The month of May was action-packed for Vancouver’s high school ultimate teams. Beginning with the city championships, followed closely by zones (provincial-qualifying games) and ending with the provincial championships, there was no shortage of games to be played.
Vancouver City Championships.jpg)
The first tournament was the Vancouver city championships. Though it was not a qualifying tournament for provincials, there was nonetheless a city championship banner – and bragging rights – on the line. In the Senior Tier 1 category, Prince of Wales entered the tournament as the victors of the past four years so the seniors felt the pressure to bring that trophy home for the fifth time. The finals were a meeting of PW and Eric Hamber in a very well-matched, high-intensity game where Hamber capitalized on a PW misthrow to break and win on universe point. Despite the intensity of the game, there was no shortage of spirit evident in this game -- or any game – played at the tournament.
Throughout the regular season, teams give each other “spirit scores” and the team with the highest score at the end of the season is awarded a large – and very shiny – trophy at cities. The winners of the four divisions for the 2017 season were Sir Winston Churchill (Senior Tier 1), Windermere (Senior Tier 2), Gradstone (Junior Tier 1), and Sir Charles Tupper (Junior Tier 2).
These four teams exemplified the values of Spirit of the Game during every aspect of their seasons, and they were recognized and awarded for this by their peers. The VUL sponsored the spirit prizes, which were (massive) trophies for the winning teams and a disc for each of the 32 individual award winners.
We had the opportunity to speak to a few members of the Churchill team; three players who their coaches identified as being particularly spirited. When asked about the meaning of spirit for her, Julie Lee (grade 11), stated that
"it’s about never giving up on her teammates and always playing for each other. Always try to be reasonable and polite on the field and have the same amount of respect for the other team as you do for your own teammates”.
With a team full of attitudes like this, it sounds like Churchill was well-deserving of the top spirit prize.
BC High School Ultimate Championships
Last weekend, under the blazing sun at Newton Athletic Park in Surrey, the top teams from across British Columbia came together to compete for the provincial title. Vancouver teams were everywhere, as the region had at least six bids to provincials in each of the four competitive tiers.
Vancouver teams took home gold in three of the four tier: Eric Hamber won the Senior Tier 1 division, David Thompson won Senior Tier 2, and Stratford Hall came home with Junior Tier 1 gold! The senior championship final saw the only two Vancouver teams left in the playoffs – Eric Hamber and Point Grey – meet in a closely contested battle that had a final score of 14-12 in Hamber’s favour. The Junior Tier 1 final was also a Vancouver affair, with Stratford Hall defeating Eric Hamber to take home the provincial title.
Spirit of the Game was a focus at provincials as well, and the VUL sponsored these prizes too. The 20 individual spirit award winners each received a VUL disc in recognition of their dedication to spirited play.
Though not all Vancouver teams performed as well as anticipated, the 2017 BC High School Ultimate Championships were nonetheless a resounding success, and a great indicator of the strong future for ultimate in British Columbia.