[Alsfastball] Fastball in northern Québec + Darren Zack

[Al Doran]

From: "Jean Lamer" <jlamer at sympatico.ca>
To: "Al Doran1" <aldoran at pmihrm.com>
Subject: Fastball in northern Québec + Darren Zack
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 04:47:33 -0400



The Aboriginal way, fastpitch in Cree country where our sport is alive & 
well along the James Bay & elsewhere in their territory.

First journey, the discovery, July 16-18, 2004, Chisasibi community.
     Besides the bewilderment of the panorama, the people & Cree language, 
this fastball tournament organized exclusively for the youth (under 18) got 
together many communities, boys & girls ranging from the youngest 
categories was quite surprising by the number of participants. Black bugs 
or storms never stopped them from enjoying their moments. Quite a discovery 
for an umpire's first visit under that latitude.

2nd journey, the reality, July 23-25, Oujé-Bougoumou community.
     The caliber of the pitchers was a revelation, coming from nowhere, 
unknowns were throwing like pros, tight scores all along, the final game 
left everybody breathless, of the 3 umpires at that event, I was the only 
one to come out of there uninjured.

3rd journey, the comparison, August 27-29, Wemindji community.
     5 men's fastpitch teams, 4 orthodox men's & women's, lots of fans 
attending day & night whatever the conditions, again defence evened offense 
skills. Temperature was better suited for a sport with skates.

4th journey, the astonishment, September 10-12, Eastmain community.
     A major fastpitch event, the legendary Darren Zack is in town, just 
got back from St-Croix, NS from the Canadian Men's Fastpitch Championship, 
I told him I'd spell his name right. Despite bad weather, constantly 
between 2 to 8° C, rain & wind, the fastpitch tournament including 6 
women's teams as well as 6 men's never stopped, just before the semi's on 
Sunday the sun finally came through the clouds. Guess who made the finals 
men ! Darren's team lost it 2-1 over the host & well known pitcher's team 
Raymond Shanoush in his Eastmain stronghole. Croud was of course delighted 
on the issue. One item funny though, every time a flock of wild geese would 
fly over the ballfield, games would stop momentarily, all natives presents 
imitating the shout of those animals, local bondage I guess !

There are eleven linguistically and culturally distinct aboriginal nations 
in Québec, living in some fifty villages scattered over 1.6 million km2 
between the 45th & 62nd parallels. They extend a warm welcome visitors 
eager to discover some of the little-known aspects of a heritage forged 
through thousands of years of living in North America.


To find more about First Nations & among them the Cree Nation:
in English
<http://bonjourquebec.sympatico.ca/anglais/idees_vac/autochtone/index.html>http://bonjourquebec.sympatico.ca/anglais/idees_vac/autochtone/index.html 

in french
<http://bonjourquebec.sympatico.ca/francais/idees_vac/autochtone/index.html>http://bonjourquebec.sympatico.ca/francais/idees_vac/autochtone/index.html 



Jean Lamer
Softball Québec umpire
Rivière-du-Loup, Qc
<mailto:jlamer at sympatico.ca>jlamer at sympatico.ca

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