The Orillia Cornhole Club has produced a pair of provincial champions.
Over the weekend players from the Orillia club competed in the inaugural Ontario Provincial Cornhole Championships at the University of Guelph.
Launa Smith and Mark Goode fought through the extreme heat to triumph in the advanced mixed doubles category.
Smith, 52, says playing through 30-plus-degree temperatures was maybe the biggest challenge of the weekend.
“It was also very windy,” she said. “It made for very difficult conditions to win the tournament.”
Goode, 54, says it’s nice to be bringing a provincial championship back to Orillia.
“Our league is fairly new on the scene, but we have some of the best players in Canada by far,” he said. “Our top 20 players we could put up against any other top 20 players in Canada. They are really good.”
Goode says Orillia players are dedicated to their craft which is making them a marquee club in the county.
Nick Bornino of the Orillia Corn Hole Club teamed up with Sebastian Gianino of the Barrie Cornhole League to finish third in the open doubles Tier 3 category at the provincial championship.
“The players are practising a lot,” Goode said. “They are playing in a lot of different tournaments across Canada and the United States almost every weekend.”
Already five Orillia players have earned their pro cards and have played opponents, virtually, from Russia, Czechia, China, and all over the world.
“It’s the fastest growing sport in North America,” Goode says. “It’s a great game because anyone can play it.”
Goode and Smith have now qualified to play in the National Championships, which will be played in Saskatchewan from Aug. 18 to 21.
“It’s going to be nice walking into nationals being able to say that we are the provincial champions from Ontario,” Smith said. “We’ve played against some of the competition before and have had success, so our confidence is high.”
While winning is always a fun part of competing in any sport, Smith says playing cornhole is more about being a part of a team and making new friends.
“The amount of friendships we’ve developed over the last year through the cornhole family has been huge,” she said.
