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Sportco catcher Sharon Hart tags Houligan‘s Carroll Kirck out during °C‘ division championship game Saturday afternoon at Centennial Park. They‘re all right, Jacks After two consecutive championship wins by Alderwood Herricanes, the Molson‘s sponsored Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo ladies softball tournament title has gone to another team. Jacks, a team from North Tonawanda, defeated Niagara Falls 7â€"1 Saturday evening to win the twoâ€"day event. Patricia Archie of Jacks was named the most valuable player of the championâ€" ship game. In a coinciding °C‘ division tournament, Sportco emerged victorious with a 14â€"8 win over Houligan‘s and Deborah Frodshom of Sportco was most valuable player in that game. Tami Conlin of Design Power was MVP in the °C‘ consolation game although her team lost 15â€"13 to Charlies Angels. Richard O‘Brien photos Houligan‘s pitcher Sue Bechard delivers a pitch in °C‘ division championship game with Sportco. University background helps Birch land job _ Richard O‘Brien Chronicle Staff A relatively new trend in the National Hockey League continued this summer when Jack Birch, former coach of the University of Waterloo hockey Warriors, was hired as assistant coach of the New York Rangers. Coaches with university backgrounds going on to the NHL have included the likes of Tom Watt and Bill Mahoney. Closer to home, former Warrior assistant coach E.J. McGuire became an assistant coach with Philadelphia Flyers last year. Can we expect the trend to continue? "It might be the way of the future," said Birch. ‘"The bottom line there is we expect players to train for 18 years to become big league level hockey players. Why wouldn‘t you expect coaches to do the same?" Perhaps as students of the game themâ€" selves (Birch is working on a doctorate that will be hockey related), university coaches concentrate on training programs, motivaâ€" tion and conditioning. ‘"‘There‘s a fair amount involved in coaching," said Birch. ‘"The best training ground might be the college route. _ ‘"When you have to practice four days a week and prepare those four days a week to play two games I think it leads to much more emphasis on preparation and practice and teaching of skills. But prescouting isn‘t what it used to be There is more technology involved and less travel. "Granted, there are soume good coaches who have been just players who‘ve gone on to coaching. I‘m not knocking that as a way to do it but it‘s not necessarily the route."‘ As a Ranger assistant coach, Birch will be involved with onâ€"ice practice and preâ€"scouting of teams, especially those in Rangers‘ division that they‘ll meet seven times. "With the...ability to use satelite dishes we can pretty well get games taped from anywhere in North America," said Birch ‘"There are some advantages and disadvan tages to doing it that way. ‘"‘The advantage (of videotaping) is you can break the game down much more thoroughly and understand every aspect of the game. ‘"‘The disadvantage is that you are a victim of the camera lens and you‘re only going to see what the camera shows you and in 85 to 90 per cent of the job that‘s enough." Birch had planned to finish work on his PhD over the summer but now he plans to work on it longer in the new job. His PhD work involves an occupational analysis of professional talent scouts, try ing to see how scouts contribute to the overall success or failure of a team. Birch resigned as Warrior coach at the end of the 1984â€"85 season to look for a fullâ€"time position in hockey. "I met with my committee members (at UW) and the advice that was given was that I‘m in a better position now to collect information on the dissertation anyway." said Birch. "I‘ve had a discussion with Ranger general manager Craig Patrick in New York and they‘ve indicated to me that they‘d help me in any way they possibly could." "I kind of figured this was the summer where I was going to get some movement." said Birch. "I pretty well knew that if Ted Sator was to be the head coach of the New York Rangers that I would have a pretty good shot at getting that job. ‘"On the other side of the coin, I‘m sure ! was considered by Mike Keenan and his staff to fill.the position that Ted left (with Philadelphia Flyers.)"