Ladouceur helping on the diamond
Outside of work, Paul Ladouceur, a Trade Sales Representative at Dulux Painting, spends a lot of time on the diamond. The veteran baseball coach has spent four years coaching house league baseball, and three with his current organization, the North London Girls Softball Association.
“I got involved in coaching because I like to be on the field helping out,” said Ladouceur, who himself has been active in baseball, volleyball and kenpo karate. “My focus is to help the kids learn and have some fun.”
There have been plenty of highlights during his time coaching the girls, but his favourite moment came in 2014 at the end of the year playoffs. Two of his players hit key home runs.
“It was extraordinary to see the whole team and the coaches and parents cheering,” Ladouceur said. “The game happened to be our last of the season, so we ended the year on a great note!”
Anjema embraces coaching ball
Fred Anjema was more of a soccer player growing up before heading behind the bench to coach his son’s minor baseball team. But while he figured the primary benefits would be getting to spend time with his sons, he soon learned there was even more to be gained by coaching youth sport.
“I found that I could help develop not only the skill set required to play baseball, but I could help with many other aspects of the players’ lives,” said Anjema, the store manager at Dulux Painting. “Things like teamwork, encouragement, respect, sportsmanship, leadership … I wanted to show them that baseball could be much more than just a game played on the field.”
Anjema especially enjoys seeing the players develop into leaders on and off the field.
“To have all the hard work they put in during practices and the games all come together is very rewarding and gives you a great sense of pride,” he said.
De Groot heads up darts league
Dulux Painting staffer Dave De Groot, along with his wife Denise, are the conveners of London’s youth dart league, which plays out of Moose Lodge 1300 on Charterhouse Crescent. The league has three divisions: Tyke (up to age 12), Junior (up to age 15), and Senior (ages 16-18), and is open to all calibre of players.
“The league provides a smooth transition into the London Men’s and Ladies Dart Leagues,” said De Groot, adding that an awards ceremony and banquet is held at the end of every season.
The league is affiliated with Darts Ontario, and the players compete in a zone shoot to qualify for Provincials in March (held in St. Catharines this year).
“It’s a huge achievement to make Team Ontario because there are around 250 of the top youth players in Ontario vying for a spot on the team,” said De Groot.
Last March, Mike De Groot finished number 1 in senior male and represented Team Ontario, which went on to win both the Nodor Cup and the Canada Cup at the Nationals.
Story submitted by SportsXpress Team
