All Posts Tagged With: "sports"
The Cougars? The Redmen? Oh, how offensive!
The naming of sports teams is now fraught with peril
The Human Beings Mascot from Community on Citytv
One of the best running gags in the TV show Community is that Greendale College’s teams are called “The Human Beings”—an absurdly bland moniker designed to insulate the school from complaints and controversy—the sort of complaints levied periodically against the Cleveland Indians or the Washington Redskins.
The fictional school’s feckless Dean might have a point, though, because naming sports teams, at schools especially, is now fraught with peril.
This danger was underscored last week when Utah’s Corner Canyon High School had to do away with its team name “Cougars.” The term, which, in some circles has come to mean an older woman sexually interested in younger men, was the subject of complaints. Canyon teams will now be “The Chargers.”
Continue reading The Cougars? The Redmen? Oh, how offensive!
Guelph receives anonymous gift
$1.5-million will improve sports facilities
The University of Guelph has received a $1.5 million donation to help jump start the school’s renovation of its Alumni Stadium. The improved athletic facility could open as early as Sept. 2012. The money will pay for a new synthetic turf field that will benefit not only athletics, but will also host concerts and Orientation Week events. The donation, the largest-ever one-time gift to Guelph Athletics, came from a local family who wants to remain anonymous. ”While the donors do not play to the spotlight, they have been key supporters of our BetterPlanet Project and already made major gifts to support academic and athletic programs at the University,” said President Alastair Summerlee in a release. Student are contributing to the improvements in athletic facilities too with a new fee that was approved by a referendum in 2010 and that will generate $75 million over 30 years.
That’s the spirit
Canadian schools have crazy fans and community too
Nipissing University maniacs. By Cole Garside.
From the Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
We’ve all seen it: the near-ubiquitous image of the spirited American college student chanting a school slogan, streaking across campus or slogging back a beer from a Dixie cup in a stadium parking lot. It’s the sort of paint-your-body zealotry often depicted in Hollywood movies.
Doesn’t seem very Canadian, does it?
Certainly not according to the 2010 edition of The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, a yearly publication out of Yale University that documents the strengths and weaknesses of North American universities. “One aspect of college life that Canada fails to offer is school spirit,” the guide stipulates. “Their attachment to their schools is not as strong as in the United States.”
Good news and bad news for women in varsity sports
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
Guelph rugby team suspended
Drunken party involved “an initiation”
The University of Guelph’s men’s rugby team is suspended for two games over an off-campus party.
Athletics director Tom Kendall told The Globe and Mail that a Sept. 17 party violated the school’s athletics code because of misuse of alcohol and an initiation. ”It’s more the alcohol,” Kendall said. “Nobody was hurt and the police weren’t involved. It wasn’t severe in that sense, it wasn’t a hazing incident,” he added, although he said it’s “not 100 per cent clear” what type of initiation occurred.
St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B. recently unveiled its draft student behaviour code, which imposes up to $500 fines and possible expulsion for incidents of hazing at off-campus gatherings where more than two STU students are present. That policy was developed after a STU student died from injuries at a party where excessive drinking and hazing reportedly occurred.
Guelph’s Gryphons rugby team will forfeit two upcoming games, against Toronto and McMaster.
Notable Canadian Olympian becomes UToronto coach
Vicky Sunohara to lead women’s hockey
Three-time Olympian Vicky Sunohara has joined the University of Toronto as the new head coach for women’s varsity hockey.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist played in the Winter Olympic Games from 1998 to 2006, before retiring in 2008 and taking a position as the director of women’s hockey at The Hill Academy in Vaughan, Ontario. Sunohara is also a U of T alumna, having completed her bachelor’s degree in physical health education after retiring from hockey.
“This is a dream job for me,” Sunohara said in a statement. “I played here at U of T, I went to school here and graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education and Health and now I have a chance to give back to one of the most prolific women’s hockey programs in North America.
“This is a great opportunity for me and I look forward to the task at hand – making the Varsity Blues a national contender.”
Carleton University gets its football team back
Former player rescues team with $2.5-million gift
Football fans in Ottawa will soon have one more team to cheer for. Carleton University will launch a new varsity team in 2013.
It’s all thanks to a philanthropist — entrepreneur and former Carleton Ravens defenceman John Ruddy — who gave the proposed team a $2.5 million boost, matching other fundraising for a total of $5-million in start-up capital.
The Carleton Ravens were axed in 1998 due to financial shortfalls, which came after a poorly played season.
The new team will be controlled by an alumni association called Old Crows Football Inc., which will include community members and the university’s administrators. The university plans to refurbish the old stadium, add new seating, a new press box, a new locker-room and fitness facilities.
Laval football players suspended for doping
More testing means getting caught is ‘not a long shot’
Doping continues to be a problem for university sports, as two Laval football players test positive for steroids. Linebacker Michaël Abraham and offensive lineman Steeve Vachon have been suspended from playing for the Rouge et Or for two years, after being caught using performance enhancing drugs.
It is only the latest case of doping to be found at a Canadian university. Last spring, University of Waterloo’s football team was suspended for a year after nine players tested positive. Players from McGill University, Acadia University and the University of Windsor have also been caught doping over the past several months.
Canadian Interuniversity Sport CEO Marg McGregor told the Toronto Star that testing has intensified since the Waterloo scandal, with more random and off-season testing taking place. “It is a very different atmosphere now. (Getting caught doping) is not a long shot, so if there are people on steroids they’re likely to be detected and embarrass themselves and their schools and ruin their football careers,” she said.
The Rouge et Or is Canada’s top university football team, winning six national championships since 1999, including in this past season.
Mount Royal joins Canada West
CIS membership to be decided in June
After 10 years, Mount Royal University’s bid to have its sports teams compete in the same conference as other western universities is finally coming to a close. Earlier this week, members of the Canada West University Athletic Association voted 75 per cent to allow Mount Royal to join on provisional terms. The school will have to complete a probationary period of up to five years, before it assumes full membership. Canada West is one of four regional conferences whose members comprise Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). The national organization will vote on Mount Royal’s membership in June.
Laurier cuts volleyball teams
Funding diverted to other varsity sports, and intramural programs
Wilfrid Laurier University has cut both its men’s and women’s volleyball teams. Athletics director Peter Baxter said the decision followed a program review of all varsity sports, and concluded that a doubling of the budget would be required for volleyball to be competitive. Neither team has had a winning season in at least four years. “If we cannot support a specific program financially to the level of excellence needed to compete at the provincial and national levels, then we must discontinue that program and use the resources to strengthen areas of need,” Baxter said in a statement. The decision is expected to save the university $112,000, funds that will be diverted to other teams as well as to intramural sports. Volleyball players who were offered scholarships will retain them for the coming year, and Laurier says it will aid players who wish to transfer to another university.
Women’s hockey will not be cut at SMU
Canadian Tire donates $60,000, university board reinstates team
A plan to cut the women’s hockey program at Saint Mary’s University was officially reversed by the board of governors Tuesday evening. “The decision to cancel the women’s varsity hockey program . . . in response to budget pressures, was wrong and we deeply regret it,” SMU president Colin Dobbs said in a statement released by the university.
Shortly after SMU announced that the women’s hockey team would be discontinued, in an effort to trim $120, 000 from the athletics budget, the university was bombarded with complaints, and players held a rally last Monday against the decision. In response to the outcry, athletics director Steve Sarty said that the plan was being put “on pause,” but noted that the team requires financial support.
Before the board made its decision to officially reinstate women’s hockey, Canadian Tire announced that it would be donating $60, 000 to the team for one year, with the possibility of continued funding.
Photo: Rally held in support of women’s hockey at SMU, by Richard Lafortune
Women’s hockey could be saved at Saint Mary’s
After protest, university puts decision to cut team ‘on pause’
A decision to cut women’s hockey at Saint Mary’s university is being put “on pause,” athletics director Steve Sarty said Monday. Sarty was addressing a crowd of more than 300 that had been rallying in support of the team. The university also says that it has been bombarded with emails and phone calls criticizing the initial decision to discontinue the program, including from Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser. Sarty said that if the women’s hockey program continues, it will need support from the community. “Be here when we have our games on,” he told the crowd. Head coach Lisa Jordan told the Chronicle Herald that she is “optimistic” about keeping the team but noted that a financial solution is badly needed, and that coaches will be looking to make cuts to the program. The team placed first in the 2010 Atlantic University Sport championship, and fourth in national competition.
Photo: By RicLaf
Women’s hockey cut at SMU
University is expected to save $120,000
Saint Mary’s University is cutting its women’s hockey program, the university announced today. The move is expected to save the institution $120, 000, and was part of “part of a package of recommendations” that arose through budget consultations. In a media release, Athletics and Recreation Director, Steve Sarty, said that the players and coaches had been informed. “I know the news has saddened them and, no doubt, it is upsetting,” he said. All departments are being asked to reduce their budgets. The university was considering reducing funding for all teams, but reasoned that would “put all teams at a competitive disadvantage.”
NCAA reviewing policy on transgendered athletes
Working group proposes changes for as early as next year
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is reviewing its policies to determine if changes are needed to officially permit transgendered athletes to compete in varsity sports. The NCAA head office is reviewing an interpretation proposed by a working group “to determine if it sufficiently addresses the issue or if there is a need for further legislation.” Under the working group’s proposal a man in the process of becoming a woman could compete on female teams so long as “that athlete has undergone testosterone suppression treatment for at least one year.” For females undergoing a transition towards becoming a male, they “must get a medical exception for the use of testosterone before being eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics.” Testosterone is an illegal substance under NCAA rules. The change could come as early as next year.
A home here
Riiny Ngot’s incredible journey from war-torn Sudan to St. FX
Where are we going? Riiny Ngot admits thinking to himself about 45 minutes into the two-hour drive from the Halifax airport to St. Francis Xavier University, his rural Nova Scotia home for the next three years. We’re in the middle of nowhere.
Dramatic change, however, has long been a fact of life for the towering 21-year-old basketball centre, who begins his career in the CIS, the Canadian university league, this fall. Riiny, who is seven foot two—a foot taller than the team average, and the tallest player in the league—is also part of a remarkable group of refugees. They are known as the Lost Boys of Sudan. Starting in the late 1980s, some 25,000 children who had been orphaned or separated from their parents crossed the country seeking refuge from Sudan’s raging civil war. That conflict—one of the last century’s most brutal—pitted the northern Muslim government against the mostly Christian south, and ultimately claimed two million lives.
Psychologists who documented the Lost Boys’ exposure to death and violence place them among the most badly war-traumatized children ever examined. For Riiny, who is gentle and soft-spoken, lily-white scars on his legs and arms are only the physical reminders of the war. He aches, all the time, for the family it took from him.
When Riiny was 11, fighting exploded in the southern city of Wau, where he grew up. He was nearby, at his grandparents’ farm tending to a newborn calf, and he ran home, passing scores of dead and wounded, to find his house in flames. Amid the crackle of gunfire, he could hear Akuol, his eight-year-old sister, screaming from inside. Tearing through the house, he found her hidden in a closet. They escaped just before their home collapsed.
There was no sign of their parents, so they left Wau, crossing the country’s war-ravaged southern flank and joining other children who were fleeing the fighting. They travelled under cover of darkness—and not just to escape the 40-degree heat. Almost anyone they encountered—government troops, rebel soldiers or rival tribes—was a likely threat: Akuol could have been enslaved or forced to become a rebel wife, while Riiny, who already stood six foot three, was ripe for recruitment by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. (Thousands of children also died from starvation, dehydration, animal attacks and disease.)
For most of the month-long journey, Riiny carried Akuol, who was frightened and tired. When it came to crossing the rain-swollen Gilo River to safety in Ethiopia, he tied her to his back using a T-shirt, and dove deep to avoid the river’s strong top currents. As they surfaced, Riiny heard his best friend, who had been travelling with them, screaming in terror: he was being attacked by a crocodile. Hundreds died that day, lost to animal attack and drowning, says Riiny. Others remember the river streaked with red, the blood of lost friends.
SFU to start in NCAA one year earlier, in 2010
League will give their students a unique opportunity, says school’s athletic director
Simon Fraser University will begin play in the NCAA Division II in the fall of 2010, one year earlier than originally planned, in a move that will save the school money while offering athletes a unique opportunity, athletic director David Murphy said Tuesday.
“We have the ability to provide a great Canadian education and we can also combine that with an NCAA athletic experience,” Murphy told a news conference. “No one else can do that.”
SFU is the first non-U.S. member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The school’s varsity teams will become the 10th member of the NCAA’s Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Richard Hannan, the conference’s commissioner, said SFU was a logical choice.
The conference has institutions in five states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
“They are a prestigious, quality institution, academically and athletically, ” said Hannan. “Geographically they are a great location for us.
“We needed another member. We need to get to 10, then hopefully we can get to 12.”
SFU currently has 19 teams competing in the small-college National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in the U.S. and Canadian Interuniversity Sports.
Murphy said joining the NCAA will save SFU money in travel and membership fees. It costs about $500 to belong to the NCAA, while CIS fees are “quite a bit more,” he said. “The savings in memberships will be over $40,000.”
SFU currently plays in the CIS’s Canada West conference, where they sometimes must travel as far as Winipeg for games – a trip of about 1,870 kilometers by air.
Another major difference is the NCAA pays to travel to any championship. In the CIS and NAIA, individual schools pay the travel costs. Under CIS rules, scholarships can only cover tuition and school fees. An NCAA scholarship covers tuition, room and board, which could give SFU an edge when recruiting athletes.
Originally, SFU had planned to compete in the CIS next season and move on the NCAA in 2011-12.
Even university doesn’t earn me cool points
But being older and taller should.
I’ve realized something this summer. My younger brother David is cooler than me. Way cooler.
Actually, it’s not even a matter of David being cooler than me. He’s cool. I’m not.
David’s on his school’s wrestling team. When he throws a football, it travels more than four feet. When he kicks a soccer ball, he can control which direction it goes.
Back in high school, I was in the chess club. And part of Envirothon.
David has dozens of friends on Facebook. I have two. And one of them is David.
David’s coolness has also made me realize something fascinating: certain laws of physics don’t apply to cool people. If I wear a hat for more than 30 seconds, when I take it off, my hair looks like a dead squirrel. When David takes a hat off, it’s like he was never wearing one. His hair instantly springs back to vibrant and shiny life.
I’m the older brother. He’s in grade eight, I’m in university. I’m taller. But none of that seems to matter. His coolness is a direct violation of Sibling Hierarchy Rule #467. Which states that older, taller brothers are automatically cooler. It’s practically my birthright to be cooler than David.
But I’m not.
Last November, I tripped over a wet pile of leaves and broke my arm. When David broke his arm a few weeks ago, it was while playing soccer.
Yeah, even the way he breaks his bones is cooler.
Simon Fraser’s NCAA entry is much ado about nothing
SFU was never anything more than a temporary visitor to the CIS
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approving Simon Fraser University as its first ever non-American member may make for a flashy headline, and the story got picked up far and wide (never thought I would see the day where SFU made the home page of Sports Illustrated’s website), but it’s not being greeted with much more than a bat of the eye by fans of the NCAA’s Canadian counterpart, the CIS (Canadian Inter-university Sport).
That’s because SFU was never anything more than a temporary visitor to the CIS. When SFU was founded in 1965, it intended to always play against American schools, and they immediately joined the small-college National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a smaller rival of the NCAA. When most of SFU’s rivals left for the NCAA in the mid 90′s, they were caught in a bind—the NCAA didn’t allow for international members. Ergo, SFU joined the CIS in 2002. But after the NCAA opened up a 10-year pilot program in 2007, SFU made clear where they were headed.
Of course, chances are the only thing you really care about is whether (insert your current school/alumni here) is going to join the NCAA anytime soon, and whether the CIS is under any real sort of threat. And the answer is pretty much assuredly no. UBC, whose Athletic Director has been a proponent of joining the NCAA for years and years, is still reviewing the idea, and will make a decision on whether to apply next year, but otherwise, Canadian universities aren’t exactly clamping at the bit to join the American league, despite their invitation. Most schools are quite content with the CIS’ long-standing philosophic decision against athletics scholarships, for starters. Second, for smaller and medium sized schools, the travel/scholarship/accreditation costs, not to mention academic issues, are too great to really afford the change—not to mention the fact a school like Western would get way less local interest playing against a Div. II college like Grand Valley State University than they would say against say, Queens.
While no other schools have expressed interest in moving, for another school to apply for the NCAA, it probably has to be like UBC—close to the border, with a big endowment, and with plenty of international ambition. Of course, they would also need to have a decent athletic program already in place.
SFU first non-U.S. team in the NCAA
All varsity teams will compete in the organization’s Division II starting September 2011
Simon Fraser University has been approved as the first non-U.S. member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which is the world’s largest college sports organization. The announcement comes on the heels of a decision by the University of British Columbia to defer joining the organization by at least one year.
The school says all of its varsity teams will compete in the NCAA’s second division in 2011, after a two-year transition period, according to a press release issued July 10.
“This is a first for a Canadian university, and it reflects SFU’s long history of competing in U.S. varsity associations and conferences,” says SFU president Michael Stevenson.
“It means a high level of competition and challenge for our athletes. As has always been the case, our primary concern is that our athletes succeed as students. The NCAA has strong academic requirements and we will maintain the high academic standards that SFU has always demanded from all…teams.”
For more from the press release, click here.
Stay tuned to Maclean’s OnCampus for continuing coverage of this story.
Beavers wins silver in 200-metre IM at University Games
Four-time Olympic finalist Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C. settles for fourth place
Olympian Keith Beavers of Orangeville, Ont., gave Canada its second medal of the World University Games on Tuesday, claiming silver in the men’s 200-metre individual medley.
Beavers swam in one minute 59.83 seconds to finish between gold-medal winner Alex Vanderkaay of the United States (1:57.58) and Yuma Kosaya of Japan (2:00.77).
Beavers set the Canadian record of one minute 59.19 seconds at last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, where he placed seventh in the final.
Four-time Olympic finalist Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C., had to settle for fourth place with a time of 2:01.50 after being second at the midway point of the race. Johns was the defending Universiade champion, setting a University Games mark of 1:59.97 at Bangkok in 2007.
“I felt really good,” Beavers said. “My backstroke was nice and strong, it tends to be best leg of my race.
“I’ve raced against him (Vanderkaay) before, but I’ve never seen him race like this. He had an outstanding swim and there wasn’t much I could do to catch him.”
Katy Murdoch and Hanna Kubas, both from Calgary, qualified for the women’s 100 back final where they will be seeded second and sixth, respectively.
Murdoch broke the Universiade record twice, first in the morning preliminaries with a time of 1:00.87 and then in the semis with a 1:00.67, only to see Shiho Sakai of Japan take it away from her minutes later on both occasions.
Sakai swam a 1:00.74 in the prelims and 1:00.23 in the evening to earn the top seed going into Wednesday.
Matt Rose of Lindsay, Ont., qualified for Wednesday’s men’s 50-metre backstroke final in eighth place. The 2004 Olympian’s time of 25.61 seconds eclipsed the previous Canadian record of 25.72 set by Universiade teammate Callum Ng at the Bangkok Games.
