A little green > What does it take to be an athlete for the Royals? Davie Wong Sports Editor FF: most students, August is usually the time for laying around on sunny beaches and sipping cold beers under the setting sun. Students from all around the Lower Mainland are trying to get that last bit of sweet Vancouver sunshine before the clouds of September roll in and we are plagued with eternal overcast. Unless, of course, youre a Royal, in which case August means one of two things: presea- son, or going back to the gym to get rid of that festival flub. Either way, every day that passes in Au- gust is one step closer to the new season. For the rookies, it'll take some time to get adapted to the craziness of the pre-season train- ing schedule. However, they’ll have plenty of help from return- ing members of the Royals, who know all about just how crazy the preseason can be. But the most important thing for these new athletes to learn during the preseason, and even during the year, is what it truly means to be a Royal. Marni McMillan played for the women’s soccer team for four years, her last being the historic 2015-16 campaign that went to Nationals and finished fourth in the country. For her, being part of the Royals was truly special. “Being a Royal meant that I was a part of an athletic family—a Pride—that supported one an- other in sport, in school, and out- side of Douglas College.” It’s not often that you can find or build bonds that powerful. It was that The value of athletes > Are athletes just contracts and dollar values? Davie Wong Sports Editor [ the world of professional sport, it is incredibly rare to see a player play out their career with a single team. Some people be- lieve that it boils down to loyalty, or players’ morals, but I believe the picture is a little simpler than it’s made out to be. Behind the scenes, what runs every profes- sional team’s decision is money. It’s all about money. Players win games and championships bring fans, who buy merchandise and tickets. That brings sponsors and corporate deals. What if players were the currency, or rep- resented by a dollar value? The reality is, that is exactly how the system works. The concept of another human having a dollar value at- tached to them is so foreign to us in North America because we have a different way of breaking the money cycle. Many North American leagues, such as the NHL, NFL, and MLS, deal with this issue by putting emphasis on the future through drafting young talent. Often, in order fora team in a North American league to find immediate success, they give up the idea of finding long- term success, trading away the future in the form of rookie draft picks, for short-term success. An example of this can be found in hockey, where teams may trade away a chance to draft a future star for their franchise to have a better team to win the Stanley Cup that year. feeling that defined McMillan’s four years with the Royals and made it so special. Her advice to new players is to enjoy their time, as it is always fleeting. “The hardest part about being a Royal was knowing that This style of valuing ath- letes puts much more emphasis on morals and loyalty. While it may be difficult to find a player who spends his entire career in one place, it is not impossible. For countries like Canada and the United States, where player unions play a huge role in shaping the future of a sport, it is not at all surprising to see this style where players have a lot of power and say in where they end up and how they are perceived. For teams and team owners, it means the busi- ness environment is a lot more risky. Players are not worth an exact value, and making a move to obtain a stronger team now by trading draft picks could risk a weaker team in the future, which results in less money. In short, it’s more often a gamble than not. ( Being a Royals coach ( Russia left looking dopey (¥ Contract holdouts And more! lickr tA Laie: Oe ervices via F Image via Douglas Co lege tudent your time spent at Douglas Col- lege was only temporary and that it would one day come to an end. You recognize that eventually you will no longer be a student ath- lete, so every season you aspire to In different leagues around the world, especially the world of soccer, players are literally an extension of money. Player for player trading is very uncommon and there is no such thing asa draft. Players are purchased and sold, as if they were items. Now, although it sounds inhuman, I'd have to argue that it’s a lot more open. There is so much trans- parency that way. And by trans- parency I mean clarity. When a player is sold to another team, it was because the team received an amount of currency that they be- lieve to be the value of the player. Sure, there may be other motives to the selling of the player, but in the end, the team that sells the player receives what is believed to be fair. There is no luck involved, just strategy. leave behind something that will outlive your presence on campus and continue to echo throughout your sport.” However long one’s stay at Douglas may be, it’s nearly always said that it wasn’t long enough. Marni’s words echo that statement, but also brings about the point of making the most of one’s time at Douglas. Men’s volleyball player Jus- tin Faester knows all about that. Faester was a rookie on last year’s national ranking squad, and he is moving into a leadership role as he enters his second season with the Royals. He echoes McMillan’s pride about being part of the Roy- als’ athletic program. “I’m very fortunate to be a part of the Roy- als family. It is a very supportive atmosphere and a great group of hardworking people.” Although he is one of the younger Royals in the program, Faester has taken to the program with a fiery pas- sion. His involvement with the community off the court has only been enriched and he believes that helping to build a better community is what the Royals are all about. “The best part of being a member of the Royals is the relationships I’ve made through the Douglas College community and my sport.” His efforts on and off the court to improve himself, his teammates, and the sport he loves is a great demonstration of what it really takes to be a Royal. However, there is something to be said about the buying and selling of people. It can make the sport seem very inhumane on a business level, but I believe that it lifts the veil on the entirety of the topic. North American leagues also buy and sell players, albeit in a different way. It all boils down to the fact that people often for- get that sport is a business, and the goal of any business is to make as big a profit as possible. It’s often said that the business side of sport is ugly, and I won't even try to contest that. When players are stripped to numbers and dollar values, it’s a whole new field. But unfortunately, in the world of sports, that’s what they really are. A number value. Some sports just show it better than others.