Chatham-Kent Sports Year in Review: July 2011
July was one of the craziest months in local sports that I can remember in recent years. The month opened with an announcement that Wallaceburg was a finalist in the Kraft Celebration Tour and would go head to head with Trenton on July 12 for a spot on the tour…and we all remember how that turned out. There were, however, plenty of actual sports on the field in July that didn’t involve TSN. Here is a look at sports in Chatham-Kent during July 2011:
- July 2 – To start the month, Wallaceburg was announced as a top 20 finalist for the Kraft Celebration Tour voting. The announcement would spark 10 feverish days of preparation for what would be a defining moment in recent years for sports in Wallaceburg. Read more about Wallaceburg’s Kraft Celebration Tour bid…
- July 6 – After hitting for the first cycle in PGCBL history, Chatham’s Larry Balkwill was named PGCBL Player of the Week. Balkwill, one of Chatham-Kent’s top baseball prospects in recent years starred in for the Watertown Wizards in the college summer league. Read more about Larry Balkwill and the PGCBL…
- July 12 – The Chatham Bantam Coyotes ball hockey team grabbed a provincial championship downing North York in the final. Read about the Chatham Coyotoes Ontario title here…
- July 13 – Twenty Four hours of straight voting, captchas and hard work completed July 13 after the Kraft Celebration Tour voting to improve an outdoor lacrosse facility. Now, Wallaceburg residents were forced to wait for the official announcement. Read about the Kraft Celebration Tour voting festivities in Wallaceburg… Later that day is was announced that Wallaceburg had won the vote setting an all-time voting record. Read about Wallaceburg’s win!
- July 16 – Four Chatham-Kent Cougars performed well, finishing 4th as members of Team Ontario West at the Football Canada Cup in Saskatchewan. Read more about the CK Cougars at the Football Canada Cup…
- July 18 – Chatham-Kent Cougars held their first annual Alumni Day featuring successful games from each team, large crowds, giveaways and more. Read about the first annual Chatham-Kent Cougars Alumni Day…
- July 20 – Chatham’s Bridget Carleton was selected to play for Team Ontario’s U-15 basketball team. Carleton, a 14-year-old is now a student of John McGregor and plays club basketball for the Chatham-Kent Wildcats. Read about Bridget Carleton’s Team Ontario selection…
- July 27 – Wallaceburg’s Shaun Suisham re-signed with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers. With the NFL lockout over, Suisham was able to rejoin the team he helped to reach Super Bowl XLV. Read about Shaun Suisham’s signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers…
- July 28 – Wallaceburg Lacrosse goalie Emily VanDamme made 23 saves for Team Ontario leading her team to a National Championship. Vandamme was the game MVP for Ontario. Read about Emily VanDamme’s National Lacrosse Championship…
- July 30 – Chatham golfer Kyle Wicks, a member at the Links of Kent and a JMSS student helped Canada to a Euro Junior Golf Cup championship. Wicks won each of his matches. Read about Kyle Wicks Euro Cup win…