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Sixteen players have been selected to represent Northern Ontario at the 2022 Ontario Summer Games in Mississauga in July.
PRESS RELEASE
TEAM NORTH BASEBALL
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This past weekend, thirty-eight 14/15 year old baseball players from all over the North traveled to Sault Ste. Marie to attend Team North ID Camp 2022.
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, canoeing, kayaking, field hockey, soccer, triathlon, lacrosse, rugby, softball, table tennis and volleyball at the 2022 Games.
Jean Gilles Larocque, current head coach of the 14U Sudbury Voyageurs and director of the Baseball Academy in Sudbury, will become Team North’s head coach. Coach Larocque has high expectations and high hopes for Team North.
“I’m delighted to be part of this great team of coaches for Team North,” said an exuberant head coach, Jean Gilles Larocque. “The Ontario Summer Games are essentially the Olympic Games for athletes of this age group. This is a huge stage for these players and it can certainly lead to something bigger,” added Larocque
Team North assistant coach Max Rydholm, who also coaches with Thunder Bay Lakers and is a 2012 Ontario Summer Games graduate, is looking forward to baseball this summer.
“I am honored and privileged to be part of the Northern Ontario coaching staff,” said assistant coach Max Rydholm. “As someone who went through that process as a player in the 2012 season, it’s totally surreal to be there from a new perspective. I truly believe that the Team North players will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” added Rydholm.
Thirteen players from Sudbury, two from Sault Ste. Marie and one from Thunder Bay were chosen to represent the North. Thunder Bay will be represented by Matthew Foulds at the 2022 Ontario Summer Games.
“I’m so happy to have made Team North! It’s going to be a very different experience for me,” said Matthew Foulds. “I’m nervous and looking forward to the summer games. I’m really looking forward to working with my new teammates. I will work hard and do my best,” Foulds added
The players will report to Sudbury for a pre-game training camp the week of July 18. The team will travel to Mississauga on July 21 for the opening ceremonies and kick off games the following day with the championship game on Sunday, July 25.
Jean Gilles Larocque and Max Rydholm are joined by Marc Caruso, who trains for the Soo Sox at Sault Ste.Marie. “These people are very talented and bring a lot of skills and experience to the program,” said Coach Larocque. “The North is well represented and bodes well for the development of baseball throughout the region,” added Larocque.
The following baseball associations were represented at 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.