half to play a game. Standings are kept, mainly to provide a seeding for the team in the final tournament. “It helps us to schedule for the year-end tournament. We try to balance it at the final tournament so that everyone can have some success and fun.”

Volunteers are a key to the success of the South Dundas Soccer Program. 

“We will have the canteen open if we can get enough volunteers to run it. We need volunteer parents and students for the canteen, to help with the fields and cutting the grass. While the school board and the municipality mow, it isn’t always optimum to when we need to use the field. We need people to line the fields, to set up and take down the nets, to set out the road cones to shut down the street and to coach.”

“We certainly have lots of volunteer hours for high school students who need to get their hours in. And of course, any help from anyone is greatly appreciated.”

Blancher says the program is run with the belief that everyone has the right to play. “It doesn’t matter if there is a disability, we will work with a player’s disability and make it their strength.”

The association also doesn’t allow cost to stand in the way of a child participating. Because the cost per player of $40 is bare bones, family discounts are not available. However, the South Dundas Soccer works with the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Program and the Upper Canada District School Board’s Champions for Kids, both programs available to provide financial assistance to families who need help.

“We also have some other funding sources to help out so that anyone who wants to play soccer can. Cost is not a factor. We have a cleat exchange to help out, and we hope to have it available at the registrations.”

Soccer cleats and shinguards are mandatory for all players this year.

Blancher is pleased that a number of sponsors have returned to the soccer field this year and it is thanks to these local businesses that registration fees remain low. Sponsors come on board to sponsor colours and so if their colour is red then they sponsor the red shirts in each age category that has a red team.

For the sponsorship, the sponsors get their logo on the back of the shirts, they are featured on the Associations’ website, in programs and in any form of press release.

“These sponsorships really help us out by offsetting some of our costs (like insurance),” says Blancher. “Because of the great sponsorships we had last year, we didn’t have to increase our fees this year. That is really great, and we are very appreciative of the community support we receive.”

To save time, registration and volunteer forms can be printed and filled out in advance from the Association’s website: www.southdundassoccer.org.  Cash or cheques are acceptable.

[…]

It’s those well-known words, “Let’s Play Ball” that Austin Marcellus hopes he will hear this fall to herald in one more season of U.S. University NCAA level 2 baseball.

The Pigeon Island Road, 22 year old has been south of the border for the last four years, attending school on partial baseball scholarships. 

He first completed the two year college program at Lochawanna Collge and one year of ball (he was injured the first year),  at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then transferred to Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina. He graduated from Limestone this spring and completed his second year of college ball for the Saints.

Austin, who was team captain at both schools, is back home for the summer but is hoping to return to Limestone for one more season.

“I was injured in my freshman year at Lochawanna, which means I have another year eligibility to play ball.”

Having graduated from Lochawanna this spring with “my Bachelor degree in Sports and my Bachelor degree in Business, if I go back this year, I would get my Bachelor degree in Marketing and a Coaching Minor.” 

Austin began playing ball when he was six or seven years old. “I didn’t play when I was really young, and when I did start it was because my mom forced me.” He is the son of Bert and Sandi Marcellus.

“I started playing here (Morrisburg) and played on some Upper Canada All Star teams. I played with the Bunnies (Brockville) for about five years.”

It wasn’t until he was a young teenager that Austin, who plays the infield moving around between second, third and shortstop, began to lean heavily towards baseball. 

“I was always excited about playing hockey when I was growing up. I actually thought I was better at hockey. Guess I just wanted to be different,” he says of his success on the ball diamond.

It was while he is was in grade 12 at Seaway District High School, that Austin began looking around for a U.S. baseball scholarship. He went to work sending a number of applications out and the result was the partial scholarship at Lochawanna.

“At Lochawanna, we won our conference both years, and we won the North East Region both years.” That put the team in the Jucco Division 2 World Series, both years in Enid Oklahoma.

Although Austin was injured his first year out, he recalls his first experience at intense training. “My  junior college, the only way to describe it is if you’ve ever seen military training, that is what it was like. They are there to win, and you are there to play baseball. At the Junior College level there are no rules, so we would practise 10 hours a day around our studies.  We would start at 6 a.m., go to class until noon and then practice until 8 at night.” The college baseball season runs from early February to the end of May.

In contrast, once he transferred to Limestone, there were some time guidelines that restricted practise to five to six hours per day.

This spring, Marcellus had a solid season with the Saints who play in the 12-school Carolinas Conference. At five foot 10 and 175 pounds, he had a .331 batting average and was named the Limestone College Saints, Best Offensive Player. He also led the team in stolen bases and was second in RBIs. As a team, “we didn’t do that good.”

Marcellus would like nothing more than to return to Limestone for one more year. Down the road he says he would like to be coaching at the college level, but right now, he just wants to play ball.

 “I am kind of hoping baseball takes me somewhere. I am too old to get drafted, but I’d like to play some independent ball, or I might try to go to Australia. There’s lots of ball to play, now it’s finding a spot.”

Marcellus does have a spot with the Saints again this year, but again on a partial scholarship. So it is the remaining tuition money that is his consideration.

He is working the summer in interlocking landscaping, which helps to keep him in shape and is playing ball with the Capital City Reds in Ottawa which offers ball to college eligible “amateur” players. The Reds have games against teams in the Elite U-18 Summer Baseball program, college summer teams and with semi-pro and professional level teams.

Coming off a good college season with the Saints and playing well with the Reds, Marcellus is hoping he has himself positioned for the opportunity to play ball next season.

[…]