August 5, 2021 Vol. 21, No. 31
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Sharbot Lake Volleyballer Heading To Denmark To Play By Jeff Green
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hen Joel Howes went to Sharbot Lake High School, there were not that many sports to compete in. “It was soccer, basketball and volleyball, and I competed in all of them,” he recalls. His height was an advantage in both basketball and volleyball, and he liked volleyball, but not more than any of the other sports. It was when he went to Fleming College in Peterborough and made the volleyball team that he began to take volleyball more seriously and learned to love the sport, and want to progress in it. His position is middle blocker. The college volleyball season runs from September to February, and in 2019 Joel decided to try his hand with the One League, the top level of volleyball in Canada outside of the national team program. He played for Madawaska Madness out of Toronto and participated in the league finals in Edmonton in 2019. At Fleming, he has really found his niche as a middle blocker. He set the blocking record in the Ontario College Athletic Association in 2019/2020, scored the most points on his team and was awarded the athlete of the year trophy at Fleming College. The season ended just before COVID hit. He studied computer engineering techniques, and electrical techniques, at Fleming and has been working in Peterborough ever since he graduated. The One League 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled. Earlier this year, “one of my buddies, who coached me at Fleming, said I might be able to sign with a team in Europe, where volleyball is a much bigger sport, and they are having a 2021 season,” he said. He has now signed with a team in Ishoj, a town in Denmark that is located near Copenhagen. His contract in-
cludes coaching juniors, and playing for a team that plays in Division 11 of the Danish League. Isoj used to be a Division 1 team but they were recently relegated, mostly because of losses in revenue because fans are not allowed into the venues to see the matches, eliminating gate revenue. “They are hoping to get back to Division 1. I’ve been told that the level of play is higher than the college level but lower than the One League level. Joel has kept active as much as possible over the last 18 months, doing some Pilates and yoga and playing beach volleyball. “I think it will be a little bit of a challenge. I’ve been jumping on sand for the past year, which messes with the timing that you need when jumping off a floor.” Never having been to Europe, or exposed to Nordic languages or culture, he really does not know what kind of experience he is about to embark upon. “I’ve heard some negative stories about going over to Europe to play, and from people who have had a really good time. So, I will see what happens. I hope to keep progressing in the sport. After the season I could look to Germany, which is pretty friendly to volleyball, go elsewhere in Denmark, stay in Ishoj, or come back to Canada. It all depends on what happens.” He has had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy getting ready to go, from VIDA requirements, COVID protocols, and Works volleyball registration, but all of that is done now and his plane leaves on August 11. He will start coaching a few days after arriving and the season starts at the end of August. “I am excited but I’m also nervous,” he said, “I don’t often travel outside of the country, and the farthest away that I’ve ever lived is in Oakville.”■
Path forward for EORN unclear
Eastern Ontario Gig Project will not be funded By Jeff Green n one level, it seemed like a leap. Instead of putting together a project aimed at bringing Internet speeds that meet the CRTC standard of 50mg per second download speed and 10mg per second upload speed, the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) decided to aim higher, or rather faster. The Gig Project was designed to bring download speeds 20 times higher, 1 gigabit per second, to 95% of Eastern Ontario residents. But, Eastern Ontario politicians argued, given the exponential growth in demand for digital services, it would be better to put in the necessary infrastructure to meet the demand for the next 20 years. Otherwise, there is every chance that a new project, and further investments, will be required in a few years. EORN knows all about this. The first project that EORN worked on was the Broadband Phase 1 project that took five years to implement. It resulted in the installation of
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a 5,500kilometre fibre-optic backbone from which local access networks provide service, through wired or fixed wireless technology, to rural customers. The goal of that project was to provide 10mg download, and 1mg upload, speeds to at least 95% of Eastern Ontario residents. While that seemed like high-speed Internet at the time, it no longer is. Five years later, the bar has been raised for service, and EORN expects it will only go higher in another 5 years EORN estimates that it will cost $500 to $700 million to bring a 50mg/10mg solution to 95% of Eastern Ontario households, and $1.2 to $1.6 billion to bring 1 gigabit (1,000mg). But because of EORN’s track record in the industry, and the public-private funding model it employs, the requirement from the provincial and federal governments would be $200 million each, with the private sector providing the rest of the investment. With about 7.5% of Ontario’s population, $200 million to Eastern Ontario
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equates to a $3 billion provincewide investment. On July 19th, the Province of Ontario announced their own program, which is called Ontario Connects, which will provide $4 billion in funding to provide all Ontario residents 50mg/10mg service. EORN was shut out of the announcement. Briefing notes that went out from EORN to member municipalities on July 14, that have been obtained by the News, say that EORN was aware they were about to be excluded from the broadband funding project in favour of an initiative that would be carried out by the provincial government on its own. “Based on the best information EORN has to date, it seems all but certain that Ontario will be moving forward with their own broadband project which does not include an EORN-led regional Gig Project.
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Once this is confirmed, the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, Eastern Ontario Mayors CaucusEOMC and EORN will need to determine their response and next steps in terms of connectivity in our region,” the briefing note said. The note recommends that EORN, and its parent organisations the EOWC as well as the EOMC, “pivot from focusing on an EORN-led regional Gig Project to supporting both provincial and federal broadband projects for Eastern Ontario, emphasizing that those projects should deliver a Gig of service to residents and businesses.” EORN is in the midst of managing a $300 million cell gap coverage project that is rolling out over the next four years, and as the briefing note indicates, it will be acting as a lobbying and advocacy organisation for East-
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