Diving Alumni Newsletter – March 2010

Hopefully everyone has enjoyed the moderate winter we seem to be having in most parts of the country. The Olympics were inspiring, and an awesome show put on by VANOC 2010, Vancouver/Whistler, and the Canadian Team. Congratulations to them!! Some of our alumni who enjoyed the fantastic ambiance at the Olympics were MeganGordon Parker and family, Tony Revitt who worked in Athlete Services in Whistler, Mark Fromson, Jeff Bacon, Steve Power, Lindsay Hugenholtz, Kristin Wingfield, Linda Cuthbert and hubby, Kelly Stark-Anderson and family.

Kristin Wingfield was married on July 18 in West Vancouver (Megan Gordon Parker was in the wedding party). Dana and Kristen went on a honeymoon to see the Tour de France, riding their bikes around the stages in the Alpes with friends, then enjoyed a more relaxing week in Provence and Cinque Terre, Italy. Sounds wonderful! Kristin has happily announced that she is pregnant, and is due May 28. During the Olympics she worked as a sports med doc in the Polyclinic in the Whistler Athlete's Village. Kristin and Tony Revitt met up at the Polyclinic and had a chance to visit.

For travellers to CA or the Bahamas, Chris Huber is moving to San Diego to open a new show that opens May 2010 at Sea World called Blue Horizons. And Grace Van Berkum has been living in the Bahamas since December. She is studying and teaching yoga on Paradise Island, and recently ran a half marathon in Nassau.

Mike Gowdy and his girlfriend Lucy just got their SCLOVES company into american apparel. “We are pretty excited about it. We now own the word scloves and scloves.com. We are donating 50% of the proceeds to Second Chance Childrens Charity.” Last summer Mike dove in the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series where he met up with fellow competitor Steve Black (NODC) who now lives in Australia. www.redbullcliffdiving.com

News from Evelyne Boisvert is that she has been very busy as the Customer Account Manager for Bombardier, working as the link between Bombardier and customers for Business Jet. She has to be on board for many test flights to make sure the aircrafts are ready for customers. Evelyne has an engineering background and had to learn the business side, dealing with customers and lawyers . “It is a different world!!” Evelyne says she loves her job, but works too many hours. She continues to enjoy the outdoors (hiking, skiing, snowshoes) but “I’m getting older!! :-)” Aren’t we all!

Additional news from Isabelle Cloutier, ED Plongeon Quebec ... Alex Despatie was at the Olympics for TV and Marie-Eve Marleau worked for the COC at Canada House. Myriam Boileau's brother is in a hockey telereality show called "Série Montréal-Québec", and is the captain of the Montreal Team. Jean-Charles Leathed, ex diver from Camo, is now the new president of the Camo Diving Club. Hélène Morneau was named Official of the Year, for all sports, at the 2009 Provincial Sports-Quebec Gala held on December 22th in Montreal. On December 19th, she was also named Official of the Year at the Plongeon Quebec Gala. On December 8th, she received the same honour at the Gala Victoris for the Quebec City region. During this last year, she judged several provincial and national competitions, the FINA World Championships, the Junior World Championships and the USA FINA Grand Prix. In addition, she still chairs the Rouge et Or Diving Club (ninth year) and was the president of the organizing committee for the Summer Senior National Championships held in Quebec City. All this, in addition to her full-time work as a physiotherapist, and a Mom and wife! Wow! Felicitations Helene! Well deserved!

Sylvie Bernier was in Edmonton recently, dropped by the pool at the Alberta Winter Provincials, and had pictures taken with her Olympic gold medal with various divers and old friends. Sylvie is back to school doing her Masters degree in Montreal.

After 29 years with FINA, Eldon Godfrey is now 6 months retired from the active life of the FINA Bureau and FINA Technical Diving Committee, but has been named an Honourary Member of FINA. He continues in his role of President of Union Americana de Natación, a position he will hold until the closing of the Pan American Games in Guadalajara (MEX) in October 2011. Eldon has worked tirelessly on behalf of Diving in the Americas and internationally, and has been an excellent ambassador for Canada. His contributions to the sport of Diving over many years are greatly appreciated.

Likewise, Allison Godfrey-Bobenic will be recognized at the annual Calgary Sportsmen of the Year Dinner on March 16 as an “Honoured Athletic Leader” for her long time leadership in diving, and particularly in more recent years her leadership in the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association aquatic sports.

Linda Cuthbert wrote that the Winter Nationals in Etobicoke brought some alumni out of the wood work - Minnow Hamilton (née Mary Wadsworth), Jessica Plumley, Kevin McKenzie, Grant Hotchkiss, ScottSinclair, Allison Traynor, Les Hansen, and Jeff Hirst. Minnow is the founder and chief editor of a successful online resource called “Savvy Mom”. (I hope I have that name right)

Dr. Stephanie Anisko was in Moscow, Russia with the National Team last week as their chiropractor! Stephanie started traveling with the team last year (Moscow, Montreal, Florida, and Madrid).

Liz Jack and her daughters had a marathon vacation in Canada over the Christmas holidays. First stop was Toronto, where she saw Alison Traynor, Martha McCall, Saul Marks, Mark Rourke, Patti Kennedy, Scott Sinclair and Emanuelle Plourde. In Montreal they stayed with Don Webb, and caught up with David Snively, Scott McLeod, Brenda Bedard, David Bedard, had a tour of the soon-to-be completed new Pointe Claire pool with Gary Malcolm , and visited with Yihua Li, Mike Morris and Sylvie Bernier. In Quebec City they visited Dany Boulanger (including a visit to the Hotel de Glace) and in Ottawa, Paul Gravel, and Jen and Brendan Lowry (Mark Lowry’s wife and son). The last stop was New York City, where they stayed with Anne Montminy, and managed to see Andre Sabbah there as well. Well, done Liz! You can be my travel agent any time!

Congratulations to ..... Barb Gorst Renaud and hubby Chris who are expecting their first baby in early May. “Looks like a girl!” reports Barb ..... Reyna Smith Lajeuness and her husband who are expecting #3 in April (Ethan (7) and Hannah (5) are very excited!) ..... Paul Zachau and his wife Kim on the birth of their son Thomas on January 17 ..... Renee-Claude Auclair who was married in Las Vegas in January ..... Tim Jones and wife Dianne who are expecting their 2 nd little Ottawa Senators fan in September

Sadly, I have three distressing bits of news. Marnie Tatham’s son Matt who would be familiar to those who attended Marnie's “Pond” camps in the late '70's and '80's, passed away after completing a triathlon at Wasaga Beach on Sept. 12. In a field of close to 300 competitors, he finished first in his age group and 40th over all, and crossed the finish line “with a smile on his face” said Marnie. Thirty seconds later he collapsed, and died 35 minutes later in nearby Collingwood.

Liz Jack sent sad news about the sudden recent death of Alison Traynor’s father. He was involved in a freak beach accident in Mexico when he was body surfing on a family holiday. Nothing can prepare families for such sudden shocking events, and our sincere condolences go out to the Tatham and Traynor families.

And lastly, sadly, Karl Fix passed away February 2 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Karl was 35. This is stunning news, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his Mom Anne who also suffered the loss of her husband in 2002. Megan and Paige Gordon, and Tony Revitt have kindly sent these thoughts about their VACD team mate:

Tony – “Karl was a kind person who got along with everyone. Always smiling and enjoying himself. He loved the joy of diving and had an incredible talent for many different things; Diving (he actually did 207B before it was really even thought of being able to be done), trampoline, Ukrainian dancing. He enjoyed helping out people to the greatest of his ability whether it was coaching or just helping out in general life. He was a great competitor and a great friend to me and everyone.”

Megan – “Some memories of Karl that come to mind are of his big smile and contagious laugh, love for Ukrainian dancing, amazing trampoline skills, great rip entries, the smell of his Davidoff Coolwater cologne while running stairs, and his impeccable preparation i.e. ice cold water bottle at every practice, box of kleenex always at hand, multiple bathing suits for those who forgot theirs.. these are my initial memories. My thoughts are with his family at this time.”

Paige – “ Karl always put a smile on my face, regardless of my mood. His honesty and sharp sense of humour always kept me on my toes. Karl was a loyal teammate, by your side to push you and to ensure that you didn't take practice too seriously. A talented athlete and a diver who always landed on his head. We used to call Karl a "cat" because he had the most amazing sense of air space. A former trampolinist, diving came easily and he was so fun to watch and even ripped when his knees were bent!!!! I remember meeting Karl when he was 12 at a training camp, when he and Jeff Bacon were team mates. Karl was always prepared no matter where we were going. We shared sun screen when diving outdoors and competed to see who could freckle the most :) Karl adored his parents and cherished his friends. Karl was a wonderful friend and someone who will be deeply missed.”

I thought Paige ended her tribute with a thought that is a good reminder for all of us. “Sigh. This makes me realize that I need to slow down and check in with friends more often.”

Rest in peace, Karl. You left a sweet personable mark on our Diving community, and we are better for having known you.

In closing, I would like to point out that there are a number of new folks receiving this alumni newsletter. Recipients’ comments have always been positive, and members enjoy reading the news about former team mates and diving friends. It is up to you, the Alumni, to send me your news to keep our connection going. New names and addresses are also greatly appreciated. Herman and I have recently moved to Merrickville ON, an hour south of Ottawa. Below is my contact information if you have news, information, questions, or just want to say hello! Take care everyone!

Yours in diving,

Bev Home - 613-269-9314 bevhugenholtz@gmail.com