the other press Sports Section Editor: Jordan Cripps So many great memories Jordan Cripps Sports Editor Well, this is my last issue as the sports editor of The Other Press. I’m sorry to use this cliché, but it seems like it was only yesterday that I applied for the job. From my perspective, it’s been an exciting year, full of great athlet- ic demonstrati6ns and achievements. Over the past eight months or so, I’ve been educated about a number of different sports here at Douglas College. Since it can’t come back to haunt me, I can now admit that I had very little knowledge about college sports prior to becoming the Sports Editor. This experi- ence has certainly changed that. I’ve gained an under- standing of many sports that I'd never been exposed to before. I also hope that I might have educated people about a few sports that maybe they'd never seen before. In this article I would like to share a few highlights that I've had over the past year. On a college level, the biggest highlight for me has to be the success of our men’s soccer team. Through their efforts they practically wrote a few issues for me. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them for the great season and to wish them luck in their quest to return to the National Championships (Douglas will be hosting them in November). Hopefully, next year’s final won't go into a shootout. Another fond memory for me is following the excite- ment that built up during the men’s basketball season. For a few weeks, it felt like they might be able to claim top spot in the BCCAA standings. Unfortunately, they came up a bit short this year, but it looks like they've built a foundation for next season that will see them challenge for the Provincial Championship. The team was always exciting, win or lose, and showed that there is some exceptional basketball talent being groomed throughout British Columbia. Finally, I'd like to thank the volleyball teams for ensur- ing that I was rushing to meet my deadlines. There were so many exciting games this past year where I was sitting in the gym until 10:30 or 11:00p.m. watching a five-set, back-and-forth, seesaw match, praying that I'd be able get something written by midnight. Truthfully, these evenings were some of the most entertaining I had over the past year. It was always more interesting to report on if there was a close game and if something noteworthy happened. I would like to apologize to some of the teams that did- n't get as much coverage in the paper as I would have liked. I realize that there are many dedicated athletes throughout the college and that only a fraction of these athletes received recognition for their feats in the pages of April 9, 2003 The Other Press. It was certainly my intention to give as widespread coverage as possible to the athletes of Douglas College. Having said all this, I'd like to return very briefly to the subject of my first article in The Other Press. One of the only disappointments for me this year was the amount of support that our athletes received from the rest of the col- lege population. There were a few dedicated people that went out to a number of games but this number was rel- atively small. I would like to encourage anyone that has an interest in sports to go out to just one game, whether that’s basketball, volleyball, rugby, wrestling, badminton, baseball or any of the other sports put on by the college. See if you enjoy the experience and decide whether you would go back. Speaking to an athlete or two, I know that they would definitely appreciate the support. Finally, I'd like to congratulate the Centre for Sport, Recreation and Wellness for a very successful year. From the volunteers who worked at each game, to the coaches, athletes, and everyone else involved in the department, I could see every week a dedication to developing the ath- letic reputation of Douglas College. ficknowledgments Jordan Cripps Sports Editor I'd be a liar if I said that I spent the year working alone. There are so many people that I need to thank for mak- ing my year as the Sports Editor as successful and positive an experience as it was. First, I'd like to thank Neill Jeffrey, my assistant during the Fall semester. Neill took on so much more than he anticipated, covering games, writing athlete profiles, and acting as a sounding board for any ideas that I had. The second person that needs to be thanked is my edi- tor, Adam Honsinger. Every week—especially when vol- leyball went late—I’'d send Adam an email telling him that my articles would be in as soon as possible. There was never any problem sending in copy really, really late. As well, the support he gave in working to get the sports section as strong as possible is really appreciated. This leads me to the production people, who took whatever articles I'd written and made them look great even when the writing wasn't very good. I'd especially like to thank them for working on improving the scores sec- tion, something that took a lot of tinkering, every week, until it looked just right. I need to take this opportunity to thank our photogra- pher Devon Lewis, for giving up almost as many evenings as I did in order to take sports photos. Getting photos from the games gave people a reason to look at the paper. Finally, I'd like to thank everyone else that I worked with at the Other Press for making this experience as enjoyable as it was. It was a really fun and exciting year at the OP. Besides the people at the Other Press, there are a num- ber of college people that I need to thank. First and fore- most, I need to thank Lou Rene Legge, the director of the CSRW, for supporting me this year. Whether is was pro- viding me with press passes to college events or giving me the occasional “scoop,” Lou seemed determined to help me give the deserving athletes at Douglas College their due. There were a couple of coaches that made themselves available to me without any questions. I need to thank David Munro, coach of the men’s basketball team, for responding to my emails and making himself available to me after nearly every game. Both Joe Ormerod and John Judd, coach of the men and women’s soccer teams, made themselves available after every game. To these coaches, I extend my deepest thanks. Without the athletes of Douglas College, there would be no sports section in the Other Press. Witnessing their dedication and commitment to their respective sports made it easy to go to the games every week and easy to write about the games, regardless of the outcome or scores. I applaud them for their efforts. Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I think the Other Press’ sports section will be in good hands. Id like to wish Adam “Flash” Gordon every suc- cess in working to continuously improve the coverage of Douglas College sports in these pages. I hope that everyone enjoys their time off and that those people who are returning to the college next fall will show the athletes of Douglas College their support. page 23 ©