Look for intramural sports in the fall semester

By Mark Fisher

Y hether you’re a competitive
athlete or you just want a bit of
recreational exercise, Douglas

College intramural sports offer a great
way to stay in shape and enjoy yourself on
campus.

Douglas College student Christine
Chan competed in badminton tournaments
throughout high school and really enjoyed
taking part in intramural badminton at the
College. The Other Press spoke with her
about her intramural experience.

“Badminton at the College is lots of
fun if you can get a group of four friends to
all play together,” Christine said. “But you
can also go by yourself and join in a game.
It’s a great way to make new friends.”

Christine recommends badminton for
anyone who in interested in intramurals,
because it’s an easy game to learn and fun
for all skill levels. It also doesn’t require
a high level of strength like tennis does.
Christine noted that, “It’s a great workout,

and it’s a lot more fun than going to the
gym any day.”

On a typical Friday, there were eight
to ten students who showed up to play in
the school’s gym. The College provides the
racquets, and all the shuttlecocks you need.
Christine advised new players to be sure to

(near Metrotown station). They offer
badminton three times a week, including an
adults-only gaming time at 9:00 p.m. every
Wednesday night.
Still, she’s looking forward to the
possibilities of another year at Douglas.
“College is a lot more fun than high

wear good school. You
a “It’s a great workout, and it’s a lot more fun than a ae: dcin
there is going to the gym any day” and you can
a lot of do whatever
movement you want. And

in the game, especially if you get into a
close match!

Other intramurals sports that were
offered during the previous semesters
included volleyball, floor hockey, and
dodgeball.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any
intramural sports during the summer
semester but Christine is looking forward
to when they start up again during the fall
semester. During the summer she plays at
the Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby

intramural sports are a great way to meet
new people and make new friends.”
Students can stay up to date on the
upcoming intramural events at the College
by visiting the website of the Centre for
Sports, Recreation, and Wellness at http://
www.douglas.be.ca/csrw.html. There is also
a chalkboard across from room 1303 of the
New Westminster Campus that is regularly
updated with upcoming recreational events.

 

 

SFU joins NCAA

By Chad Klassen, The Peak
(Simon Fraser University)
BURNABY (CUP)

hen Simon Fraser University
opened in 1965, Chancellor Dr.
Gordon Shrum fanaticized about

the school competing for the Rose Bowl and
lived for the day when his ambitious vision
would come true.

It’s not the Rose Bowl, but Shrum
would be proud to know that SFU will be
playing in the National Collegiate Athletic
Association, as the university was granted
its official acceptance into the world’s most
prestigious collegiate association last Friday.

SFU is now the first non-U.S. school in
the NCAA.

Starting in the 2011-2012 academic
year, Clan varsity teams will compete
in Division II’s Great Northwestern
Athletic Conference against schools from
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and
Alaska.

“It means a high level of competition
and challenge for our athletes,” said
President Michael Stevenson. “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 Clan teams.”

For Athletic Director Dr. David
Murphy, while there are no concerns about
National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics teams being able to compete in
the NCAA, having already faced similar
competition, the next two years will be
a scramble to build up the talent level on
the CIS teams making the transition from
Canada West.

“Right now, all of our NAIA teams are
competitive. They already compete against
Division II and Division I competition,
and they do quite well. Men’s basketball,
football, and certainly women’s volleyball
will be a challenge,” Murphy said.

Helping that process will be SFU’s
ability to entice outstanding athletes from

across the country and elsewhere abroad
with full-ride athletics scholarships, which
are not allowed at Canadian universities in
the CIS.

While there is a limited amount of
money one school is allowed to spend on
athletes, it will give SFU leverage to attract
homegrown talent (and other outstanding
athletes) that have tended to head south to
the U.S. to pursue their athletic dreams — at
schools where the competition is superior
and scholarships are available.

“You're going to have to recruit across
the country first off and probably down the
West Coast as well,” said Scott Clark, SFU’s
men’s basketball coach. “Up until now,
given the restrictions by the CIS, all you’re
allowed to give is tuition. That limits who
you can recruit — local kids, because they
can be close to home, [but] somebody from
Ontario or Quebec isn’t going to come here
if all they’re receiving is tuition. They could
go to McMaster or some other university
that’s closer to home.

“But if you’re going to pay the whole
shot [with a full-ride scholarship], then now
you can attract some student-athletes.”

For SFU, which became the first full-
time Canadian member of the NAIA in 1967,
the move serves to uphold its historical trend
as pioneers in Canadian university sport.

Lorne Davies, the longtime athletic
director who spearheaded SFU’s
participation in the NAIA, had applied for
acceptance into the NCAA in 1967 and
1969, but the NCAA wasn’t willing to admit
Canadian universities until January 2008.

Now a decision that was 40 years in
the making has finally come to fruition for
a university determined to compete at high-
level U.S. college sports from the beginning.

“Tt’s a great step. The competitive
environment south of the line is a lot better
than the competitive environment up here, so
I’m excited about that. I think that it allows
players to get a lot better,” said Clark, who’s
entering his 15th season as SFU’s head
basketball coach.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done
in order for us to be able to compete at that

Dr. David Murphy

level. Getting better players is going to
require a lot of cash, so that’s probably the
next order of business.”

Money will certainly be required for
teams to offer scholarships, but Murphy
disputes the claims that the athletic budget
will have to increase dramatically in order
for the varsity teams to compete in the
NCAA, saying it’s all a fallacy.

In particular, the cuts on travels costs
for the teams playing in the CIS will free
up money that can be spent elsewhere,
as well as lower registration fees for
belonging to Division II compared to
the Canada West — it’s $44,000 cheaper,
according to Murphy.

“Right now, we’re flying to Brandon,
Manitoba, we’re going to Saskatoon,
we're going to Winnipeg, we’re flying a
lot of places. [But] we have five teams
within a two-hour radius that we can drive
to, so obviously there won’t be a whole
lot of difference in the financial aspect.
We’re going to save money on our travel,
we’re going to save money on fees for
registration,” he noted.

Coupled with the recruiting advantage
and low travel costs of competing down
south, there’s the respect factor of playing
in the best collegiate sports association
around the world.

 

“The initials ‘NCAA’ have a real
magic to them. They’re the largest college
sports organization in the world and people
are familiar with schools that compete at
the NCAA level,” explained Davies.

“Now, we’re not fooling anybody by
saying that we’re going to be competing
against Notre Dame and USC, but the
[schools] we compete against are high
quality and have top-flight athletes.”

Among the preparations over the
next two years, building a new stadium
for SFU is a definite requirement with
admittance and participation in the NCAA.
The expansion of a new basketball and
volleyball gym was completed in 2006, and
Murphy and the athletic department have
started to work on seating arrangements for
Terry Fox Field, where all teams will be
playing in the fall.

“We already started the program
‘Bring Our Teams Back Home,” said the
athletic director, who hails from Boston.
“If you look out there now, we have a
scoreboard. We have a number of stands
that will be coming on [Friday, July 24].
We'll start playing all our home games up
here on the Mountain and hopefully we’ll
get the support of residence and all the
students.”

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