She’s conquered the slickest, fastest bobsled track in the world and now she gets to play on it all day without the weight of an entire nation on her shoulders.
As a brakeman testing the Olympic bobsled run in Whistler, B.C., most of Stacey Scott’s work comes at the start.
“Yes, I’m in the back on the fastest track in the world but there is not much I do there except for hold on,” said Scott, who graduated from Foothills Composite High School.
Scott labeled the track in Whistler “crazy fast” and how …

Perhaps you do actually take fewer risks as you get older.
A Foothills Composite High School graduate has given up hurling his body head-first down a steep tube of ice reaching speeds of more than 120 kilometres per hour in order to help Canadian athletes throw their own bodies head-first down a steep tube of ice to reach speeds of more than 120 kilometres per hour.

Nathan Cicoria is in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics as the high-performance director for the Canadian skeleton team.
“Basically, I give strategic direction to the national …

Canada was up by three points with seconds left in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship bronze medal game. Only the top three teams in the tournament would qualify for the 2010 World Championships in the Czech Republic.
Cuba tied the game with three seconds left that should have crushed Canada’s hopes. But just the opposite happened.
Canada’s point guard was Foothills Composite High School grad Kaela Chapdelaine and she said the Canucks were feeling confident about clinching a berth in the world championships.
“In the timeout we had just before overtime was about …

Okotoks and Foothills residents burned with passion and pride when the Olympic torch made its way through southern Alberta on Monday en route to the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Feb. 12.
Thousands of people flocked to the High River Recplex to watch local country singers George Canyon and Melanie Laine perform at the torch celebration Monday morning.
The highlight was Bill Holmes, a long-time resident of High River and a stalwart in the foothills community, lighting the Olympic cauldron in High River.
When the Olympic flame left High …

It wasn’t the torch that lit a fire under a reporter who is an Olympic Games cynic, it was the enthusiasm of those people carrying the torch.
I was once an avid fan of the Olympics, but that seemed to diminish with each proceeding games. There were just too many things I didn’t understand.
Things like Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising a gloved hand in protest on the medal podium in Mexico City in 1968 (only to reflect later on how heroic those actions really were); Israelis being killed in 1972 …

A mother and her son will watch with interest when the Olympic torch comes to Okotoks this Monday. That’s because they will be carrying the torch just a few days later as the flame makes its route to Vancouver for the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 12.
Fourteen-year-old Logan Coutts will carry the torch on Jan. 20 in Canmore while his mother, Kathy Coutts, will have the Olympic flame five days later in Oliver, B.C.
They are two of several foothills area residents who will carry the …

Okotoks could soon be host to one of the oldest championships in Canadian sports.
By this fall, the Canadian Lacrosse Association will decide the 2011 host of the Minto Cup, Canada’s national Junior A lacrosse championship, and Okotoks could be the site. Donated in 1901 by Lord Minto, then Governor General, the cup is annually awarded to the best Junior A lacrosse team from British Columbia, Ontario or Alberta.
“This is a great opportunity to bring one of the premiere events in Canada and one of the oldest events in Canada to …

Some former Okotoks residents won’t be ringing in the New Year with the same fanfare they did back in the late 1990s when hockey fans watched them celebrate on Saddledome ice the Mac’s championship trophy.
Okotoks players were prominent with the Foothills Midget AAA Bisons when they downed the Swift Current Legionaires 4-2 on Jan. 1, 1999 to win the Mac’s Major Midget Hockey tournament in Calgary.
“I was fortunate to score the first two goals in that game,” said Chad Krushelnicki, a forward with the 1998 Bisons. “We never trailed in …

Led by a trio of local players the UFA Midget AAA Bisons are a perfect 3-0 at the Mac’s Midget Tournament as of Monday.
According to Bisons head coach, Brett Goulet Okotoks area players Steven Soto, Keaton Lubin and Levi Bews, who scored his first-ever goal at the tournament on Dec. 27, have their roles and each is filling it well.
“They are not out of their element at all, they’re very good hockey players and they’re definitely showing it every time they play a game that they belong,” said Goulet.
The Bisons …

The sure sign that Christmas is coming is when a newspaper reporter has taken his final photo of a holiday concert at one of the many schools in the area.
Schools are a place for education and the various school concerts can provide historical data of which you may not be aware.
Although at the time of 0 B.C. there were no i-phones, computers, hi-definition TVs and other 2009 gadgets that supposedly make our lives more convenient, the hard-working shepherds of more than 2000 years ago were well rested.
It wasn’t until I …