Millgrove Strabane Park Annual Bar-B-Que Chicken tournament, Aug 6-05, "Beaches" 50 team
Back - Brian (Shaker) Vale - Hal Ridley - Norm Gawley - Greg Aubert - Norm Barlow - Jeremy Kovak - Doug Lowe
Front row - Greg MacDonald - Phil McKay - Mike Lyons - Manfred Maier - Ron Berry - Wayne (Boots) Crowley
The Beaches' 50s Rec team arrived at the tournament to discover their division was a no go and they would need to play in a +35 division. They never got close to winning a Saturday game and were very discouraged. However, low in spirit they showed up on Sunday as the bottom team (referred to as the old guys), dug deep and pulled a rabbit out of their hat by defeating the top 2 teams and miraculously won the division. Since everyone loves to see an underdog upset, we had many fans cheering us on, including the number 1 team (the Dukes), which we had knocked out in game 1 (11-10).
Hal Ridley and Manfred Maier (left photo) discuss the game at the Strabane beer tent. These new 2005 members also play on the Etobicoke "Slammin' Masters" Wed. league team. Additionally, Manfred plays Mondays for Sawa and Hal plays on the Nissan 60 tourney team. Great Beach additions and wonderful people.
When we are playing near the Burlington area, between games the team often relaxes at the home of Ron & Maria Berry's which backs onto Safari Lake (middle photo). Some of the boys beat the summer heat with a quick swim, while Ron Berry water-skis in the background and Strabane tournament convener Phil McKay brings in a few lunch fishes (right photo).
As well as being the tournament convenor, Phil McKay, along with Ron Berry and Greg Aubert played on the SoB team and then umpired other games in between. That is a ton of devotion.