Waterloo women's golfer
Devon Rizzo (Brantford/) is getting the chance of a lifetime playing for team Canada at the 2011 Summer Universiade games in China from August 17 - 20.
The second team OUA all-star and record holder for lowest OUA women's golf score will not be alone as her Warrior coach
Carla Munch will be Canada's head coach at the games for the second straight year. Rizzo won in a playoff at the 2011 University/College Championship earlier in the month to solidify her spot on team Canada.
Joining the Warrior women will be head coach of the men's program,
Dave Hollinger who was also named team Canada's coach for the second straight year. Hollinger led his Warriors to an OUA silver medal in 2010 and was named the OUA coach of the year and the winner of the inaugural Jack Pearse award as the post-secondary Canadian golf coach of the year.
Read more about the participants and the tournament in the release below.
Released by: Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)
OTTAWA (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Wednesday the 11 student-athletes and four staff members who will represent Canada in golf at the 26
th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, in August.
This will mark the second appearance for golf at the world university games. The sport made its Universiade debut in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, but was not part of the program in 2009 in Serbia.
The Canadian men finished 12th in the team competition in Bangkok, while the women's squad placed 13th. Thailand (men) and Mexico (women) are defending Universiade champions heading into the tournament set for Aug. 17-20 at the Mission Hills Golf Club.
Highlighting the red and white roster for the Shenzhen Games are the University of British Columbia's Kylie Barros and Humber College's Mark Hoffman, who captured the women's and men's individual titles at the 2011 Canadian University/College Championships conducted by Golf Canada earlier this month in Ashburn, Ont.
Barros, a 19-year-old native of Edmonton who is also the reigning NAIA national champion, scored a nine-shot victory at the tournament held at The Royal Ashburn Golf Club to lead the UBC women to their third straight team banner.
Hoffman shot a 3-under par 69 in the final round and was 1-under par for the tourney as he guided Humber to the men's team title. The 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., won the Trinidad and Tobago Amateur Championship in 2010 and finished third at the Scottish University Championship in 2009.
Rounding out the five-member women's squad for the Universiade are a trio of University of Victoria Vikes including Anne Balser of Digby, N.S., Alyssa Herkel of Port Alberni, B.C., and Megan Woodland of Victoria, as well as
Devon Rizzo (Brantford/), a University of Waterloo student from Brantford, Ont.
Balser finished second at the University/College Championship, Herkel and Woodland tied for third, and Rizzo placed fifth.
On the men's side, the six-member team is completed by two of Hoffman's Humber teammates, Gregory Belsito of Thornhill and Adrian Cord of Etobicoke, Ont., as well as UBC teammates David Sheman of Newmarket, Ont., and Jack Wesche of Calgary, and UVic's Darren Hupfer of Edmonton.
Belsito was fourth at the University/College Championship, Sheman and Wesche tied for fifth, while Cord and Hupfer tied for ninth.
Balser, who won the University/College title a year ago, is the only returnee from the 2007 Universiade in Bangkok where she finished 46th. She also has FISU world university championships experience, having placed 12th in 2010 in Spain and 31st in 2008 in South Africa.
The top Canadian performers in Bangkok were Humber College's Michael Zizek with a 15th-place finish on the men's side and UVic's Christina Spence, who was 27th in the women's tournament.
Ray Chateau from Humber College, who was Team Canada's head coach in Bangkok, will act as team leader in Shenzhen. Chateau coached the Canadian entry at the 2004 FISU world championships and was team leader at the event in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The coaching staff for Shenzhen is comprised of
Dave Hollinger and
Carla Munch, both from the University of Waterloo, and Chris Dickson from the University of Western Ontario.
Hollinger (2006, 2010) and Munch (2008, 2010) both have FISU world championships experience.
TEAM CANADA ROSTER
Women
Name School Hometown
Anne Balser University of Victoria Digby, N.S.
Kylie Barros University of British Columbia Edmonton, Alta.
Alyssa Herkel University of Victoria Port Alberni, B.C.
Megan Woodland University of Victoria Victoria, B.C.
Men
Gregory Belsito Humber College Thornhill, Ont.
Adrian Cord Humber College Etobicoke, Ont.
Mark Hoffman Humber College Thornhill, Ont.
Darren Hupfer University of Victoria Edmonton, Alta.
David Sheman University of British Columbia Newmarket, Ont.
Jack Wesche University of British Columbia Calgary, Alta.
STAFF
Position Name School Hometown
Team leader Ray Chateau Humber College Richmond Hill, Ont.
Coach Chris Dickson U of Western Ontario London, Ont.
About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit
www.cis-sic.ca.
-CIS-
For more information:
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Off: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
