FRONTIER GAMES SMACKDOWN!

The Frontier School Division held their “mini-olympic” finals in Norway House at the new Helen Betty Osbourne High School March 2nd-4th . Table tennis was held on Friday morning and was one of seven sports contested. MTTA Executive Director Ron Edwards was up there to catch all the action in his joint capacity as referee, scouting coach and all round promoter for table tennis…and what a smackdown!

The Frontier School Division is the largest school division in the world. The division is broken into six regions. In mid-late fall, each school in the division holds their own tournaments to select their representatives in each of the seven sports. The top boys and girls from each school then travel to the finals for their region. These regional trials are held late fall-early winter. The top 1-2 finishers for boys and girls under 14 and 15 years are then named as the Region’s representatives to move forward to the Divisional Finals. So the 24 players who showed up in Norway House were the “best of the best.” When the smoke cleared and the smacking ceased, the top players were:

Boys Under 14 Years Gold Medal Match:
Shane Gabriel, Skownan def. Scott Apetagon, Norway House: 8-11,11-6,11-8,11-8,9-11,11-6.

Girls Under 14 Years Gold Medal Match:
Megan McIvor, Wabowden def. Jocelyn Monias: 11-8,11-4,119,11-9.

Boys Under 15 Years Gold Medal Match:
Lamour Grey, Moose Lake def. Les Dysart, South Indian Lake: 14-12,11-4,11-3,11-3.

Girls Under 15 Years Gold Medal Match:
Ruth Nepinak, Skownan def. Melanie Pranteau, Grand Rapids: 11-8,10-12,8-11,11-5, 11-6.

The Manitoba Table Tennis Association would like to thank Heather Lowe and her employer the Frontier School Division for allowing the M.T.T.A. to again be part of their great competition. All the results count towards provincial and national ratings and rankings (www.ctta.ca or www.mtta.ca ) . Good luck to all players as they look forward to the possibility of competing next winter in not only the Frontier Games but perhaps also the Manitoba Indigenous Games and in 2008 the MTS Manitoba Summer Games.