4-H team enjoyed ‘golden’ good time

They may not have come back with the top prize but competing at the annual 4-H “Go for the Gold” provincial championships at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto definitely was a golden experience.
Stacey Angus, Melissa Brant, Rebecca Cornell, and Angie Teeple represented all of Northern Ontario against five other regional teams from southern Ontario.
Although the local team didn’t make it to the playoffs, Kim Jo Calder, one of the chaperones, said she was very proud of their performance.
“They finished in sixth place but the scores were all very close,” she noted. “The last game they played, the score was 80-70.”
“We had fun,” said Brant. “We were the youngest ones there. Most of the other teams were in university.”
The team played three games in total, and it took them a while to get settled down.
“Everybody was nervous because we didn’t know if we would do well or not,” Brant said. “But we were nervous [at the regionals] in Sault Ste. Marie, too.”
“They were really nervous for the first game. And there was a bad call in third game,” recalled Calder. “But everything went really well. It was a great experience.”
Calder said the girls were expecting a much more serious competition at the provincials. The questions also were much longer than at the regional round, she added, noting all six teams seemed to have problems with that.
“They were kind of confusing,” Brant agreed. “You didn’t know what they were talking about.”
“The other thing we noticed was that the questions were really geared towards southern Ontario,” Calder said. “There was one Northern Ontario question.
“If you were from the regions in the south, you had a better handle on things,” she noted.
Since a local team was sent to the provincials, the Rainy River District 4-H Association gets to host the regional playoffs next year.
“We have no dates or anything yet but we’ll have to start working on it,” Calder said.
Calder also hoped the local foursome’s trip to the Royal this year will spark some more interest in the competition here.
“It’s so much fun,” Brant said, encouraging new people to try out. “And you’re going to meet lots of people.”