aWihvahockey;

Jillian McMullen
Staff Writer

 

thought hockey was considered our

national sport only through the shared
psyche of the Canadian citizen, through
the shared experience of growing up ina
country that loved the sport. But, much
to my surprise, it is actually recognized
by the National Sports of Canada Act
as the national winter sport. This
declaration of law solidifies its inclusion
in the Canadian identity. So why did
more people grow up playing soccer
rather than hockey?

The answer lies in the cost.

In a Global News report, they
found the average cost to play in the
Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL)
was $5,500 a season, with equipment
accounting for nearly $1,000 of that
cost. Even with consignment sports
stores, teenagers and young adults are
constantly growing, and often require
annual equipment replacement. Hockey
also outranked other sports such as
soccer and lacrosse in cost by thousands

of dollars in the report.

This cost can be force parents into
an awkward dilemma: Should they let
their child play the sport they want and
cut corners elsewhere, or do they cut that
corner? Many parents have to consider
how much money that they are taking
away from their child’s post-secondary
education and this can make the latter
choice more realistic. While there are
programs that help low-income families
cover the cost of organized sport, like any
social assistance program, there can be
a lot of stigma and shame felt by parents
who consider accessing those resources.

Calling hockey “the Canadian sport”
is incredibly contentious. Labeling
something the “national whatever”
intimately links it to questions of
identity, where participating in that
“whatever” acts as a kind of validation
of one’s Canadian-ness. This is can be
incredibly powerful for the children of
immigrant parents, who must balance
both ethnic and national heritages. If
a large portion of Canadians cannot
access a part of their national identity for
monetary reasons, it calls into question
what it means to be “truly” Canadian.

 

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INSTITUTION CONF PTS
UFV 3-1 6
DOUGLAS 3-1 6
VIU 2-0 4
COTR 2-0 4
CAMOSUN 0-4 oO
CBC 0-4 oO
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
INSTITUTION CONF PTS
CAPILANO 4-0 8
CAMOSUN 3-1 6
DOUGLAS 2-2 4
VIU 1-1 2
CBC 1-3 2
UFV 1-3 2
COTR o-2 oO

 

 

 

Finding the right combination

> Royals WVB experiment in home opener

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

hile the home opener is sacred

for many teams, for the Royals
women’s volleyball team, it was an
opportunity to showcase the entire
team, as well as experiment with new
formations. Their opponents, the CBC
Bearcats, are not known for being the
best in recent years. A chance to tinker,
as well as a chance to get everyone solid
rotational play time, is what a game
against the Bearcats allowed for.

The first rotation of Royals seemed
to work well. Vicki Schley transitioned
flawlessly into the go-to outside hitter
with Vania Oliveira on the bench.

She delivered lethal spikes to give her
team an early lead, and carried them
through the set. Unable to stop her,
Schley went wild, notching kill after
lal], en-route to a Royals 25-20 set win.

Rotation saw a dramatically different
lineup take the court in the second.
The Bearcats were able to match up
with that lineup a little better, and gave
them trouble here and there. The two
sides traded points back and forth but
the Royals never relented. Once they
seized the lead, it was theirs to hold. The
Bearcats came close, tying the game in
the dying seconds, 24-24. But the Royals
had a quality that the Bearcats lacked,

and finished their chances stronger. The
result was a 27-25 win for the Royals.

A couple tweaks and the Royals
lineup was ready. Their smart rotations
earned them a 25-17 set win, and a big 3-0
over the CBC Bearcats... but game two was
where the real excitement was found.

The Bearcats were animals on the
prowl in game two, pouncing on any
mistake. Set one yielded enough mistakes
that the Royals lost due to errors, 25-21.
Set two really knocked the Royals down
a peg. Dropping the set 25-21 meant
that the Royals were against the wall
with quite the journey ahead of them.
First off, they needed to survive.

The team made the first steps to a
comeback with a big 25-17 win in the third
set to keep themselves alive. Adrenaline
pumping and momentum at their backs,
the Royals wrenched the fourth set
at away from the Bearcats. Just when
people thought it was over, the Royals
had come back to tie it. Just one thing
stood in the way of win or a loss now.
Down to the final set, it was do or die.

Come to think of it, that’s nothing
new to the Royals. The team looked calm
and collected as they bagged their second
win of the weekend off of a 15-8 set win.
The comeback complete, the Royals can
proudly look back on week two of the
PACWEST season. The wins elevated
the Royals to the top of the PACWEST
standings. They sit tied for first with the
UFV Cascades. Both have records of 3-1.

  

Photo by Falacci Johnston