Posted on

High School Sports: NOSSA to consider expansion of AA, AAA soccer events

Close sticky video

Article content

For proponents of the beautiful game, perhaps one of the most ambitious motions to grace this year’s NOSSA annual meeting order paper is a campaign to expand the girls and boys AA and AAA soccer events into a combined six-team, two-day championship.

Article content

Presently, these events are contested separately and most often include a four-team, single-elimination draw in the AA category and just a single-game championship in AAA.

Some years ago, any thought of a multi-day schedule format was set aside, the thinking being that an expansion of the single-day format over two weekdays would likely interfere with existing spring sport championships like track or tennis, which would almost certainly compromise the affected schools’ ability to enter both events.

But recent successes with past forays into combined AA/AAA schedules in sports like basketball and hockey may have prompted its most recent iteration in soccer, with participating teams testing their skills in as many as four games over two days, as opposed to the current maximum of two.

With little to no wiggle room in a jam-packed spring sport schedule, the proposal seeks to expand the NOSSA AA/AAA championships into Saturday following a Friday-morning start, dodging conflicts with track or tennis also needing to be hosted in that same week given corresponding OFSAA entry deadlines.

From strictly a sport purist’s perspective, it’s difficult to find fault with the proposal over the current one-loss-and-done single-elimination model. The season is short enough, so say supporters, without a slow start or lacklustre effort in a single game bringing a team’s entire season to a crashing halt. As well, a convener’s ability to seed teams properly in a single-elimination format is a key to success for this format — involving teams that may never have played each other beforehand.

Article content

But moving games to a Saturday at this crazy busy period of the school year is likely going to make delegates nervous and may be the one concern that could sink the proposal if deemed significant enough.

The motion goes before the NOSSA membership for their consideration on Friday as the 2022 NOSSA AGM goes virtual for the time in the association’s history.

Order paper results will be posted to the NOSSA website at nossa.rainbowschools.ca when complete.

High school notes

That was a long two week stretch for Troy Brushett of St. Benedict, hosting the SDSSAA and NOSSA badminton championships within days of each other and both to rave reviews. Great work, Mr. Brushett, AKA Mr. Spreadsheet, and kudos to Gillian Obradovich (Lockerby CS), Blake Rosener and Farrah Farstad (St. Charles College) and Zander Lauzon and Ella Kissner (Es Macdonald-Cartier) on qualifying for 

OFSAA badminton in Pain Court May 5-7!

Dave Makela is the athletic administrator for the Sudbury District Secondary Schools Athletic Association. His column runs weekly during the high school sports season.

Posted on

Events in Ukraine contributing to further spike in gas prices

Events in Ukraine contributing to further spike in gas prices

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Events in Ukraine are indirectly felt in Wichita with gas prices jumping overnight. Prices increased by more than 20 cents to an average of $3.49 per gallon of unleaded gasoline. It’s been nearly 14 years since Kansans paid more than $4 per gallon of unleaded gas and there’s concern that this streak could end.

For Wichita drivers filling up Thursday, the latest jump adds to frustration from unleaded gas being more than $3 per gallon since October.

“I hope [prices] go back down because you know, everybody’s struggling because of the [coronavirus]. You know, it’s very hard,” Wichita driver Doris Metcalf said.

Prices for crude oil have also been increasing. The U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia are the world’s top oil producers.

“Crude oil makes up about 50 to 60% of the prices we see in a gallon of gas at the pump. So, as those prices rise through the 90s, even close to $100 a barrel (Thursday), that’s a significant rise from where we were last fall,” said AAA (Triple-A) Kansas Public Affairs Manager Shawn Steward.

Looking at gas prices over the last 20 years, AAA shows the three highest average monthly prices for unleaded gas for Kansas were in 2008 and 2012. During the summer of 2008, average prices hit $3.95 per gallon. The national average peaked at $4.09. The most recent point we’ve hit gas prices about $3.70 was in 2012.

“We’re still not to where we were in 2008, which was the high point. We reached mover $4 in July of that month for a short time,” Steward said. “Hopefully we won’t get that high this year, but that remains to be seen.”

If you’re trying to save at the gas pump, AAA advises shopping around and downloading mobile apps where you can see updated prices in your area, finding discounts at gas stations and making sure your car is tuned up with clean filters and properly inflated tires to help you get better gas mileage.

Copyright 2022 KWCH. All rights reserved.