NEWS RELEASE
TEAM NORTH BASEBALL
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This past weekend saw thirty-eight 14/15-year-old baseball players from across the North travel to Sault Ste. Marie to compete in the 2022 Team North ID camp.
The purpose of the ID camp was to select 16 players to represent northern Ontario at the 2022 Ontario Summer Games in Mississauga. Between 3,500 and 5,000 athletes are expected to compete in archery, beach volleyball, basketball, canoe, kayak, field hockey, soccer, triathlon, lacrosse, rugby, softball, table tennis and volleyball at the 2022 Games.
Jean Gilles Larocque who currently is the head coach of the 14U Sudbury Voyageurs and the director of the Baseball Academy in Sudbury will be Team North’s head coach. Coach Larocque has high expectations and high hopes for Team North.
“I am extremely excited to be part of this great coaching staff for Team North”, stated an exuberant head coach Jean Gilles Larocque. “The Ontario Summer Games are basically the Olympics for athletes for this age group. This is a huge stage for these players and can certainly lead towards somethings bigger,” added Larocque
Team North assistant coach Max Rydholm, who also coaches with the Thunder Bay Lakers and is an alumni of the 2012 Ontario Summer Games, is excited about baseball this summer.
“I am honoured and privileged to be a part of the coaching staff for Team Northern Ontario,” stated assistant coach Max Rydholm. “As someone who went through the process as a player in the 2012 season it is completely surreal to be a part of this from a new perspective. I truly believe the players of Team North will have an experience of a lifetime,” added Rydholm.
Thirteen players from Sudbury, two from Sault Ste. Marie and one from Thunder Bay were selected to represent the North. Thunder Bay will be represented by Matthew Foulds at the 2022 Ontario Summer Games.
“I am so happy I made Team North! This will be a totally different experience for me,” stated Matthew Foulds. “I am nervous and excited about the Summer Games. I am really looking forward to working with my new teammates. I am going to work hard and do the best I can,” added Foulds
Players will be reporting for a pre-games training camp the week of July 18 in Sudbury. The team will travel to Mississauga for the opening ceremonies July 21 and start games the following day with the Championship Game on Sunday, July 25.
Jean Gilles Larocque, Max Rydholm will be joined by Marc Caruso who coaches for the Soo Sox in Sault Ste.Marie. “This staff has a lot of talent and bring a lot of skills and experience to the program,” stated Coach Larocque. “The North is well represented and bodes well for baseball development across the region,”added Larocque.
The following Baseball associations were represented at the Sault Ste. Marie Team North ID camp: North Bay Minor Baseball, Sault Ste. Marie (Soo) Minor Baseball, Algoma Minor Baseball, Thunder Bay baseball association, Thunder Bay Baseball League, Valley East Minor Baseball League, The Baseball Academy and Sudbury Minor Baseball.
