Page 30 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 79

30 Issue #79 June 2019 www.sportsenergynews.com

Cornwall Lacrosse Paperweight Tournament

“We are very excited Certificates.”
By Victoria Klassen
to provide our ‘small but
Games will take place at the
mighty’ paperweights—birth
he Cornwall Minor Benson Centre pad one on June
TLacrosse Association years 2013-2014—a more 8 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. With this
is holding an inaugural competitive opportunity,” said fun-filled day of lacrosse coming
Paperweight Tournament on Beth Pollock, the tournament
coordinator. up—make sure you plan to go
June 8. Participants will be cheer on your favourite lacrosse
coming from Cornwall, Ottawa, “In addition to the three team! More information about
and surrounding areas. The lacrosse games per team, we
Cornwall Celtics A, Cornwall will be holding a BBQ and the Paperweight Tournament
Celtics B, Akwesasne Storm, Best Buy will be providing and the Cornwall Minor Photo credit Kelsey Lindsay
Gloucester Griffins, Kahnawake music. All participants will be Lacrosse Association can be
Mohawks, and Nepean Knights getting t-shirts and participant found on their website: www.

will be coming to Cornwall to medals, and Boston Pizza has cornwallminorlacrosse.ca/
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take part in this event. provided Player of the Game clubs/4889

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Sports Panel
Sports Energy presents

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June 1st the Cornwall Civic Complex played host to an evening of amateur boxing, with special guest speakers Michael Spinks, Ray Mercer, Gerry Cooney,
and Larry Holmes. Proceeds of this event were to benefit The Children’s Treatment Centre. What do you think of an event like this, held in Cornwall,
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attracting such big names to support it? And, do you think the sports community plays a big role in helping charities raise money?
Gilles Gaudet - Sports Enthusiast -Athletes historically have been very generous with their time and their support of many different causes. Some of
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today’s highest profile sports celebrities such as David Beckham, Serena Williams, and Tiger Woods to name a few contribute to and raise millions
of dollars for a variety of charities. Cornwall is very fortunate to have these four great boxers coming to our hometown to support the Children’s
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Treatment Centre. In fact two of these boxers Holmes and Spinks were world champions and were dominant boxers through most of the 1980’s.
Spinks and Mercer won gold medals boxing for the USA and were two of the foremost amateur boxers of their time. Gerry Cooney was pitched
as the next “Great White Hope” and he had a couple of title shots at the heavyweight crown. Most boxers aren’t born with a silver spoon in
their mouths, and these aforementioned guys are no exception. They grew up in poverty, blue collar at best, and had to fight/box to support their
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families. They left the mean streets and beat the odds, while many of their friends and family members didn’t. Maybe that’s why they want to
give back and make a difference, because they understand better than most what a community organization like the treatment centre can do for a
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child. We are the better for it.
Jake Lapierre - Conditioning Coach -An evening of amateur boxing and special guest superstar athletes to support an event benefitting “The Children’s
Treatment Centre” is a testament to the hard work and dedication Jorge and Tony Luis have poured into the sport of boxing in the community. Michael Spinks,
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Ray Mercer, Gerry Cooney and Larry Holmes know all too well the struggles of hardship, growing up with very little and the importance of supporting an event
that benefits the well-being of children.
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Larry was one of twelve children, born in Georgia and grew up with very little in Easton PA; Michael grew up in tough housing projects of St Louis; Ray grew up
in Jacksonville FL and started boxing while serving in the military; and Gerry, born to a blue collar Irish Catholic family, grew up in tough streets of Long Island
NY and started boxing at a young age. Today Gerry is a strong proponent in educating others about addiction and domestic violence.
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Sporting events are entertainment events that draw people together; what better way to reach out to people for a great cause.
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Jim Riddell - Seaway Karate Club - Charitable boxing events are quite common across North America with one or possibly two former champions as Guest(s)
of Honour, but not even the largest cities feature four great heavyweights like Cornwall just did. Gerry Cooney, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, and Ray Mercer
have all been involved in various fundraisers since their retirement from boxing. Cooney (twice) and Holmes had attended Boxing for Change previously and
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this year they brought Spinks and Mercer along. These former fighters recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that Sean Adams and his team at the
CTC put in to make Boxing for Change such a well organized and successful event. As for sports community involvement, look no further than Champs Eastside
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Boxing head trainer Jorge Luis and “athlete / celebrities” Dave Murphy, Dave MacLean, and Chris Sullivan. It takes at least six months of training and sparring to
be able to develop the conditioning and muscle memory required to be able to execute the instinctive responses necessary to successfully compete in an officially
sanctioned boxing match. Luis in addition to training the celebrity boxers was responsible for putting the top quality fight card together and had to tap into many
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of his numerous contacts to be able do so. He brought in a Watertown firefighter to compete against a Cornwall police officer (Sullivan), matched a Canadian
middleweight champ against an Eastern USA silver medalist, and the Canadian Heavyweight champion vs the New York Golden Gloves heavyweight champion.
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