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Fraser secures Olympic spot with race-off victory Oakville's KC Fraser teamed up with Genevieve Orton to win a race-off Friday to claim Canada's final Olympic canoe kayak spot. Fraser, a two-time Pan Am Games gold medallist, and Orton will be going to Rio in the women's K2 (kayak double) 500m Friday at the Canadian Sprint Canoe Kayak team trials in Montreal. Fraser and Orton, from Echo Lake, N.S., won in a time of one minute, 47.484 seconds, crossing the finish line 1.6 seconds ahead of Michelle Russell and Madeline Schmidt. Russell and Schmidt won the women's K2 500m at the first Canadian team trials in May. Fraser and Orton then won the Pan American Continental Qualifier, earning Canada a spot at the Olympics, but it came down to a winner-take all race between the two pairs to see who would fill that spot for Canada at the Olympics. Choosing volleyball sets up Madill for future success By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff 39 | Thursday, June 30, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Brazdeikis leads Canada into quarters at FIBA world U17s Oakville's Ignas Brazdeikis had a team-high 15 points and added 10 rebounds as Canada advanced to the quarter-finals of the FIBA world under-17 championships with a 79-52 win over the Dominican Republic Tuesday. Brazdeikis is averaging 12.5 points and seven rebounds per game through Canada's first four contests. He led Canada with 17 points and had eight rebounds in a 9268 win over Finland. Canada went 3-0 in pool play, rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Australia 81-78 in its opener and wrapped up top spot in its pool with a 10554 win over China. Canada will face Turkey in today's quarter-final. Oakville's Laura Madill was named to the Canadian junior women's national volleyball team this week. A two-time MVP at the national championships with the Halton Hurricanes, she will be one of only two 16-year-olds on the Canadian team. | photo by Connie Miller Photography Laura Madill was quickly working her way through the ranks of a sport she had been playing since she was four years old. From rep, to district and regional soccer programs, the St. Mildred's-Lightbourn student had made the provincial team and been accepted into the REX program, set up to help identify and develop players for national team programs. Three times a week after school, the talented Oakville Soccer Club centre/ left back travelled to Vaughan to train with some of the province's best players for four hours. It wouldn't be long until NCAA schools were knocking at her door. But last January, Madill faced a tough decision. It was one she had been putting off for a couple of years. After years of dedicating herself to the sport and on the cusp of great things, she made the difficult call to give up the game. "I still miss it so much," she says. The seeds of the decision had been planted five years earlier, though she had no way of knowing it at the time. Madill had attended Halton Region Volleyball Club's Volleygirls Academy. "Honestly, it was something I just did for fun with some of my soccer friends, just to do something different," Madill said. "And it was good cross-training for soccer." The following year, Madill began playing rep. She made the club's 13-and-under team, playing a year above her age level. In just her third year of rep volleyball, she helped the Halton Hurricanes win the national under-15 championship. She also earned a bronze medal at the national beach volleyball championships. The following season, when the Hurricanes won their second straight Canadian title, Madill was named the tournament's most valuable player. But the demands of playing two sports at a high level, as well as maintaining honours at school, were becoming increasing- ly more difficult. "I was going seven days a week," she said. "I was having to skip some soccer practices (for volleyball) and as I was getting older, the workload at school was increasing. I was told for a couple of years that I would have to make a choice, I just didn't want to." Madill finally accepted she could not do both, but rather than opting for the game she had played almost her entire life, she chose her new pursuit. As a setter, Madill is involved in almost every play. And each point brings a new opportunity to improve upon the last one. "Once I started getting better at it, I just loved the game so much," she said. "I love going to practice. In soccer, if you kick a ball out of bounds, you don't give up a goal. In volleyball, if you miss a ball, if you don't turn your shoulders the right way, you don't have your hands together, you don't bend your knees, if you make a mistake, you're down a point. I'm a bit of perfectionist, so I like that." Though some of her former provincial soccer teammates are now receiving scholarship offers, Madill saw more potential for herself in volleyball. Her decision has proven as sound as the ones she makes on the court. Since choosing to focus on volleyball, Madill has led Halton to a third straight national title, picking up her second tournament MVP award, and made a verbal commitment to the University of San Diego, a top-30 ranked Division I NCAA program. This week Madill was named to the Canadian junior women's national team. She was one of 12 players selected from the 60 invited to two regional tryouts. Madill will be just one of two 16-year-olds on the team that will play at the USA High Performance Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in July. So while Madill's athletic career may have taken a detour, the once-promising soccer player is now serving up success on the volleyball court. OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB Week Six Photo Contest Winner: Photographer: Liz Russo Age Division: Boys U13 OPDL Reliance Oakville Beaver A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club Sponsored by: