Vincent Massey Reach for the Top Team

Vincent Massey is a public school in South Windsor, Ontario as part of the Great Essex County Distric School Board. The Reach for the Top team has been competitive in the city and provincial levels since 2000. They are the current multi-time defending champions of the Windsor Schoolreach League.

Reach for the Top

Massey has been the top team from the Windsor Schoolreach League for the past 4 years and has represented the Windsor area at the Reach for the Top Provincial Championships making it to the TV round 3 of the last 4 years. The team's coach is Mr. James Beland, a teacher at the school. He has coached the team for the past 4 years, the first year as one of two team coaches and the last three years as the sole coach to the team. At the TV rounds, which are taped at the TVO Pharmacy Studios in Scarborough, Ontario, Windsor has only ever won 2 games both times by Massey, the first time being against South Secondary in 2006 in the first televised round of games. The second time, was at the 2008 Ontario Reach for the Top Championships, this time against Merivale also in the first round. Coincidentally, both times, Massey prevailed with a score of 360-340. Massey's best finish has been a 4th place finish, which they accomplished in 2005 and 2008.

2006-2007 Team
That year's Reach for the Top team saw the departure of key players Eric Brown, Michael Shelley and David Qian. Returning member Aaron Boismier was named Captain with a returning cast also consisting of Ian Tanner and Yu Weng. That year, the team consisted of 9 members and one alternate. Heading into the Windsor Schoolreach League finals, Massey was seeded 1st overall with a win-loss record of 13-1 going against 2nd seeded Kingsville District High School. Massey won both games, with a total score of 860-450 (490-260 & 370-190). It should be noted that Massey's only loss in the regular season was at the hands of Kingsville, losing the second of two head-to-head games 290-300. By winning the Windsor Schoolreach League, Massey locked into a berth to the 2007 Ontario Reach for the Top Championships which were held at Pope John Paul II Secondary School in Scarborough, Ontario. Massey was placed in group D for round robin play and would finish 3-4, losing to Assumption, Gloucester, I.E. Weldon S.S. and Mayfield S.S. It should be noted that 3 of the teams that Massey lost to made the TV round that year, by virtue of placing in the top 10 of the 40 participating teams. This would be the first time in 2 years that Massey had not made the televised round of the Reach for the Top Ontario championships. This Massey team would place 23rd overall out of 40 participating teams.

2007-2008 Team
This last year's team came into practice more determined than ever to make it back into the televised rounds because of the disappointing results at the 2007 Ontario Reach for the Top Championships. Prior to finishing 23rd in 2007, Massey had finished 4th in 2005, and 5th in 2006. Returning members included George Yang, James Vander Voort, Benjamin Webber, Yifan Li, and Eric Zhao. For most of the season a captain for the team was not named, as opposed to the previous year, where a captain was decided upon at the beginning of team practices. This team finished the Windsor Schoolreach League regular season and playoffs by going undefeated, with a win-loss record of 15-0. They defeated the 2nd seeded St. Joseph's team with a combined score of 830-390 (390-180 & 440-210) thus securing a place for the team at the 2008 Ontario Reach for the Top Championships. This time, Massey was placed in group E during the round robin, having a record of 5-2 on the day, placing them 8th going into the televised round. In the first televised round, Massey versed the 3rd seeded Merivale, defeating them 360-340, thus advancing Massey to the Quarter-Finals where they played and lost to eventual provincial champions University of Toronto Schools with a score of 410-280. However, Massey clinched the wildcard spot as the highest scoring losing team. In the Semi-Finals, Massey would face and lose to eventual National Champions Lisgar with a score of 350-170. Massey would place 4th out of more than 400 schools participating in the Schoolreach subscription program, and not 3rd place, because Mayfield had scored a higher losing point total than Massey. It should be noted that Massey beat Mayfield in the round robins earlier on in the tournament when they were both in group E.

Future
With 8 of the 10 team members from the 2008 Massey Reach for the Top team leaving to pursue either post-secondary or other life goals, only Sam Howes and Taro Yamashita are returning to headline next year's team.

Other Trivia Endeavors
Jeopardy

With the Reach for the Top team at Massey gets most of the trivia limelight, however there are numerous other trivia related events at Massey, such as the Massey Jeopardy Tournament, which has separate brackets for high school juniors (grades 9 and 10), high school seniors (grades 11 and 12) and the staff at Vincent Massey. The winners of each bracket go one to face each other in the Massey Jeopardy finals. This year, the Junior Champion was Yining Nie, the Senior Champion was Alex Heuton and the Staff Champion was Mr. D. Jakobszen. The overall champion would be Mr. Jakobszen.

Trivia Night

Another staple of trivia at Massey includes the multi-annual Trivia Night tournaments held at the school, always on a Thursday evening, going from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. It is run by a number of teachers at Massey and a team consists of 4 members, with the following guidelines. Maximum of one Reach for the Top team member, and one staff member maximum on a team. There have been 5 Trivia Nights held so far.

Teachers vs. Reach Team Game

Another event on the Reach for the Top team's calendar is the annual Massey staff vs. the Reach team game. The game is usually a combination of two reach packets with a winner determined by the combined scores of the two packs. This year, there was a tie, even after tie breakers, with the winning answer going to the teachers. Point of interest, the answer was Ralph Nader.

Windsor-Essex Trivia Bowl

This tournament was the idea of Massey Reach for the Top team members James Vander Voort and George Yang. The idea of a tournament was first conceived when coaches from other teams in the Windsor Schoolreach League talked about having another event for the Reach for the Top teams in the Windsor-Essex area other than the annually held Windsor Schoolreach League provincial qualifiers tournament. The tournament is in the same format as Reach for the Top and was held at Vincent Massey Secondary School. One of the purposes was to get more schools involved with trivia and potentially recruit more schools into the Reach for the Top Schoolreach subscription program. The winner of the 1st annual Windsor-Essex Trivia Bowl was Kingsville District High School, with Holy Names High School, St. Joseph's High School and Walkerville Collegiate Institute also participating.

Team Roster
*Note, the first four members of each year's team comprised the starting lineup at the Reach for the Top provincial championships of that year.

2006 Team

Captain Eric Brown

Michael Shelley

David Qian

Aaron Boismier

Sheila Blanken

Yin Hui

Yu Weng

Ian Tanner

Tina Poon

2007 Team

Captain Aaron Boismier

Ian Tanner

Yu Weng

Benjamin Webber

James Vander Voort

Yifan Li

George Yang

Eric Zhao

Bryan Calvert

2008 Team

Captain George Yang

Benjamin Webber

James Vander Voort

Yifan Li

Eric Zhao

Corey Yednoroz

Alex Heuton

Arush Kuthiala

Taro Yamashita

Sam Howes

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