Tillsonburg Kinsmen work hard, play hard
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Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club's John Danbrook is quick to admit he is not a golfer.
But he is a proud Kinsmen, he likes having fun, and he helped make the Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club's first annual golf tournament Saturday, July 5 at The Bridges at Tillsonburg golf course a unique Kinsmen event.
There was a marshmallow tee-off – with gift certificates for winners and an even better prize for the losers – darts, and target practice with a scope-enhanced pellet gun.
Danbrook's stock car experience added to the fun. One player from each team was designated to dance through tires, jump into coveralls, throw on goggles and earphones, grab an impact wrench, take off a stock car tire, carry it back partway, then race to the finish line to stop the clock.
"I just walked up and did it," said Craig Verspeeten, who was the runaway winner of Danbrook's event, diving feet-first into the coveralls, swiftly taking the lugs nuts off, and dashing back to the line.
"Getting into the coveralls was the biggest thing," said Verspeeten. "You've got to get in the coveralls quick. There's a secret to it – you've got to slip into them on the ground, and you're good to go. It was fun."
Ryan Laur, who competed against Verspeeten in their group of eight, couldn’t quite match Verspeeten's lightning run. And it was the coverall's that did it.
"I slipped in them," Laur smiled. "Going into them I fell."
Taking the lugs off was easy, he said, although he was rushing and the socket fell off.
"I'm surprised, I should have done better – I do it for a living. It's all good though. Definitely the hardest part was the coveralls, for sure. Usually I try to take it easy doing that," Laur laughed.
"All that stuff is what we like to do at other Kinsmen events," said Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club's Shane Curtis, tourney co-chair. "We pulled it together and did it on the golf course."
Curtis, a first-year Kinsmen, co-chaired Saturday's tournament with Paul McLaughlin. Also on the golf committee were Brad Martin, another first-year Kinsmen, Lance Mackenzie, Josh Manary and Rob Haines.
"The reason I became a Kinsmen," said Curtis, "when you look around town you see the Kinsmen Bridge, you see Participark, you see the Lake Lisgar Fountain, the bridge across Lake Lisgar, the squash courts, the Kinsmen pool, the donation to the soccer club, the donation to the arena. When I started looking at where do I want to give back to the community, I mean you look around and see the Kinsmen are everywhere. That's why I became a Kinsmen."
The Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club, with about 35 current members, continues to be a vibrant, healthy, and growing club. And that goes against the grain when compared to many service clubs across Canada.
"Stats in Canada show that the generation coming up is not likely to join service clubs, and that's a problem. We're lucky, in our small town, to have the youth, to have the younger generation engaged.
We're very lucky because it's not happening everywhere."
It didn't take long to fill the 18-hole best-ball tourney. Within two weeks, Curtis said they reached the 144-player cap – eight players per 18 holes – and they actually exceeded it. A few of the 36 teams had five players, although only four could play each hole.
"We had 148 golfers today," Curtis nodded. "Which is more than full."
Players included Kinsmen, family, friends, and business associates, contributing to what was the biggest day of the year so far at The Bridges.
"A lot of businesses were here today to support us," Curtis noted. "A lot of business support."
WORK HARD, PLAY HARD
With all the members gathered in carts near the clubhouse ready for their 12 p.m. shotgun start, Kinsmen Club's Scot Bolton emphasized Saturday's two priorities – having fun and serving the needs of the community.
"The Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club has raised money for all kinds of facilities in the town over the years, donated money to Cystic Fibrosis annually (as the club's national charity), and almost everything else is in the community – minor sports teams, minor sports facilities, squash courts, senior centres, pools, anything that's needed in the community. It's about getting together with a bunch of like-minded guys, having fun, and doing the best for our community."
"We're having fun and we're raising money for the community," Curtis agreed. "It's a work hard, play hard scenario. A lot of guys had fun and we raised more than $12,500 for the community, and the businesses are a big part of that. Businesses donated our lunch today, our chicken kabobs at supper... a lot of it came from businesses.
"And a big shout out to The Bridges. The fact that all of the organizing committee was able to play in this golf tournament speaks to the fact that when you have a golf tournament up here, things are taken care of. That's the beauty of The Bridges. They take it over so the organizers of the tournament can play golf. That's a good kudos to this course – they care about the community... and I believe keeping this golf course alive is paramount to the economic success of this community."
Final numbers had not been tallied yet, but Curtis estimated the Kinsmen would raise between $12,500-$15,000 Saturday. Martin, while presenting prizes later that night, announced they had surpassed $13,000.
The money will be used for several charities.
"We committed $5,000 to Junior Achievement," said Curtis, "which is teaching Grade 7-8's financial literacy. They are not taught that in their regular curriculum. We are going to teach them about what credit means, credit cards, mortgages... a general understanding of money. It's a premium we want to pay through Junior Achievement. This program will be for every Grade 7 and 8 in town and taught in the classrooms."
Some of the money raised Saturday will go to Kinsmen's main charity, Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
"And the rest of the money will go to 'the greatest needs of the community,'" Curtis summed up.