26 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, April 2, 2008 GlenL£0" _A Autoâ€lR/ep;Ltd. JP Suspension Parts « Ball Joints « Axle Boots Alignment « Brakes « Balancing « Sway Bars .___ We fix all makes and models right here in the heart of Waterloo Give us a call to book your appointment Complete Collision and Refinishing Service 159 Erb St. W. (at Rostin) 519â€"885â€"1810 ;; Northdale Auto Body SINCE 1978 Group 519â€"884â€"0550 , Retirement & Tax Russ McEachnie Whal does a gruff university | bg football coach and a group of preâ€"teen girls have in comâ€" mon? How about Waterloo Ringette Association‘s first Petite A provincial _ |a championship in recent memory. iz The roots of that surprising win started with Brian Breckles, the longâ€" time offensive line coach with the Wilâ€" frid Laurier Golden Hawks. Breckles, who is used to dealing with 300â€"pound offensive lineman after finishing an allâ€" star career with the Hawks, was asked to coach ringette by his daughter Abby. "She asked me five years ago if I‘d coach," said Breckles. "I told her I‘ll try to figure it out." s â€" Breckles admits he didn‘t know a lot about the game, having played mostly football and hockey growing up. And after putting together a team to start this season, he didn‘t know how he was going to turn a group of 10 and 11â€"yearâ€" old girls into a competitive club. Obviously the tools he uses to motiâ€" vate young men on the football field are a lot different that the ones he could use with the girls on his ringette team. Especially a group of girls who hadn‘t really played together before this seaâ€" son. "I was camping with a friend last July and I said we‘d be hard pressed to have a competitive team," said Breckles. "But I‘m really proud of these kids, to see how far they‘ve come from October and November to this past weekend it‘s _ "They might never play in another provincial championship in their comâ€" Petite Wildfire win provincial title By Bos VrBANAC _ Chronicle Staff Members of the Waterloo Wildfire Petite A team, winners of the 2008 provincial championship, celebrate their regional title win on Sunday. suemitteD rxoro petitive life, so to speak, and never have _ The nerves were so bad that Wildfire another chance." goalie Kayla Widish had to fight off a What was particularly impressive _ case of nausea just to start the game. What was particularly impressive was the way that the Waterloo Wildfire Petite A team clinched the champiâ€" onship. The team, despite struggling in the early part of the season, came together at the right time and finished the roundâ€"robin portion of the compeâ€" tition with a 6â€"0 record. The Wildfire‘s only real scare came in the round robin against Ajax. The teams were tied 6â€"6 at the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime. Those nerves came into play again in the championship final when the Wildfire faced Ajax again for the title. After playing with a lot of confidence throughout the tournament, the girls‘ nerves began to show in that extra periâ€" od. But the Wildfire managed to gut it out for a 7â€"6 overtime win. That‘s where some of Breckles‘ big game experience came into play. He won a national title with the Golden Hawks as a coach, and used a coaching trick he learned from WLU head coach Gary Jeffries. He used a word game with the girls all season to start thinking about the success they wanted. He used words like "goals" and broke it down in a way the girls would understand. "On the weekend we introduced the word effort and asked them what effort meant," said Breckles. "And on Sunday when they were so nervous I introduced the word ‘confidence.‘" The girls went out and played the championship game with confidence and skated away with a 5â€"2 result. Breckles didn‘t know how big a difference _ his words made, but he said it was one of the most satisfyâ€" ing experiences of his coaching career. "As an adult to see those kids develop is so And surprisingâ€" ly, the experience also taught him a few lessons about teamwork. â€" "The best part of ringette is that it‘s a true team game," said Breckâ€" les. "You‘ve got to make those passes to succeed and it changes the Six of the Wildâ€" fire‘s players finâ€" ished in the tourâ€" nament‘s top 10 in Sydney Nosal, the 10â€"yearâ€"old forward who led the team with 20 points, said the litâ€" tle words _ of encouragement helped, especially in the finals. "We were all really _ nervous going into the finals, especially our goalie Kayla," it really helped the team _ because everybody was feeling confident . "I think