Preparations for the Saskatchewan Twilite Baseball Maxi Tournament held in Davidson July 5 to 7 are in full swing, but organizers are still looking for a few more volunteers to help with the event.

“What we’re looking for right now is, we’ve got a few people, but we’re going to need some more announcers and scorekeepers for the event itself and maybe some people to help set up,” said Davidson councillor Jason Shaw, noting anyone looking to volunteer can either contact him or Davidson recreation director Trevor Ouellette. “We’ve done some of the work now (to get ready), but most of it will be a week to 10 days before.”

Twenty-four teams from across the province have already confirmed they’ll be in Davidson the first weekend of July to play in the 37^th annual over-35 men’s tournament. Each team is comprised of 12 to 18 players, who come together each summer to play some ball.

Shaw said Davidson would have a team made up of ballplayers from this town as well as surrounding areas competing at the Davidson ball diamonds, but this tournament is more about players showing their love for the summer game than trying to prove who is the best.

“You try to win, but it’s more just for fun and camaraderie and having a good time and trying not to get hurt,” he said.

Ouellette said they have already received over 100 requests for spots at the Davidson Campgrounds during the weekend and he expects hundreds of ballplayers and their families descending on the town for the tournament. He said they are planning to welcome these visitors to town with a few events to go along with the tournament.

“They are going to put on a roast beef dinner, whether it’s a beef-on-a-bun or not I’m not sure, for Friday night and that’s going to be in conjunction with the beer gardens and the Rider game showing at the curling rink,” said Ouellette. “Then Saturday and I do believe Sunday morning they are going to be putting on a pancake breakfast.”

Shaw said admission to the tournament is free for all spectators, so he hopes many baseball fans head out to the Davidson ball diamonds July 5 to 7 to take in the action.

“We had a senior team and there was a good following of people that liked to watch baseball,” he said. “I’ve had people stop in to see if the kids are playing and unfortunately with them playing in the city they don’t get the chance to play more games out here. We’re not charging people anything to come and watch. It’s going to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so if you want to come watch some ball that is the time to do it.”

Hundreds of leather clad bikers and their old ladies are descending on the village of Elbow this weekend looking for a party…and to raise some money for The Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Ride for Sight Saskatchewan–Motorcyclists Fighting Blindness is taking to the streets and Fairgrounds of Elbow June 22 and 23 for their first charity drive since 2010 in an effort to raise “$10,000 to $20,000” for research into macular degeneration diseases, said a Ride for Sight executive.

Rod Broadfoot, co-chair of Ride for Sight Saskatchewan, said they are planning for 100 to 300 motorcyclists to descend on the small community over the two days. He said this is part of a Canada-wide effort by the motorcycling community to add to the over $19 million the charity group has raised since its inception in 1979.

“Our main objective is to raise money for The Foundation Fighting Blindness,” said Broadfoot, who is going to be roaring into Elbow on his tan and gold 2004 Yamaha Road Star. “The event is a celebration of the process. We want to put on a good event that attracts people and encourages them to fund-raise in the future.”

The event, which is free to people who raise $50 in pledges and a $25 charge otherwise, begins with a motorcycle parade through the streets of Elbow Saturday afternoon followed by a bike rodeo at the Elbow Arena and Fairgrounds.

“It’s a bunch of silliness,” he said about the bike rodeo. “It’s really good fun. We set up a small track, usually a 50-foot long track, and we’ll have two lanes with good spacing between them and then we have Slow Races. (It’s) whoever can ride their bike the slowest wins and that is a lot harder than you might think trying to keep your balance on grass going as slow as possible.”

To read more please see the June 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The RCMP advised motorists to avoid a stretch of Highway 11 outside Dundurn last week after a two-vehicle collision June 10 and a semi-trailer rollover June 11 blocked northbound traffic on the highway.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Rob King said five people were injured in the collision last Monday afternoon on Hwy. 11 near the entrance to the Town of Dundurn. He said the RCMP can’t report on the condition of the occupants, but they were transported to hospital including one by STARS Air Ambulance.

“It was right at the intersection,” said King, noting members from the Saskatoon RCMP responded to the scene. “One vehicle was going west and then it was struck by the other vehicle on the highway.”

The collision blocked traffic on the northbound lanes of Hwy. 11 forcing travel to be diverted to Hwy. 211 between approximately 4:15 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.

During the next morning traffic had to be diverted off the northbound lanes of Hwy. 11 again after a semi-trailer carrying a load that included a large tractor rolled over two miles north of Dundurn.

King said there were no injuries in the June 11 rollover. He said traffic was detoured by the Saskatoon RCMP and the Department of Highways because several tow trucks were at the scene of the accident trying to upright the trailer and assist with cleaning up the debris.

“He lost his load in the ditch and it took quite a few tow trucks to right (the trailer),” he said.

Northbound traffic was detoured for approximately five hours around the area after the accident beginning in the early morning hours and ending past noon, said King.

The Davidson Kinette Club is suffering from a lack of membership and if numbers don’t improve they may have to fold.

Brenna Siroski, vice-president of the Davidson Kinettes for the 2012-2013 year, said the club only has seven members right now. She said the long-standing town club held their wrap-up meeting last week and could barely fill their executive positions for next year.

“This is my third year now as a Kinette and the numbers have been getting increasingly smaller,” said Siroski. “The club has been right around that six, seven, eight, nine (and) 10 mark for quite a few years now.

“We have enough members to run our executive next year, so we’ll be able to run one more year. The concern is that we might have to fold if we don’t start attracting new members soon.”

The Davidson Kinette Club is a branch of Kin Canada, which encompasses 500 Kinsmen, Kinette and Kin clubs and 6,500 members across Canada. The 93-year-old association is dedicated to “serving the community’s greatest need” while bettering their surroundings, enhancing the wellbeing of others and improving the environment.

Kinettes have been a fixture in Davidson since 1964 and have completed many projects in the community including giving Christmas gifts to residents with no family, beginning the Arnold Park renovation project in the late 1980s and supporting the Telemiracle Foundation. The club almost folded once before in 1998 due to declining membership, but was able to rebound the next year.

Siroski said in an effort to drum up some support this time the club plans to become more visible in the community and invite new people moving into town to come out and give their club a try. She said the club “isn’t just for 20 and 30 year olds,” so they also hope to attract former members of the Kinettes to come back into the fold.

“One of the fun things that we do is we built a rapport with the Watrous Kinettes, so last year we went for a visit to Watrous and we got to see what they do at their meetings and make some connections with them,” she said. “Last month the Watrous Kinettes actually came to our meeting and we got to have some fun and see what they’re doing in other clubs and build some relationships with some other Kin clubs.”

There is no first-year membership fee to join the Kinettes, said Siroski, but there is a fee of $100 come the second year. The only commitment of a Kinette is attending their once-a-month meeting at the Kinsmen Club, which starts off with a potluck supper and ends with socializing among the members.

Siroski said members are also asked to participate in the events they plan during the year, but attendance at the events is not mandatory.

The Imperial Scorpions 15 and under girls volleyball team had a vicious sting this past spring by securing a silver medal in the 2013 Conexus Provincial Volleyball Championships.

The Scorpions took the tier 5 medal by holding a strong Moose Jaw Panthers squad to a tough three-game set in the final matchup May 5 in Saskatoon. The Panthers won the gold medal game 25-20, 21-25, 15-13, but had to hold off a strong push from the Scorpions late in the third game to secure their championship.

“In the third set, one team would get a point and then the other team would get a point,” said Kennedy Lewis, 15, middle for the Scorpions.

She said the Panthers started to pull out to an impressive lead, but somehow the Scorpions scratched their way back and it wasn’t until the final points were made that the Moose Jaw team took the gold.

“It was a really good go, so nobody was disappointed,” said Kennedy. “We had a really good time.”

Katherine Rieger, head coach of the 15U Scorpions, said the club was a “starting team,” but the girls came together by the end of the January to May season to finish near the top of the standings.

“We started the team this year and we started out pretty much dead last, or not quite, in our first tournament,” said Rieger. “We medaled in tier 5, but we had played some amazing games against some of those top tier 2 teams and even bottom tier 1 teams.

“It just happened that we have kids that are 13 years old playing on the team compared to kids that are 15 years old playing on the other teams.”

Rieger said the competition in club volleyball is much “tougher” than what the players see in high school games, but no matter how tough the competition all the girls on the team see time on the court. She said this is done because the purpose of the 15U team is the development of playing skills.

To read more please see the June 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.