Ontario Blues Junior Arrows Academy Athletes Announced for 2022-2023 Season

With files from Rugby Ontario

Rugby Ontario has announced its list of athletes selected to participate in the Ontario Blues Junior Arrows Academy for the 2022-2023 season.

Congratulations to the 55 young men selected for the program this year.

Rugby Ontario Release

(WHITBY, ON) – Rugby Ontario is pleased to announce the athlete selections for our High Performance Academies. The Ontario Blues Development Academy (Female) and the Ontario Blues Junior Arrows Academy (Male) will both be operating regionally in the East (Ottawa), Central (Toronto), and West (Niagara) for athletes ages 15 – 18.

The academies are operated in partnership with the Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative (OHPSI) and the Toronto Arrows, and will feature over 100 athletes from across the province.

“We are extremely excited to continue to see the growth of athletes in our program in all three regions with the investment from our funding partners, Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) and the Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative (OHPSI),” said Amanda Andres, Coordinator, High Performance. “The Canadian Sport Institute Ontario provided us a unique opportunity to move in and be the first high performance tenants in their world class facility within Canada Games Park. We are excited to be the first tenants in the building that allows us to provide our athletes with an excellent support system which will allow them to be successful on their high performance journey.”

“On behalf of Rugby Ontario, I would like to congratulate all the athletes who have been named to the 2022/2023 Academy programs,” said Myles Spencer, CEO of Rugby Ontario. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario, whose support through the Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative has made these programs a possibility. Thank you also to our partners at the Toronto Arrows for their ongoing support of the Ontario Blues Junior Arrows Academy.  In the Academy programs we are committed to supporting and developing Ontario’s future provincial, national and professional athletes as they pursue success at the highest levels of rugby.”

Both programs will operate regionally with designated centres across Ontario. Each centre will provide technical/tactical training for all players as well as strength and conditioning programming. Access to key resources such as athletic therapy, nutritional support, mental performance coaching, and video review/analysis will also be provided to ensure the holistic development of all players. In addition, centralized training sessions and competitions will be scheduled throughout the program.

Congratulations to all of the players selected to both the OBDA and OBJAA.

2022-2023 ONTARIO BLUES JUNIOR ARROWS ACADEMY ATHLETES

OBJAA East

Declan Crew-Gee (Barrhaven Scottish)
Oliver Davis (Bytown Blues)
Nathan Drummond (Lanark Highlanders)
Nicholas Garcia Gutierrez (Barrhaven Scottish)
Benjamin Holahan (Bytown Blues)
Samuel Lafrance (Bytown Blues)
Finlay MacCorquodale (Barrhaven Scottish)
Vincent Martin (Barrhaven Scottish)
Michael McGuinness (Bytown Blues)
Lukas Orange (Bytown Blues)
Luuk Ordeman (Barrhaven Scottish)
Evan Shibata (Barrhaven Scottish)
Kyle Shibata (Barrhaven Scottish)
Andrew Stevenson (Barrhaven Scottish)
Jay Yetman (Bytown Blues)

Coaching Staff

Stephen Rowlands
Ryan Surgenor

OBJAA Central

Briar Barron (Aurora Barbarians)
Ben Calconi (Toronto City)
Finlay Campbell (Ajax Wanderers)
Rowan Closs (Brock RFC)
Sean Conroy (Toronto City)
Gaelen Craig (Toronto City)
Evan Davies (Balmy Beach)
Morgan Di Nardo (Toronto City)
Adam Doane (Aurora Barbarians)
Finn Donnelly (Balmy Beach)
Fionn Fraser (Balmy Beach)
Gavin Grennan (Balmy Beach)
Ryder Jabal (Toronto City)
Hayden Johnstone (Toronto City)
Charlie McCully (Peterborough Pagans)
Liam Park (Oshawa Vikings)
Lucas Peddle (Mississauga Blues)
Mason Thompson (Oshawa Vikings)
Reece Thompson (Barrie RFC)
Stephen Webb (Balmy Beach)
William Wells Richards (Balmy Beach)

Coaching Staff

Ken Darche
Patrick Maulson
Iain McLeish

OBJAA West

Ethan Agren (Crusaders)
Aidan Beggs (Fergus Highland)
Henry Buis (Fergus Highland)
Matthew Carroll (Crusaders)
Nathan Carter (Niagara Wasps)
Connor Cavey (Niagara Wasps)
Lukas Cuthbert (Niagara Wasps)
Matthew Hodgson (Niagara Wasps)
Rhys Jones (Crusaders)
Kohl Kletke (Crusaders)
Elijah McQueen (Fergus Highland)
Sam Morreale (Burlington Centaurs)
William Rigby (Niagara Wasps)
Brent Thomson (Fergus Highlanders / Georgian Bay Titans)
Mickael Tissier (Fergus Highland)
Thymen Van der Ploeg (SouthWest)
Ramiro Ernst Wentzel (Crusaders)
Patrick Wright (Crusaders)
Max Zhurba (Crusaders)

Coaching Staff

Luke Bagshaw
Josh Celebre
Steve Commerford
Sean Medeiros