New Office / Eastern Canada Events & Growth / Western Canada Events & Growth

THE SEPAK TAKRAW ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
HAS A NEW OFFICE!

At the end of 2005, the Sepak Takraw Association of Canada moved, along with ASEC International, to a new office location. The office is now situated on the campus of Western Christian College, where there is actually two different high schools as well as a Bible College that all share a nice sized gym. The gymnasium has a rubberized floor which is great for playing Sepak Takraw on, and Rick has already introduced and taught the sport to the students there. It is wonderful to have a good sized office with windows and an attached storage area. The new location, which is also in a high traffic area and gives us better visibility, is ideal!

SEPAK TAKRAW ACTIVITY & GROWTH IN EASTERN CANADA

Rick Engel, President of STAC, embarked on a strategic eastern Canada tour at
the end of May to promote and grow Sepak Takraw in Eastern Canada. A tremendous
thank you goes out to the enthusiasts and physical education leaders and teachers
in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto who have worked with STAC to help set up meetings,
clinics, workshops and tournaments.

MONTREAL, QC:

OTTAWA, ON:

Rick’s next stop was Ottawa, where Bob
Thomas, a distinguished leader in Physical Education with the Ottawa-Carlton
Catholic School District, organized three days of Sepak Takraw Clinics with
about 150 students, instructional workshops with close to 50 P.E. teachers,
and a modified Footbag Net tournament (with a free style event) combined with
Sepak Takraw introduction and games just for fun for representatives from eight
different schools. Most of the grade 7 – 9 students who had the chance
to participate, loved the game. All the teachers involved equally loved the
game and seemed to immediately see the benefits of introducing Sepak Takraw
in all of their schools. Most of the students at the Footbag Net Tournament
caught on to Sepak Takraw right away, loved it, said it was much easier than
footbag net (there was no need to modify the game at all) and were asking their
teachers if they could include Sepak Takraw in the tournament for next year!
Even one of the local teachers of the school that hosted the event was so impressed
with the Sepak Takraw when she was on the playground with her students at recess,
that she purchased a couple of Takraw balls for he grade 5/6 class. Yes, Sepak
Takraw has certainly now created a buzz in Ottawa. Bob is already considering
how they would run a Sepak Takraw tournament for the Ottawa Catholic schools
for next year. Hats off to Bob, who did an outstanding job at coming up with
creative ways to get Sepak Takraw introduced and going in the nation’s
capital city!

TORONTO, ON:

JHS Girl’s Tournament:

Last stop on Rick’s eastern tour was Toronto, where the York Catholic
District School Board (YCDSB) has already created an ideal model of how to run
a short league for the sport, winding up with hosting a Sepak Takraw tournament.
This year’s JHS tournament also included two schools from the York Region
District School Board (YRDSB) as well, and for the girls it took place on May
29 at Sacred Heart High School in Newmarket, ON and included a record 12 regus
(teams) from 10 schools. They were: St. Mary, Glen Cedar, Richmond Rose, St.
Catherine of Siena, Notre Dame A & B, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth Seton, St.
Padre Pio A & B, Good Shepherd and Our Lady of the Lake. The 12 regus played
each other in a 3-pool, round robin format with the top regus of each pool advancing
to the finals. Coaches of regus that were not playing officiated each of the
round robin matches, while Rick officiated the finals – being an internationally
certified referee, this was a good opportunity for the coaches and players to
see how matches are refereed at an official international level, with the hope
of them implementing the same protocol into their own programs. In the end it
was St. Clare and Notre Dame A who played for the JHS Girl’s District
Pennant in a well-played match with some great rallies going back and forth
that even included a few sunback style of kicks. The Notre Dame regu came out
on top though, winning the match in two straight sets, 21-17 and 21-14.

JHS Boy’s Tournament:

The York Catholic District JHS Boy’s Tournament took place on May 31 and
included 12 regus (teams) from 11 different schools within the district, including:
St. Mary, Glen Cedar, Richmond Rose, St. Catherine of Siena, Notre Dame A &
B, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Padre Pio, Good Shepherd, Our Lady of
the Lake and St. Angela Merici. Again it was a record number of schools and
regus involved, with two schools in the tournament being from the public system,
those being Glen Cedar and Richmond Rose … and congratulations to Glen
Cedar, a 1st year regu, who went right to the semi-finals! The boys action was
much more aggressive than the girls was, just two nights earlier. Spectators
seemed to be very delighted with numerous long rallies back and forth by many
of the schools that competed against each other. Something else that was very
exciting for all to see was a short little exhibition match between a hand-picked
group of boys against Rick and Johnson Chan, an experienced Toronto area player
who is very interested in helping grow the sport among the general public. Rick
and Johnson drew a lot of “oohs” and “ahs” as the pair
continually set each other up for some major spiking. It was important for all
the young players to witness first hand the importance of relaxing while playing,
controlling the ball with the basic kicks, popping the ball up and using all
three hits allowed to set up the plays for spikes, just like in volleyball …
opposed to playing a ping pong style of head bashing the ball back and forth
on the first hit. Then back to the boy’s tournament, it all came down
to a final match for the pennant between St. Catherine of Siena and Notre Dame.
Nerves were a little on edge as they faced off and the points went back and
forth quite closely, but it was St. Catherine of Siena who won it all in two
straight sets, 21-15, 21-15. Enthusiasm for Sepak Takraw, and sending a junior
regu to the nationals in Regina, is certainly building with this well organized
tournament in Ontario.

Also, for the first time, high schools were now also involved with a tournament
of their own – just 3 schools, which is all that is needed and is the
number of schools that the elementary division first started with. Now the winning
regus from the JHS tournament will be playing the winning regus from the High
School tournament to decide who will represent Ontario in the nationals this
August in Regina. The P.E. teacher who spearheaded all this organization and
growth was David Carnaffan (STAC board of director, ON) and his colleagues.
Very well done!

SEPAK TAKRAW STRATEGY MEETING FOR THE
GTA:

After the tournaments in Newmarket came to a
close, Rick met with David Carnaffan and Johnson Chan to discuss a long-range
strategy for the development of new Sepak Takraw programs that would be accessible
to the general public, while at the same time offer these youth an opportunity
to play the sport all year round rather than for one month once a year. Rick
had already had a conversation with the Recreation Director of the Toronto area
YMCA’s, who was familiar with the sport and quite interested in looking
at a possible new program. Since Markham just opened a brand new YMCA and that
is in the same area as all the schools in the York region schools, the trio
decided that Markham YMCA would be the best one to target a Sepak Takraw program
that could run once or twice a week, to be facilitated by both Dave and Johnson.
It is hoped that ideally such a program will start up this summer, but if that
is too soon to get it into the YMCA’s programming, then for sure they
would look at starting up in the fall.

L to R, David, Rick & Johnson planned
the Sepak Takraw program growth strategy for the Toronto area, that would allow
for all year round play.

SEPAK TAKRAW ACTIVITY AND GROWTH IN WESTERN CANADA

EDMONTON, AB:

Also on the May long weekend a Laotian-Canadian
Sepak Takraw club in Edmonton hosted a tournament at which other players from
the Lao communities in Red Deer, Calgary and Saskatoon attended. Unfortunately
we have received very little information and no pictures, but we can tell you
that a regu from Calgary won 1st place.

REGINA, SK:

MOSAIC:

Asian Sport, Education & Culture (ASEC) International kicked off their Summer
Outdoor Sepak Takraw Program in Regina by conducting demonstrations and displaying
in the Philippine Pavilion at MOSAIC, Regina’s annual cultural festival,
June 1 – 3. Rick got off the plane, returning from eastern Canada to immediately
help ASEC’s summer student coordinator, Janine Alspach, set up for the
Regina event. Literally thousands of people came through the pavilion over the
3-day event and hundreds took the opportunity to try it out for themselves in
the small court area that was set up down to the side of the stage. Along with
demonstrating kicking a Takraw, players also demonstrated kicking a “SEPA”
Birdy (a kind of shuttlecock) … SEPA SEPA is a variation of Sepak Takraw
which is the national sport in the Philippines.

NATIONAL ABORIGINAL DAY:

The next major event was National Aboriginal Day, June 21, where ASEC International
set up 4 outdoor courts in Regina’s Wascana Park for students to try the
game out. The way the Sepak Takraw players learn to spike with a hanging ball
is similar to a northern Aboriginal game called “High Kick”, that
is a medal event in the Arctic Winter Games. Students converged into the park
by the bus loads. An estimated 500 students were engaged in playing Sepak Takraw
at this 1-day event, and in spite of the somewhat gloomy weather, Rick says
that they could have probably put up 10 courts and still had them all full with
kids playing all day long!

CANADA DAY:

On July 1st, warm, sunny weather greeted a park full of people that ventured
out to celebrate Canada’s birthday. As has been the case for the past
numerous years now, ASEC International set up 4 outdoor Sepak Takraw courts
for experienced players to demonstrate the game on two courts in a provincial
tournament, while interested onlookers could also give it a try for themselves
on the other two courts. Eight junior and senior teams participated in the tournament
and put on a great show. In a park full of activity and choices of things to
do, hundreds watched and tried Sepak Takraw. Though the courts were taken down
at 5 p.m., people likely would have kept playing right till dusk if allowed
to!

Players rested for about ½ hour or so
while ASEC International hosted a Break Dance Competition right in between the
two main courts and in front of the display area … well it was supposed
to be a competition, but unfortunately only one “B Boy” showed up
out of the 5 or 6 that were confirmed to be coming, so it ended up being more
of a 1-person demonstration. Darryl, AKA Lord Caesar, delighted the hundred
or so spectators as he “bust his moves”. ASEC International likes
to organize Break Dancing in conjunction with Sepak Takraw Events whenever possible
because of the acrobatic nature of both activities and similarities in some
of the moves. It also provides the “B Boys” an opportunity to “bust
their moves” in front of audiences that would not otherwise likely see
them and what they can do.

(click
here to view more pictures)

REGINA SUMMER OUTDOOR SEPAK TAKRAW PROGRAM:

Thanks to ASEC International and funding from the City of Regina Sask Lotteries
Community Grant Program, Community Initiatives Fund and Student Employment Experience,
starting from the beginning of June, Regina is privileged to have FREE Sepak
Takraw that anyone of any age can come out and get involved in. This program
introduced at-risk and aboriginal youth, as well as soccer players, skate boarders
and hacky sack players to Sepak Takraw (Kick Volleyball), and gave them opportunities
to play this new sport/recreational activity on a regular basis. We also involved
other interested youth and adults in the Regina area. By partnering with the
Rainbow Youth Centre our goal was to reach the youth that participate in activities
at the centre, giving them the opportunity to play takraw on a regular basis
throughout the summer months. We ran a regular outdoor Sepak Takraw club in
the summer, utilising Regina’s beautiful Victoria Park, Candy Cane Park
and the U of R Academic Green. Alternative playing locations for rainy days
were at the YWCA and U of R Ad-Hum Pit. A regular indoor location was at the
Rainbow Youth Centre. Special demonstration/participation events took place
on National Aboriginal Day, Canada Day, and The Regina Dragon Boat Festival.
During this Summer Program, we also helped Takraw Canada host 2006 Canadian
Open Sepak Takraw Championships, which were a feature event of Buffalo Days.
It included open participation events to let others learn some of the basics
and try it for themselves too! Facilitators coached newcomers how to kick the
ball and teach the basic rules, as well as organize pick-up games with all that
come to try it out. It really is a whole lot of fun, good exercise and a perfect
chance for the keeners to form teams and practice for competitions! The scheduled
program days/times were:

• Mondays, Rainbow Youth Centre, 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

• Tuesdays, U of R Academic Green, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Wednesdays, Western Christian College 4th Ave. Front Lawn, 6:00 –
8:00 p.m.

• Thursdays, Victoria Park, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Saturday, Candy Cane Park, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.

SASKATOON, SK:

TOURNAMENT:

The Saskatoon Lightning Takraw Club hosted a tournament in its city on June
17, at which included two Saskatoon and two Regina regus competing. The club
had invited other cities, but bad weather and other factors combined to make
it a Saskatchewan tournament only. Saskatoon Legends took 1st place, Regina
Riot 2nd and Saskatoon Lightning 3rd. Following the matches all enjoyed a traditional
Lao barbeque and dance.

YMCA DEMONSTRATION & FUTURE SEPAK
TAKRAW PROGRAM:

The Regina players had time to kill after Saskatoon’s tournament before
the social, so Rick thought they should check out the YMCA there and see if
it would be conducive to having a Sepak Takraw program in the gym. Seeing that
the facility was ideal and no one was using the gym, the two Regina regus offered
to put on a game demonstration for Steve, one of the recreation coordinators
there. It went very well, members passing by were immediately interested in
playing the game themselves if a program were to start up there. The main program
director is all for it, so look for Sepak Takraw coming soon to the Saskatoon
YMCA.

2006 CANADIAN OPEN SEPAK TAKRAW CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Buffalo Days Exhibition & Summer Fair, August 2 – 6, 2006

Six Junior Boy’s Teams, Six Senior Teams,
5 days of some incredible Sepak Takraw action!

(click
here to view more pictures)