All Posts Tagged With: "Canadian Interuniversity Sport"

What students are talking about today (March 18th)

ShitHarperDid.com

1. Remember before the last federal election when everyone was sharing that little website with the photo of Stephen Harper stroking a cat, plus pages and pages of one-liners about nefarious acts our PM was accused of committing? After Shitharperdid.com amassed 4.1 million in three days in 2011, we didn’t hear much about it again. Well, now it’s back in another form. Vancouver Comedian Sean Devlin, one of the site’s founders, is joining up with improv group The Sunday Service, Brigette DePape (the STOP Harper sign wielding page) and others for the Shitharperdid.com Live! Comedy Tour. Tonight it’s at the University of British Columbia and more than 350 people have told Facebook they plan to attend. Later it stops at Emily Carr University, Simon Fraser University and Douglas College.

2. Harper may have done some shit, but the New Democrats’ budget, released Monday, doesn’t offer an exciting alternative. In fact, it will only appeal to you if you’re a real person. “Real things for real people” has five prongs: better public transit, roads and bridges, fair pensions, health care for veterans, jobs for young people and small business investment, but it’s rather short on details. The “jobs for young people” section says the NDP would launch “a $500 top-up to the tax credit for small- and medium-sized employers who create jobs for Canadians aged 18-30.” Big deal.

Continue reading Shit Harper Did, Sana Ali & NDP’s ‘real things’

Lack of female leaders continues

Photo by kelsey e. on Flickr

Gender equality in Canadian varsity sports is improving, but there are still problems to tackle, shows new research from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Sport Policy Studies.

The good news, according to the report, is that there were almost as many varsity women’s teams (425) as there were varsity men’s teams (431) in 2010-11. The bad news is that there were only 7,815 team roster positions for female athletes—44 per cent of the total—despite the fact they make up 56 per cent of university students.

The truly “disturbing” news, according to the study’s authors, is that women make up less than one-fifth of the senior leadership. Women hold only 19 per cent of head coach jobs and only 17 per cent of athletic directorships.

Continue reading Good news and bad news for women in varsity sports

A 11:45am start time one of many reasons publicity for the game has been lacking

It says something about the state of university sport in Canada when its marquee game is competing against Saturday morning cartoons and hangovers to get viewers.

But in the case of the Vanier Cup, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s (CIS) annual match for university football supremacy, that’s what is happening. The Calgary Dinos and the Laval Rouge et Or will face off at Quebec City’s PEPS Stadium tomorrow, and because Laval has not been able to install lights at PEPS (as was promised when the CIS gave them the game for 2009 and 2010), the game will start at 11:45am.

Or, 8:45am pacific. More importantly, if you’re a Calgary student wanting to watch the game on TSN, 9:45 in the morning. It doesn’t help that, with the Grey Cup taking place in Edmonton the next day, media attention on the game has been reduced to a footnote. 17,000–18,000 will fill the stands tomorrow in Quebec, but its long-term significance will be nill.

Next year, the game will be going to Vancouver, and be paired with the Grey Cup. It worked well in Toronto in 2007, though that was partly due to many Vanier Cup tickets paired with Grey Cup ones. There’s also the fact that Vancouver is something less than a university football hotbed, and it’s relative isolation will mean that, unlike a championship in Ontario or Quebec, very few students will be able to make the trek over to cheer on their school

Still, if the game is going to take place on the same weekend as the Grey Cup, it makes sense for the game to be paired with the Grey Cup—there’s only so much corporate, fan and media support to go around.

Cutbacks to McGill’s athletics programs stirring up controversy

Controversy is brewing at McGill University after the university stripped 20 teams of their varsity status. While the decision was made last spring, it’s only now coming to a head. The decision means that instead of receiving funding from the school students now have to pay to play. These teams have also lost access to one of McGill’s gyms. High profile sports like hockey and football were spared. The decision came after $147,000 was cut from the athletics department’s budget.

Related: University sports are doing just fine

The teams stripped of their status include cheerleading, men’s volleyball, figure skating, sailing, wrestling, women’s lacrosse and fencing. McGill also says the decision was made because some of the teams, like women’s lacrosse and fencing, are the only ones in the province. But students who want to participate in these teams say that without the varsity funding they no longer have the money to travel to Ontario or the United States to compete.

But how important are sports to modern Canadian universities and university life?

Varsity sports are often touted as a way to boost a schools profile and school pride, but the fact is most students are indifferent to even high profile teams. According to CBC, McGill’s highest profile sport, football, only draws around 1,000 spectators per game, and that’s at a school with over 30,000 students and attendance is dropping, though the team’s dismal record and a hazing scandal that saw the team lose its entire 2005-2006 season may have something to do with it.

In a competitive university environment prospective students care less about a university’s athletic success than its academic success. When students do care about athletics their more concerned about the quality of a school gym where they can exercise.

Now this may not be the case everywhere, Université Laval whose Rouge et Or football team has won the Vanier Cup (Canada’s football chapionship) draws around 10,000 spectators each game. In addition to the team’s successes this may also have to do with the university’s Quebec City location, where there is no CFL team.

High-profile university sports, like football and hockey, had humble beginnings with regular students trying out for teams, but this is no longer the case. For many sports teams, athletes are scouted and recruited at the high school level.

As universities struggle financially perhaps it’s time for them to start thinking about whether recruiting high calibre athletes, promoting these teams and maintaining stadium infrastructure is a worthwhile investment.

Until now, the only thing keeping a university player from taking drugs was his sense of right and wrong

When the University of Waterloo’s football team was suspended for the entire year after nine players had tested positive for drugs, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) CEO Marg McGregor looked at the Canadian Football League to throw her a lifeline.

“There are probably many factors at play when an athlete chooses to take performance-enhancing drugs, some players have identified their desire to play professionally as a factor in their decision,” she said at the time. Two weeks ago, the CFL was the only major pro sports league in North America without a drug testing program. As a not-insignificant count of CIS players end up playing in the CFL (upwards of 100 last year, according to one count), it follows that the only thing constraining a university football player from taking drugs was his sense of right and wrong.

Tuesday, the CFL announced a drug-testing program that includes urine and blood tests—which test for human growth hormone as well–for 25 per cent of its players beginning next spring, and 35 per cent the year after that. The league has also thrown university football that lifeline and has agreed to test the top 80 CIS players at the CFL’s evaluation camp. Free of charge.

The CIS has got to be thrilled about this—overnight without doing anything at all, they’ve doubled the number of drug tests administered to football players each year without spending anything.

Unless Sports Canada antes up some funding, CIS drug problem will persist

“I am very hopeful,” says Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) CEO Marg McGregor, as she speaks about the year-long suspension of the University of Waterloo football team for the umpteenth time this week. “The scope of the issue at Waterloo is an eye-opener, and the steps they took . . . it’s not taking the situation lightly, and all of the indicators are there that our members are very concerned. But it will take a sustained effort over time.”

Yes Virginia, it only took an arrest for drug trafficking, an unheard-of testing of an entire team, nine positive results, and a school’s football program to be kiboshed for the CIS to realize that they may have a problem on their hands. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. It always does when a league realizes it has a drug problem. While the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) administered tests to a sprinkling of players from McMaster and Guelph (six and eight, respectively) with no positive results, the next person who gets caught won’t be a fluke occurrence to the public.

Related: Players protest suspension of football program, UWaterloo football suspended over steroids, The truth about steroids in university sport

There’s also the fact that urine tests are not even close to bullet proof. The CCES is still awaiting the results of blood tests administered to 20 of the Waterloo players (blood tests are much more expensive than urine tests, which themselves cost around $500 each). Those will be especially interesting to see, because not only is it immensely harder to use masking agents for blood tests, but they also reveal Human Growth Hormone (HGH) usage. HGH, while not technically a steroid, is banned by the NHL, the NBA, the MLB, the PGA Tour, the . . . you get the picture.

One league that doesn’t test for HGH, or any drugs for that matter, is the Canadian Football League, and yes, there may be a correlation there. The CFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, currently being negotiated with the players’ union, is expected to have drug testing included for the first time, which (in theory) will act as deterrent to star university athletes. “We’re quite encouraged and think that will have an impact,” said McGregor.

Aside from that, McGregor hopes that a greater emphasis on the mandatory education program all student-athletes undergo will yield results. But she also hopes that performing-enhancing drug use can be curtailed by changing the culture of sport for student-athletes,” she said. “I think we lose sight of the value of sport. A kid will come home, and the first question they will hear from parents is ‘did you win’?”

She has a point—the immense pressure put on athletes at all ages is helping to drive drug use. But is working with athletes to get rid of the “win at all cost” mentality realistic? “A big part of our success, and what we preach, is winning on the field and off the field,” says Theresa Hanson, UBC’s Associate Director of Athletics. UBC and other schools with large athletic budgets have resources to put into health programs; UBC employs a coordinator of athlete training and a therapist. Many schools don’t have those means.

Regardless, the only major deterrent is ensuring testing is done on more than two or three per cent of student-athletes. But that takes money. “There’s been a significant increase in the number of tests,” McGregor says, adding that more will be happening in the off-season, when athletes are more likely to be bulking up. Are they hoping to hit a target? “I don’t think it’s a specific number. It’s like a speed test on the highway. You don’t need to think there’s a speed trap at every intersection, but you need a concern that it might be there.”

In other words, while the amount of tests are going to increase from the meager 202 this year, unless the CCES gets a large boost in funding from Sport Canada, it probably isn’t going to be a giant increase. And frankly, increasing the number of urine tests done for a 60-person football team from three to five isn’t really going to create a large enough presence to be a deterrent. Teams, programs and schools will still be in the dark until it’s too late.

“We have a full program in place, we work with our coaches, we’re taking the responsibility to ensure that they’re educated,” Hansen says. “Can we do more? Um . . . ” She pauses. “You don’t know. How much is enough? This is obviously another learning experience for all of us.”

Concerns arise over whether CIS can actually combat drug use

You know how all of last decade, sport organizations realized that unless they were vigilant about drug testing, their athletes would do them? Well, it appeared that Canadian universities didn’t get the memo. That naivete may be coming to an end.

Last month, Nathan Zettler, a wide-receiver for the University of Waterloo Warriors, was charged with possession of anabolic steroids for the purpose of trafficking. In the weeks after, Waterloo and Canadian Interuniveristy Sport (CIS) announced they would do drug tests on the entire team. While they haven’t released the results yet, everyone is bracing for the worst—including members of the football team.

“To be perfectly honest, anyone who doesn’t think there are seven to 13 players on every team [using performance-enhancing drugs] in the CIS, you’re kidding yourself,” said Joe Surgenor, a defensive lineman for the Waterloo Warriors who admitted to steroid use, to the Globe and Mail. “There’s at least that number. I don’t think the CIS really wants to find out what’s going on. They don’t want to know the answer.”

Hyperbole? Only slightly. Consider the embarrassing facts about the drug-testing program at our universities, which is jointly run between the CIS and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES):

• Only 300 to 450 student-athletes are tested each year. In 2008/2009, that amounted to 2.69 per cent
• An online education program is in theory mandatory for students, but the CIS does not require schools to provide proof that their student-athletes have been administered the educational program
• While the drug-trusting program is supposed to be year-round, the majority of testing is done during training camp, not during the regular season
• If a player is caught doing drugs, they get off the hook with no punishment if they “pinky-swear” not to do it again

Okay, that last one isn’t true, but you get the drift. The fact is, the drug-testing program at the CIS level is completely underwhelming. 22 years after Ben Johnson’s gold medal was taken away, and 5 years after the infamous Congressional hearings on steroid use, we as a nation are fully aware that unless rigorous testing is in place, a not-insignificant amount of athletes will take drugs to get ahead.

Despite this, Canada has been remarkably slow on the uptake in fighting drug use in sport. The Canadian Football League, for example, remained the last professional league in North America to not have a drug testing program until just last week. That’s shameful, and it points to why university football players would have little scruples in doing what it takes to stand out in a sport where physicality matters a great deal.

Are changes on the way? Yes and no. The CIS has pledged a complete review of its educational programs, but has so far been reluctant to substantially increase testing, claiming the estimated cost of $500 is prohibitively expensive. Their AGM is  next week, but the only motion on the table concerning drug use would force universities to give more information about when drug testing takes place, but wouldn’t increase the number of them. One thing is for certain: When the CIS announces how many players on the Waterloo football team are guilty of taking drugs, the debate will only have begun.

Related: UCalgary football player suspended for steroid use

Plan to become the first Canadian university in the main U.S. college sports league is delayed for at least a year

The University of British Columbia will wait until at least next year before deciding if it will join the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division II in the United States.

The NCAA, the main U.S. college sports league, opened membership beyond the U.S. for the first time in January 2009 as a pilot project with Canadian schools. UBC is currently a member of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).

A report by a UBC committee did not recommend for or against a UBC application to join the NCAA.

“A lack of answers to critical questions means deferral until at least 2010 of a decision on whether or not to apply for membership,” the university said in a release Thursday.

One of the reports co-authors said respondents to surveys and open houses were divided on the benefits of joining the NCAA. David Farrar, the UBC’s vice-president academic, also said there remains insufficient information to allow the university to determine NCAA suitability before a June 2009 window for application.

“There are some critical unanswered questions that leave open options as to whether or not NCAA participation is the appropriate way to go for the university and its student athletes,” Farrar said.

Among the questions is whether or not UBC could receive an exemption from the NCAA for its academic accreditation requirement.

Further unresolved issues revolve around discussions about the level of competitive opportunities and financial support for student athletes that UBC and other universities are having with CIS, the main body in which most UBC athletes currently compete.

It is also unlikely to be clear until after the June NCAA deadline whether or not CIS will allow universities to compete in both the CIS and the NCAA.

- The Canadian Press