March 1st
Student run newspaper committed to the St. George’s community
“Farnsworth Invention” Wisden’s best By Nathan Hawkins irector Robert Wisden deems this year’s middle school production of “The Farnsworth Invention” a highlight in his St. George’s career. He began directing the middle school production four years ago and has turned the program into an annual success. Chronologically he has directed “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “Mr. Roberts,” “Playboy of the Western World,” and “The Farnsworth Invention.” Wisden used a large cast and a technically astounding light-based set to surpass previous productions. He cast everyone who auditioned, resulting in a cast of over 40 actors and actresses. “There were lots of people who came in for the auditions who, I’ll be honest, wouldn’t have made the cast in a smaller production. There were some dropouts and that is understandable; some people would rather have a chance at being the goalie on their hockey team than have three lines in a play. I get that.” Wisden told The Echo. Observers may feel that casting everyone weakened Wisden’s production, but he believes otherwise. “Having so many people in a play and punching through to the final experience of being in the show in front of an audience will generate a lot of interest in Saint’s Players theatre for a long time to come.” One of Wisden’s goals is to generate interest in the school’s theatre program both internally and externally. He wants to involve would-be actors who lack experience within Saints to give them a taste of real acting. He also seeks to involve the community with the Saint’s Players
Theatre Company. Wisden doesn’t just immerse young actors; he sets them up in an environment where they can connect to the community and flourish. Wisden excels at dealing with inexperienced actors. He described the junior school production as a place for students to gain an interest in being on stage. His role as director of the middle school production is to interest students in acting and develop latent talent. He stressed, “If you skip the middle school play you end up with actors at the senior level with little experience. And besides, the more people you have involved with plays, the more likely that is to feed the drama curriculum, which keeps the drama elective and St. George’s
strong and healthy. You can’t cut the middle school play. If you cut it, you cut out the heart of acting at this school.” But with this focus, Wisden must ensure his actors live up to the standard. Since the production is for Grades Eight through 10, many actors do more than one play with him. He uses these repeat performers as role models for the less experienced to look up to. After pondering, he said, “I’m gentle with [the novice actors], especially the younger ones, and I challenge them to gain experience quickly. What I mean is: I don’t treat them like babies or neophytes; I treat them like actors and expect them to behave like actors – like professionals. ”
With a few exceptions, most actors auditioned with limited or no experience. This is not unusual at the high school level, and Wisden actually expects it. Wisden knows that many of the green actors are auditioning because they are interested. He feels it is his duty to help them succeed so that their interest in theatre is bolstered. He said with pride, “In the end, I think that they not only carried out their parts extremely well and provided detail, substance and background to the play. But they also learned something about the discipline that is required in theatre. They learned the vocabulary of acting and gained a solid grounding to base their future work on.” He feels this year’s production is a
success because it will act as a segue into a senior production. He has hit those green actors with a dose of reality, preparing them for the expectations for Luke Fredeman’s senior production. Of the middle school play experience, Wisden said, “The actors are seasoned by the middle school. I stretch them with material that isn’t intended for middle school actors so they have to reach for it. I demand that they respect each other and their work, and I demand that they are committed.” Wisden has taken the middle school production and in four years turned it into a great success. He accomplished this with a clear set of goals. He trains young actors and exposes them to the theatre. He pushes them with tough material and they consistently deliver. And he instills in his actors respect for theatre, each other, and the pieces that they perform. But Wisden has one message that stands above the rest. “There are times in the rehearsal of a production, especially with something as big as Farnsworth, when the only thing you have to keep you going is the thought of performance. Young actors don’t tend to think of rehearsal as the rewarding part. By the time closing night is over and they are at their cast party, they look around at all the new friends they’ve made, and the experience they’ve had, and the journey they have undertaken and completed. The young actors come away with the idea that the process, not the product, is what is truly rewarding. And if that’s not the most important message of theatre arts, then I don’t know what is.”
Zhang immediately acted and attempted to lift the entire row of lockers from Ng. Although Zhang was not able to lift the lockers by himself, a group of 15 other students, including Harjan Gill, Josh Tong and Paul Hahn gathered around the lockers and lifted it off the 15-yearold. Ng does not believe that the incident was all that bad. However, Zhang voices his concerns. “I was thinking, is this a joke? The school spends money on the most useless things and there’s a kid trapped under our lockers?” Bud Patel, Principal of the senior school, also believes that lockers should not fall on students. “It is not only important to create a safe environment for students so that they don’t get bullied and can be who
they want to be, but it’s obviously extremely important for a school to make sure that students don’t get hurt by its facilities.” As a consequence, Zhang has already talked to the school’s administration and firmly believes that the school should make sure that an incident like this does not happen again. Ng agrees with Zhang, but not because of what happened to him, but because he doesn’t want any other students trapped beneath a row of lockers. “I will do anything in my power so that things like this don’t happen again at Saints”, says Patel. After looking at the broken lockers, students concluded that the connectors with which the lockers are attached to the wall were missing. However, Ng did not notice that the
lockers were slightly tilted when he pulled his bag out of the lowest locker, resulting in the entire row of the lockers tipping and falling on him. Although the lockers were fixed shortly after the incident, Zhang still believes that the lockers located in the change rooms pose a hazard to students. When Zhang came to change close to the allegedly fixed lockers, after a P.E class, the lockers were again close to falling. “The lockers didn’t completely come off but people did have to hold it up while I pulled my bag out so it didn’t crush me like it did with Calvin Ng.” Zhang believes that the row of lockers almost fell on him due to the fact that its hinges are still too small
to hold it up. In addition, Zhang believes the lockers will gradually separate from the wall as students pull their bags from any of the various lockers in that row. To cope with this, Zhang proposes several things such as providing more support for the lockers or even replacing them, before another student gets severely hurt. However, after Patel was informed about the broken lockers, during an interview conducted by The Echo, the lockers were immediately fixed. In fact, by the next day, the hinges of the lockers were replaced with larger ones. Patel said that although he did not know about the second incident, he is “extremely pleased that our maintenance staff took care of it so quickly.”
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Wisden gives his cast some tips during the final dress rehersal before opening night.
Locker fell on a Grade 10 student in locker-room By Paul Hahn n February 3, Calvin Ng, a grade 10 student, suffered minor scratches after a row of lockers toppled on to him. Ng believes that he could have suffered more severe injuries, such as a broken neck. Matthew Zhang, a grade 10 student who was present when the lockers fell on Ng, explains what happened. “I was changing in the locker-room when I heard a big, loud bang. Then I heard the word ‘help’ and see glasses on the ground and some boy pinned down by a locker. The locker weighs at least 100 pounds or more and he was in pain. I guess he was pulling out his bag from the locker and it wasn’t secured to the wall properly so the whole row of lockers just tumbled on the poor kid.” After making these observations,
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School news
Table Tennis team leaps to the third Stalag 17 St. George’s ping-pong team avenged its last year’s defeat by Eric Hamber
singles match, George Ma had his sights set on making the finals but was lamentably defeated in the semi-finals. As a result, the team unfortunately lost the chance to challenge for second place in the province. However, the team captain paired with a new boy to St. George’s, Charlie Lan, worked together very efficiently and finally displayed the power of Saints during the doubles
final. Last year, St. George’s won fourth place in the province; this year is a significant improvement because St. George’s beat Eric Hamber Secondary, the team that halted St. George’s step towards victory last year. The team members attributed the big leap to the rise of a new table tennis star, Lan, who is only in Grade 8; Lan has already gone to Canadian Table Tennis National last year. The team was coached by Heather Stirrup, a math teacher at the senior school, and Norm Kaethler, a biology teacher at the senior school. The team prepared for the tournament for two and half months, practicing more than three hours a week. However, due to the already very high skill level of the team, the coaches did not have to help too much. The team captain, Ma, was satisfied with the result. “It is the best we could do this year,” he said. As a graduate, he believed that Tan had a lot of potential to be his successor as team captain, because Tan demonstrated good leadership. Ma also commented, “The team’s progress compared to last year should be mainly attributed to my doubles partner. … The team should continue their efforts next year.” When asked about their feelings after the winning the championship, Lin said, “It was inspiring. It showed what hard work could achieve.”
making great progress both physi� cally and spiritually. “It’s really great to see them wor� king like a community. Before the lesson starts and after the lesson ends, the students are reminding each other of the techniques and correcting each other.“ Worth feels the biggest area for improvement is the overall student awareness of what martial arts are. The black belt told The Echo, “Some people are hesitant to participate in a martial art because they are wary of what it involves but I think having students see that anybody can parti� cipate in martial arts can help.” Ultimately, Worth would love to grow the program into a competitive team with tournaments against other schools but described the notion as “a long way off.” In the short term, the socials studies teacher wants to gain enough student interest to run the program again in the third term. Worth has practiced Taekwondo
for over 12 years and has compe� ted in high-level tournaments. “I’m really passionate about Taekwondo so if we could do something simi� lar here, I’d love to be on board and promote it amongst the student body,” she says. Grade 10 student Trevor Nicholas thinks the karate program is a wel� come addition to the games pro� gram. “I hope karate is one of the options in term three and I would take training outside of the school if it isn‘t an option.” “It’s challenging and never easy,” says Nicholas. The grade 10 belie� ves the skills will better his selfdiscipline as well as help him “pin people to the floor.” To showcase the sport, the entire team along with the sensei will per� form a demonstration in the Upper Great Hall on Thursday, February 24. The exhibition will include ka� tas, wood breaking, and a question and answer period.
Team photo taken after the tournament: (from left to right) Norm Kaethler(one of the coaches), Ian Lin, George Ma(team captain), and Charlie Lan. Tony Tan is missing from the photo.
By Peter Ding t. George’s table tennis team recently brought back two gold medals and four bronze medals from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary, where an intense PingPong tournament took place. The team, consisting of the captain, George Ma, and Charlie Lan, Ian Lin, and Tony Tan, won the overall third place in the province. Remarkably, George Ma and
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Charlie Lan formed a double and attained the gold medal. Gleneagle Secondary in Richmond took first place overall, and Burnaby North secured second place. For two days, Feb 4 to Feb 5, the team battled in Churchill Secondary gym, playing 11 hours with short rest intervals each day. During the tournament, the team played more than 10 games, each 10 to 30 minutes long. During
A valuable addition to the games program
Students gather for a Karate exhibit in the Great Hall during lunch on Feb. 23rd.
By Joseph Lu eople around the world have practiced karate for over 150 years, but for the first time in St. George’s history, karate is availab� le as a games choice for senior stu� dents. The athletic department added the karate games choice to add diversity to the existing games program. Con� sisting of 17 students, most of whom have little prior experience, the pro� gram aims to help students achieve their yellow belt by the end of the term, while learning life lessons.
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Training occurs twice a week at a local community centre with two instructors, known as sensei, from One World Karate. Each lesson starts with a warm-up with the sen� sei focusing the class on a particular moral such as justice and kindness. The class moves on to the skill de� velopment of punches, kicks, and self-defense tactics, which eventual� ly develop into routines called katas. Sarah Worth, a social studies tea� cher and black belt in taekwondo, overlooks the program. According to Worth, the students have been
By Dustin Patara gt. Sefton trades and deals with the guards for his comfort in the German Prisoner of War camp, Stalag 17. When an escape plan is botched and two prisoners are killed, Sefton is accused of being a spy, and must defend himself from his fellow sergeants and learn who’s truly spying, before it’s too late. Last presented in a Saint�������� ’������� s Play� er’s Theatre production almost two decades ago, Head of Grade Luke Fredemen and Grade 12 Rigg Scholar Jamie Donnici are taking the helm as directors. In an interview with The Echo, Donnici told us that the play has a mélange of extremely unique characters. They range from Price, the rich saboteur who is under the watchful eyes of the Kommandant, to Animal, the big friendly giant who is obsessed with Betty Grable, to Joey, who is silent and suffers emo� tional trauma after witnessing the deaths of his whole platoon. There are even some important German characters, including the Kommandant himself, the goofy Corporal Schultz, and an SS Guard who speaks only Ger� man (the rest of the characters all speak English). These characters will prove a challenge to most actors, especially staying emo� tionless like Joey, or even learn� ing some German in the case of the guards. Donnici and Fredemen struggle with abridging the original play to expand each individual char� acter’s role. They intend to heav� ily alter the play by giving each role a sizable portion of lines, and therefore a sizable portion of involvement. However, be� cause it is an acting curriculum play without formal try-outs, the directors have to compromise with the varying degrees of tal� ent, and therefore need to adapt each role around the individual actor’s strengths and weakness� es. Even with the modifications to these roles, the play on top of that needs to be condensed to fit into less than an hour’s time, a challenge considering the play’s original length. Another issue is the stage it� self. The stage needs to be hand� crafted by the Acting 11 class, as little help will be provided by the stagecraft class. The students will need to build a prisoner bar� racks and a 10-foot high guard tower equipped with a spotlight. The majority of the students have limited carpentry experi� ence, so this will be quite a feat to pull off. Finally, props and costumes need to be acquired. While the drama department already has a set of World War II-era rifles made in the wood shop, design� ers will need to make costumes for the German officers and American POWs.
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Student stories Pitblado enters seventh heaven in Vegas GRADE 11 STUDENT HEADS TO LAS VEGAS TO COMPETE IN UNDER-17 SEVENS RUGBY TOURNAMENT By Samir Javer
t’s been said, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” However, for a handful of elite British Columbian athletes including Saints’
very own James Pitblado, the events that transpired at the Under-18 Las Vegas Sevens Rugby Invitational in the heart of Nevada may prove to be
a huge stepping stone to their athletic careers. A total of 24 players accompanied Shane Thompson, head coach of the British Columbia Elite Youth Sevens program, to the lively city to compete in a series of U-18 sevens rugby matches as well as serve as spectators at the USA Sevens tournament, an internationally renowned tournament held simultaneously in Vegas as well. The BC group was divided into two squads, BC Gold and BC Blue. Pitblado was named to the blue side and played a vital role on the team, most notably in their first game against the Colorado Selects. The Grade 11 student scored two tries for BC against their Northwest opponents, while sporting the number five on the back of his navy-blue and gold trim jersey. Before the opening game, however, Pitblado received some big news. His coach informed him that he had been named captain of BC Blue, a highly remarkable accomplishment. The captaincy seemed to inspire him. Following their 41-0 drubbing of Colorado, BC Blue went on to face the USA All-Americans 1, one of the toughest teams in the entire tournament. In a rather lopsided game, the All-Americans handed BC Blue a 27-7 loss. Pitblado scored yet another try for BC Blue in this game, their lone try of the match. In their final game of round-robin play against the Canada Howlers, BC Blue was defeated by a 22-0 score, which meant they would compete for the consolation bowl.
By Peter Ding he newly introduced grade committee system has not only allowed various innovative ideas but has also given more power to leaders to carry out proposals. However, it sometimes creates tough challenges for committee leaders. “It is the first year that the committees’ goals are really developed,” said Hafiz Dhanani, Vice-president of the Grade 11 committee. This year, every grade’s committee holds its own meetings before sending representatives to the whole school’s committee. The Grade 11 committee meets every other Wednesday and shares its goals among its subordinate committees. These smaller committees are the service committee, the events committee, and the publication committee. Dhanani believes that this system should be employed for transition into Grade 12. The Grade 11 committee’s blueprint this year is a mix of traditional events with innovative ideas. For example, Cameron Howie, a Grade 11, suggested that in order to support the Canucks during playoffs, students should go to the audito-
rium and watch the games on the big screen for $5 each ticket. The money will go to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Plans to take the grade to take a soup kitchen is also in the works. Dhanani said that this experience would provide Saints students with valuable life experiences. The grade leader checks in with committee members every week on a forum, Facebook, and in person and “has a vision of how they work together.” So far, the three Grade 11 subcommittees have accomplished some of their goals this year. The publication committee, led by Chad Payne, made posters for the Hamper Drive and has recently selected its members. It also renews the bulletin board outside Mr. Fredeman’s office frequently and is planning to mount a small screen on the bulletin board. The service committee, under the leadership of Oscar Xia, selected its members early this year and has started a Kindness Week project, trying to recruit more volunteers. The events committee led by Josiah Tsang is still conceiving plans for pre-grad. Some progress
was delayed because Steffan Tweedle, an important person to the committee, was away during the first term on paternity leave. Fortunately, the committee finally is back on the track and has now selected members. Dhanani admitted that the Grade 11 committee was not as effective as he hoped during first term. The process of selecting students for subcommittees was lengthier than expected. Fortunately everything will get done before the end of this month. Dhanani explained, “Everyone is making an effort to prepare, but Grade 11 is such an busy year; I have to think about ideas in the shower. ” According to Dhanani, students did not expect much from the Grade 11 committee because limited leadership opportunities for members in the past. “Things are changing,” said Dhanani. “They [the Grade 11 committee members] are very motivated but we are creating the student council’s structure for the first time this year and students don’t realize how much power and abilities they have to create different proposals.”
Pitblado (pictured), looks for an open teammate in a rugby match at the U-17 Sevens Tournament in Vegas.
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In the semi-finals, they matched up against the Utah Cannibals, who showed signs of fatigue according to Pitblado, and came out on top by a 10-0 score. The Grade 11 student, who had himself a rather memorable tournament, again scored one of BC Blue’s two tries. The consolation final against Mid Atlantic was a close-fought match according to Pitblado, telling The Echo, “Our game against [Mid Atlantic] was a very tight match with lots of swings in momentum.” Unfortunately for the Grade 11 student, Mid Atlantic emerged victorious, 26-12, but he ended up scoring yet another try in the consolation final. Pitblado ended the tournament with a grand total of five tries, a highly respectable number. Reflecting on the entire tournament and the overall experience, the sixteen year old said, “By playing against older and better players, my play improved a lot, as I had to make several quick decisions and play under a lot more pressure.” The atmosphere in Vegas at the USA Sevens Tournament was electric, as expected, as the best in the world took their talents to the pitch and displayed their skills for diehard fans such as Pitblado. He told The Echo, “It was amazing. The atmosphere was incredible with so many people cheering. By watching the pros, you learn that even they need to fine tune the basics, which is key to any team.” Identification camps were held across BC over the past six months by coach Thompson, who then nar-
rowed his choices down to a group of 37 who attended an elite selection camp at the University of Victoria. Among those present at the camps were former international players Morgan Williams and Winston Stanley, as well as former Canadian head coach Doug Tate. Following the weekend camp, the group of coaches made their final selections for the Vegas tour. Upon receiving the news, Pitblado was ecstatic. He had no idea what to expect coming out of the selection camp in Victoria, as he was up against the best rugby players around. However, the sixteen year old’s seemingly excelling athletic abilities enabled him to have a very successful camp, and soon enough, he was told the great news. “I was extremely pleased to receive the news that I’d be going to Vegas to represent my province. It was a very happy day for both me and my family.” The Saints Athlete of the Year in Grade 9, Pitblado plays rugby for both the school as well as the Vancouver Rowing Club, a highly competitive rugby squad that includes numerous other Saints students. An aspiring athlete, naturally, Pitblado hopes to take his rugby play one step further sometime in the future. He told The Echo, “I’d definitely like to represent my country in rugby down the road, or play at the university level when the time comes.” Based on his accomplishments in the sporting world thus far, that goal doesn’t seem too far out of reach.
By Joseph Lu t. George’s students overwhelmingly support Pink-Shirt Day according to a recent survey. According to the poll, which included 50 students from grades eight to 12, 88 percent of students believe that Pink-Shirt Day was an effective medium to spread the antibullying message. Canada has celebrated anti-bully day for three years. Saints, along with numerous other schools across Canada, observed Pink-Shirt Day on February 23 to symbolize a stand against bullying. Countless members of the staff and students sported pink shirts, ties, and caps to show their support. The response was so overwhelmingly positive that the $5, pink shirts being sold in the Great Hall sold out before break. Grade nine counselor Daryl Wakeham fully supports the day’s initiative. “I thought [Pink-Shirt Day] was a great idea because it helps spread awareness against bullying.” Eighty-four percent of those polled felt that bullying is not a major problem at St. George’s. Wakeham agrees with results telling The
Echo, “In terms of bullying, St. George’s is doing very well compared to other schools.” However, 50 percent of respondents indicated they have been bullied in some capacity while at St. George’s. According to Wakeham, bullying can take various forms, including: taunting, isolation, gossip, physical harm, and even cyber bullying. The effects of bullying on a teen can lead to depression, emotional distress, poor school performance, and violence towards others. “If a student is being bullied, the student should talk to an adult. Ninety to 95 percent of bullying stops after a responsible adult intervenes. Many guys do not like to tell adults though because of the ‘boy code,’ where they will be seen as a rat,” the counselor says. “Bullying is always going to be there but I definitely think we can try to change the culture,” says Wakeham. Grade 10 student, Jiming Li, believes the day was a good reminder to respect other students’ differences. “It was refreshing to see the pink and be reminded of the meaning behind it,” Li says.
with the bullies” at Saints Promising new start of student council “Down Pink Shirt Day reviewed by Wakeham T S
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Varsity Basketball team crushes Vancouver College By Eldon Chan ecovering from their demoralizing 83 - 63 defeat by longtime rivals Vancouver College, the St. George’s Senior Varsity Basketball team emerged victorious in the second match of the two-part series Feb 16. With over eight lead changes and wide point-margins overcome, the atmosphere within the gym was described by St. George’s fan Akash Sidhu as “electric and spontaneous.” Riding that particular energy, the tenth-seeded Saints went on to upset the fourth-seeded Irish 73-65. St. George’s opened the first half with a series of quick baskets that gave the home team a significant five-point lead. In fact, during the second quarter, Saints was 11 points ahead of the Irish. Much like the other spectators, Sidhu concluded, “At that point, I was pretty sure we won.” When asked about his half-time feelings, coach Guy DaSilva admits, “I felt like we were playing well, particularly on defence, but we needed to widen the margin as their go to player, Reiner Theil, was in foul trouble and we knew when he came back in they would make
prised Alexiu, Sajen Gill, Adam Hildebrand, Deklan Chung and Milan Mitrovic combined for a total of 56 points. When asked about the irregular starting line-up, Dasilva replied, “Our coaching staff felt that our biggest advantage against VC was in the post so we went with a bigger lineup, inserting Hildebrand into the starting lineup and taking
out Sidoo. Hildebrand was also the most effective player in the first VC game so we felt like he earned the opportunity to start.” Notable performances of the night included Gill, Alexiu and Macfadden, who scored 19, 17 and 11 points respectively. To previous varsity coach Brian Lee, Macfadden’s two timely steals and finishes marked the most important contributions to the game. “Of course, Cornel has to be reckoned with. He is a player who finishes,” Lee says. Looking forward, DaSilva has high hopes for the team. “We’re hoping to have a good run this year if we qualify for the provincials through the Lower Mainland backdoor tournament. I feel like we can beat any of the teams in the province. It’s just a matter of us playing with more consistency throughout the game. As for next year, I feel like we should be a top five team in the province with our depth and maturity.” With just a few games left in the season, the young St. George’s Varsity Basketball Team certainly looks poised to make an impact; if not now, then in the future.
By Chris Jeon n January 28th, the St. George’s Junior Squash team had an impressive showing at the ISA tournament winning gold for the school. It has been a spectacular year for the team thus far, thanks to strong contributions from Fred Lin, Samm Fulton, Andrew Killas, Robert Murphy, Andreas Dutz, Jonathan Wallace, Chris Jeon, Hunter Will, and Hayden Davies. Coaches Michael Atkinson and Monica Beaumont believe that this was an extraordinary season of hard work and improvement during the past four months, which led to gold at the ISA’s. The success of the team can be much credited to our squash professional at Jericho Tennis Club, Shauna Flath. Shauna is one of Canada’s best squash coaches as she is the National Women’s coach and we are very lucky to
have her. She has improved many of the player’s fundamentals and skills, as well as our confidence and mindset. This was the first year that St. George’s has hosted the ISA’s and it would not have been as successful if it was not for Ms. Beaumont’s hard work and organization. Saints squash is still growing. Future years’ of success seems possible with the current direction of the program. “I was very impressed by the commitment from the junior team in the first and second terms,” said Atkinson. Atkinson also added that Beaumont has seen more talented grade 8’s this year than she has seen in the past. Players practice hard, are committed to camps and practicing their skills, and should continue to do well against other independent schools.
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Left: Rowdy St. George’s fans cheer in on their home team to a 73-65 victory Right: Senior Cornel Alexiu aggresively posts up on his check and finishes the night with 17 points
a push.” Unfortunately, during the third quarter, the visiting team began to chip away at Saints’ hard-fought lead and ended the half 32-27. Outshooting the home team 24-14, the Irish rallied to take the lead, much to DaSilva’s consternation. “I was definitely concerned when the momentum shifted at the end of the third as the same thing happened
the first game and we didn’t recover. We talked to the players about maintaining composure and playing one possession at a time,” he recalls. Although shaken, Saints managed to regain the lead in the fourth quarter thanks to a six-point run by Cornel Alexiu and Lucas Macfadden. The final score was a convincing 73-65 victory. The starting line-up, which com-
500 meters. Next were a series of 1500-meter races composed of the actual rowers in a boat. In one of these races was a Grade Eight who pushed especially hard as he came 3rd in his race. There were many other rowers and coxswain who gave it their all from Grades Eight to 12. There were
a total of 42 races and all of the rowers raced to their potential and exceeded their goals for this rowing competition. Sabo-Walsh says, “This year’s Beat The Beast was incredibly successful. Participation was at an all-time high, and St. George’s should be proud to host an event of such caliber. Highlights of the day included excellent finishes by all our rowers, including a sweep of the podium in the grade 9 and senior categories. In addition, Ben De Wit, a member of the UBC Varsity team, pulled a sub-six minute erg score; an accomplishment that meets the national team standard and breaks the record for the fastest time ever recorded at Beat the Beast. Congratulations to head coaches Marc DeRose and Darryl de Leeuw for completing their first-ever Beat The Beast in style!” Overall Beat The Beast was a big success and St. George’s had several amazing races.
Records shattered at Beat The Beast
By Nathan Gregory-Evans n February 5th, the St. George’s rowing team hosted an event called Beat the Beast. Beat The Beast first when all the different rowing clubs in B.C come together. They have a series of races ranging in distance from 500 meters to 1500 meters on a machine called an
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Novice
Senior A
University/College freshmen without prior experience Women 135lbs maximum Men 165lbs maximum Open category
Senior B
Under 23
Junior A
Under 19
Junior B
Under 17 Under 16 Under 15
Lightweight
Junior C Masters
A – 30-39 heavy & lightweight B – 40-49 heavy & lightweight C – 50-59 heavy & lightweight D – 60-64 heavy & lightweight E – 65-69 heavy & lightweight F – 70-74 heavy & lightweight G – 75-79 heavy & lightweight
ergometer. The categories are listed on the table. The day started out with a 500-meter race called the coxswain’s dash. This is a race where all the coxswains, the people who guide and give directions in a boat, have a quick paced, short race to see who is the fastest. One of the St. George’s rowing coaches, Ronan Sabo-Walsh, won by 0.01 seconds. He pummeled through with an average speed of 1:30 per
Bottom: Participants partake in the brutal 2-kilometer Beat the Beast race
Junior Squash Team win the first ever Vancouver Hosted ISA
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