Supplement

 

Hustle, heart and defense

Hamish Knox people, I just want to get the

 

Douglas starting point guard,
Darcy Savage, has discovered the
secret of basketball—if you
hustle and play good defense
you will always be on the floor.

Savage started her career
early in the Celtic-green land of
Boston, Massachusetts. “They
start you young there. I was on
a team when I was six and they
start separating you into all-
staf teams when you're like,
seven.” She moved up to Canada
and settled in Sydenham,
Ontario for her high school
years, where she enjoyed
success with Sydenham High.
“We won three Citys, two
Regionals and two Provincial
silver medals, but that sucks
because you lost your last
game, but it’s still pretty good,”
Savage says, with a wistful look
of recollection on her face.

It was also in the highly
competitive Ontario high school
league that Savage developed
the ‘never say die’ attitude that
has carried her to the starting
point guard role for the Royals.
“T've never been a ‘star’ per se
and it [defense] was always a
thing to fall back on. Any coach
would play me if I could play
defense well.” A true lover of
basketball, Savage has played in
all types of community leagues,
including men’s leagues where
you “get a beating, but that’s
my style of game.”

Aggression is a big part of
Savage's game, although some-
times she does let it get the
better of her. “I don’t get many
[technical fouls] anymore. I
have a tendency to avenge
myself, I guess. I don’t want to
glorify that, but I have to
control myself because teams are
just going to try and rattle me
now. It’s not acceptable. I don't
know if you saw my game last
night, but I lost it (laughs). No
excuse.” Most of the time,
however, her aggression is
focused, allowing her to be one
of the team leaders on defense.
“T hate the other team when I
play against them (laughs). I
don't like to take shit from

ball away from the other team.”
Don't think that Savage limits
her aggression to game time. A
few weeks ago the Royals took
on the New Westminster Second-
ary senior girl's team in an
informal scrimmage. Instead of

taking a step back and letting
the New West point guard have
the opportunity to run her
offense, Savage was right in her
face yelling, “Ball! Ball!” Anyone
watching the scrimmage could
see the fear in the high school
girl's face as Savage brought her
full three years of college
experience down on the young
player. “You just have to keep
telling yourself it’s not accept-
able to do it [slack off]. I just
make a real effort to keep it [my
intensity] up, when I was in
high school that’s how I made
sure I got playing time, and my
first year here as well.” She does
concede that her time on the
court serves as a release but, “I
love basketball (laughs). I love

BCCAA Provincials
admission prices

Parking $2 per day
Thursday\Friday

Adults—$5 per day
Students\Seniors—$3 per day

Saturday
Adults—$6
Students\Seniors—$4
Children under 12 free all weekend

 

to play. It [basketball] probably
serves as a release because I
don't do that in any other facet
of my life.”

Savage's successes on the
court are more amazing when
you consider her off-the-court
activities as well. “I work full-

 

time at a drywall manufacturer.
Work 5:30am to 1:30pm then go
to class, then go to basketball.
Then I go home and study and
do it all over again (smiles). I do
a lot of work with teenagers on
the east side coaching basket-
ball. Coaching little kids,
coaching adults, coaching at
Kitsilano Secondary.” Her home
life is full too, with her husband
of two years, Shane, and her two
dogs. “I have two dogs, they're
whippets. That’s my, I don't
know...quirk.” Such a packed
life leaves little time for extra
workouts so Savage leaves her
exercise to practice, but does lift
weights in the off-season.
However, even though she plays
most of the minutes for the

Royals, she doesn’t do any extra
conditioning. “I don't like cardio
(laughs). That’s my weakness;
my weakness is definitely
cardio.”

Unfortunately for Royals
fans, Savage is moving up
Burnaby Mountain next year,

but you may see her in the
future as she moves ‘one foot
down the bench’ “Next year
I'm transferring to SFU and
that will pretty much be it for
competitive basketball. It’s my
third year [at Douglas]; you
can't take any more courses,
pretty much. I’ve got about
five years coaching experience
and I plan to keep that up. I'd
. like to go to the top level, be
a college or university coach.
I'l still play rat ball down in
all those community centres.”
A life without basketball
seems as strange for Savage as
a life without air, “can’t even
imagine [life without,basket-
ball]. Sports are a really big
part of my life. If I didn’t have
that growing up, I don't think
I would have turned out the
same at all. (Pause) Basically
all the kids who didn’t get
into sports got into some kind
of ‘extra cirricular activity,
dopeheads. It [basketball]
definitely kept me out.”
Savage, always looking for new
activities to try, is going to
begin another sport that takes
advantage of her aggression.
“I'm going to try boxing
(laughs). That’s my next thing.
There's a gym near where I live
so I'm going to try boxing.”

Savage chose Douglas after
looking at two other Lower
Mainland schools, but she picked
the Royals because their coach
hit her competitive switch. “I
chose here because they [the
Royals] didn’t really want me
and I thought it would be a
better team if they weren't
begging me to go there. She
[the coach] sounded like I'd be
lucky to make the team.” Three
years later, Savage is the start-
ing point guard which has

- helped her add another facet to

her game. “[Besides defense]

leading the court, being in
control of the court. On this
team being in control of the
court and leading them [the
Royals] forward is important as
well [as playing defense].”

This year Savage and her
Royals teammates started the
year 8-0, but have since gone
3-5 finishing the year with a
win over Camosun and a blow
out loss to, Malaspina. “I think
we're nowhere near our poten-
tial. It hasn't really clicked yet,
not personally, but on the court.
We have moments where we're
unstoppable, then the reverse.
That's been the fault with our
team lately, we haven't kept up
the intensity for 40 minutes.
We've been talking a lot about it
[our intensity] and making a
real effort to focus on it in
practice now, because it’s not
happening throughout the
entire game and that’s why.
We're on a three game losing
streak and I think that’s a big
part of it. Teams aren't scared of
us anymore. We'll be in the
playoffs, but we have to totally
change mentally through the
playoffs, otherwise we're going
to get beat.”

Even when she’s in a game,
Savage will seem to step back
and compose herself; especially
when she’s shooting free throws.
“I just think about my shot and
go out. I just look at the rim,
then I just...I just think about
my shot and try to block every-
thing else out. I just try to
remember the feeling of when it
[the shot] goes in, like you can
remember the same feeling and
have that happen.”

For Savage though, the
best way to end her Royals
career would be with a gold
medal at the national champion-
ships in Medicine Hat later this
March. “It would be incredible
[to take gold]. Best feeling in
the world winning. Haven't done
that since high school.”

BCCAA Provincials schedule

Thursday, March 4

2:00pm Women—Langara vs. TWU

4:00pm Men—UCFV vs. OUC

6:00pm Women—UCFV vs. Capilano

8:00pm Men—UCE vs. TWU
Friday, March 5

12:30pm Slam Dunk\3-point contest

2:00pm Women—Douglas vs. Langara\UCFV\Capilano
4:00pm Men—Langara vs. UCFV\UCC\TWU

6:00pm Women—Malaspina vs. UCFV\Capilano\TWU
8:00pm Men—Malaspina vs. UCC\OUC\TWU

Saturday, March 6

1:30pm Women—Bronze medal match, semi-final losers
3:30pm Men—Bronze medal match, semi-final losers

5:45pm Slam Dunk\3-point finals

6:30pm Women—Gold match, semi-final winners
8:30pm Men—Gold medal, semi-final winners

10:30pm Award Ceremonies