Concordia’s Lack of Sports Students Create Opportunities For

Themselves

Valentine Alibert

"Concordia has its official varsity sports teams, but where are the options for people like you and me who want to play recreationally?" asked Julie Tran, a student at Concordia University.

Tran is one of three students looking to address this concern. Along with David Ruiz and Karam Hamwi, the inception of the Concordia Recreational Sports Club will run with investment from the Concordia Student Union. This club will allow students to do different sports regardless of their level, including volleyball, beach volleyball, bouldering, skating, bowling, among others not yet offered at the university.

The trio recognized the disparities between Concordia University and other institutions across the island of Montreal.

“Our club is really there as an opportunity to get people out, offer a variety of sports for Concordians and for them to make friends and stay active,” Tran explained. The group thought that the sports clubs at Concordia were a bit niche and wanted to offer different sports mostly during the weekends when all students would be more available.

Using volleyball as an example, Ruiz said that it is not easily accessible at Concordia. If you want to play this sport, you can sign up for the intramural league, which offers volleyball games one day a week for Concordia students, alumni and people outside the university. Other than that, there aren't many options; no drop-ins and no varsity leagues, whereas McGill, Université de Montréal and Université du Québec à TroisRivières all have a varsity team.

Costs for funding a varsity team include at least one coach, support staff (assistant coach, doctor, therapists, etc.), travel costs, a physical rehabilitation therapy program, fundraising costs—and, most importantly, the availability of a gym for a few days of practice and games per week. For intramural teams, the situation is also painstaking. The process for implementing new recreation teams is only functional if there’s a possibility to garner enough participation, rent spaces and collect enough money from teams looking to participate.

If, for financial reasons, Concordia does not plan to create more volleyball activities, then they need to be better at communicating the alternative sports available. “It would be easier if there were a hub with some sort of schedule to show what is going on every week,” said Ruiz. Despite a schedule set up on the Concordia website, navigating to get to the page is difficult and does not include all options for events across all intramural and recreation clubs.

The club seeks to collaborate with other clubs at Concordia, such as ultimate frisbee, roller skating,and skiing, to make connections with other sports communities.

Let’s talk Stingers…

Women’s Hockey: Currently first in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec division

Throughout the year, the consistent narrative has been that the Stingers’ women’s hockey program is not one to mess with. A defending National Championship squad with aspirations to keep the good times rolling—and over the weekend, they cemented the first step in post-season excellence by securing a spot in the 2022-23 playoffs.

On Feb. 2, in the game against the McGill Martlets, the Stingers handily claimed a 6-2 victory thanks to a four-goal second period. Despite the win against a struggling Martlets team, 12 different Stingers contributed at least one point in the game.

This feat, compared to the Feb. 5 game against the Bishop’s Gaiters, was a walk in the park.

In this match-up, Concordia sacrificed a decisive win for an exciting 3-2 final-frame comeback. The Stingers’ slew of shots, an average of 35.0 shots per game, usually launched on-goal was absent in the second period, as they only compiled a total of three shots. The Gaiters did not perform much better, having mustered a total of six shots in the frame, although forward Neleh Vigneau Sergeant was able to bury a go-ahead goal four minutes in. Stingers’ forward Émilie Lavoie batted a bouncing puck off the end boards out of the air and into the back of the Gaiters’ net, tying the game at 2-2. With less than eight minutes remaining, forward

Jessymaude Drapeau played the hero when she fired a loose puck rebound into an open cage.

The team amassed a regular season record that currently stands at 18-3-1. With 37 points in the win-loss column, even if the Stingers lose their last three games, they would still finish as a top-two team in the division. This conference stronghold has significance considering the next phase of the campaign is the provincial playoff run.

As any fan of the Quebec division would tell you, the playoffs are the make or break of a seemingly blemish-free season. In a best-of-three series, anything can happen. The Stingers’ themselves experienced an early exit in the 2019-20 circuit when they were sent packing at the hands of the Université de Montréal Carabins. Knowing this, and given their juggernaut status, many teams will be gunning to dethrone this Julie Chu-coached squad. The Stingers will need to rely on their depth and veteran defence to generate momentum and garner wins if they are looking to move on to the next rounds. First things first, the regular season still needs to play itself out.

Next game is against UdeM on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m.

Men’s Hockey: Currently second in the Ontario University Athletics East division

If comebacks are trendy, then this past weekend shows that the Stingers’ men’s team recoined the term.

In their first endeavour against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, the Stingers refrained from light- ing the lamp until the third period. Forward Maxim Trépanier led the charge, recording a natural hat-trick and sealing the 4-1 Stingers victory.

Game two came and went on Feb. 4 when the Stingers found themselves trailing late in-game once again. With under four minutes left on the scoreboard, the Stingers amped up the volume of shots on goal. The big forward Isaiah Campbell muscled for positioning in front of the Ravens’ crease, isolating himself to pot home a stray rebound. As time dwindled past the two-minute mark, Stingers’ defencemen Marcus Tesink fired a wrister into the top-right corner of the Carleton goal that proved to be the game-winner.

With a record of 18-7-0 and thanks to their win over Carleton, the Stingers’ have earned a temporary sigh of relief because they are granted a first-round bye in the playoffs. The team sits at 36 points on the year, only trailing the defending National Champions the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes with 39 points.

Coach Marc-André Elément’s team has developed together for almost two full seasons. The collection of rookies from last year acclimated themselves to the U Sports level of competition, building up a dynamic chemistry along the way. The team’s depth means scoring can be found by anyone on the roster. A utilizable strength, but will it be enough with the tough adversaries that await on the horizon?

Next game is against the McGill Redbirds on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.