By Anne Duggan
For an athlete, there is no prouder experience than wearing your nation’s jersey at the highest level of competition in the world. Imagine doing that at the age of 11 or 12 like the East Nepean Eagles did at the Aug. 15-25 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
Coach Mark Keeping, who’s directed the team for three years, cannot name a more heady experience, a higher highlight than the moment the team pulled on those Canadian jerseys and showed them off to the world.
“The ability to walk through the gates at the complex and be recognized as some of the best in the world: that’s what they really liked,” Keeping signals.
Eagles second baseman Cole Dennison agrees that the Team Canada uniforms made it for him, especially at the Grand Slam parade, an event that must have been a souped-up cross between the Olympics and Halloween for all of the pre-teen participants.
“Each team gets their own float and people cheer at you and throw you candy, all different kinds of candy. We were in our Canadian uniforms,” details Dennison, a 12-year-old St. Mark Catholic High School student who was most proud of his hit against Chinese Taipei – the team’s first in their first game.
East Nepean went on to lose the game 10-2. Dennison says the team concentrated on playing for fun once they arrived at the World Series.
“After the Canadian national series, we knew the competition was going to be so tough,” he indicates. “We started to play to have fun, not win.”
In the end, the team lost its first and last games against Chinese Taipei and Panama, 10-0, and won their middle game against the Czech Republic, 4-3. Keeping points to that victory as another team high.
“Winning during primetime on a Saturday night was high drama,” he underlines. “What we succeeded at was having fun, giving it our best. When we were playing a similarly matched team, we played well.”
Keeping considers the Nepean Eagles’ performance at the World Series an impressive achievement because they had to compete against teams who play and practice 12 months of the year, rather than the four months available to Ottawa teams, due to local weather.
“I think this win shows our kids in Ottawa, especially the ones coming up, that we can do it,” says Keeping, whose club will host the 2015 Canadian championships for the 11-12 age group that qualifies for the Little League World Series. “I hope we see a boost to registration across the city.”