Biggest bird lifts Falcons Seasoned 6:9" basketball forward not done growing By TREVOR NAULT Timothy Choi would know better than any- angara Falcons mens _ one. This season marks | basketball team’s tall- his third year playing est forward, Grant Gal- alongside Galbraith. braith has grown in “T think he’s a lot more ways than just in height. stronger mentally,” The 6'9" Vancouver native Choi said. “A lot of started his basketball career in high school before accepting a scholarship to play for the Uni- versity of Alberta Golden Bears. Galbraith’s coach and teammates say his biggest area of growth over the years is his mental game. “He knows who he is, and he knows what he can do and he re- things used to get in his head really quickly, but this year he’s doing a lot better with that.” / # With a win anda 4 loss under their belts, the teams home openeron Nov. 16 will break the 4 » Perm ally plays to those strengths,” said tie. Eb- a Paul Eberhardt, head coach of erhardt 8 Langara’s men's basketball team. said he “You'd be surprised how unique is grate- that is to have that as a trait.” ful for a Galbraith’s return to Vancouver. “Grant is a really important role for us because when we need to get something near the hoop, he’s the inside, he’s our go-to guy every time,” Eberhardt © said. The Falcon’s host Co- lumbia Bible College on Nov. 16 and Quest Univer- sity in Squamish on Nov. 17. Galbraith attributes the likelihood of a successful Mo season to the quality of the rest of his team and said he believes the Falcons have as good a chance at mak- ing finals as anybody. “T think we have a great Grant Galbraith boxes out teammate, § Timothy Choi, at a men's basketball team prac- tice. a TREVOR NAULT PHOTO roup of guys,” Galbraith © said. “I'm confident in myself and I'm con- fident in everyone around me and hopefully we can make this year mem- orable and and win a champion- ship like “2 we'te hop - AstroTurf fields are now in their fourth stage of redevelopment since the 1960s so they are constructed with much more modern technology, and aimed to be more environmentally friendly, according to sports experts and members of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. susiiTTED PHOTO Tackling the truth about fake turf playing a soccer game on arti- ficial turf last year and believes the turf was a factor in her injury. “[ Turf] is like concrete when you Modern Astro Turf safety debated tor of UBC’s tendon injury pre- vention and rehabilitation labora- tory, said the more modern versions have better shock absorption and fall,” Simpkins current aca- By LINDSEY LLOYD said. “On the “Most athletes that demic studies grass, you fall show _ there tudent athletes and sports ex- and it's not as perts disagree about the safety hard, [turf] of artificial turf scheduled doesn't have you talk to don'tenjoy | is playing on turf. There no differ- ence in injury rates for ath- to be placed on the field of one of as much give.” . letes playing three shortlisted Vancouver schools. Concerns feels like there's more sports on turf Professional soccer, rugby and for the safety * versus _play- football players have long com- of playing load going through ing on grass. plained that the fake grass is tough sports on turf “1 ” “Most ath- on their joints and rough on the _ fields stem your joints... letes that you skin when they fall. Many ex- back to the ~ALEX SCOTT, DIRECTOR OF UBC'S TENDON talk to don't perts, however, say there are no 60s when the INJURY PREVENTION REHAB LAB enjoy __ play- more reports of injuries on artifi- first genera- ing on turf. cial turf than natural grass fields. tion of Astro- There feels Former Langara Falcons soc- ‘Turf was made froma pile ofcarpet like there’s more load going [compared to grass],” Scott said. The City of Vancouver Parks Board Commissioner, Casey Craw- ford, said that the Parks Board plan- ning staff has not found anything definitive when it comes to physical disparities between playing sports on turf and grass and that there are still studies being conducted re- garding young athletes and if they should be concerned about how many hours they spend on turf. Crawford said the new turf be- ing placed by the parks on ei- ther Beaconsfield Park, Clinton Park or South Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School between 2018 and 2019 will most likely be similar to the turf recently installed at Point Grey Secondary School, which cer player, Chelsea Simpkins, on top of padding and concrete. through your joints, that there has modern technology and is said she tore her ACL while However, Alex Scott, the direc- isn't as much shock absorption more environmentally friendly. W-D-L W-D-L W-D-L W-D-L 1-0-1 0-0-2 1-1-10 4-5-3 Ranked third in PacWest Ranked last in 3-way tie in PacWest Finished fifth place in PacWest Finished third place in PacWest Pros & public play for profit WeCoBeVo to host beach volleyball fund- raiser open to all ages and skill levels By BECCA CLARKSON rofessional training and op- P portunities headquartered on the other side of the country make it difficult for Western-Ca- nadian athletes to be consistently a part of the national beach volleyball team. Because beach volleyball players must train with the national team in Toronto in order to be carded — or qualify for a government stipend — few British Columbi- ans actually end up on the squad. Brian Hiebert, co-director of West Coast Beach Volleyball Soci- ety, moved from Port Moody to To- ronto in 2000 to train with the na- tional team. In the years since, only 12 other athletes from Western Canada have made the same trek. “B.C.’s athletes are seeing what's happening out in Toronto, we've seen the success of Canada and now we want to repeat it.” Hiebert said, adding that the country is big enough for multiple hubs. WeCoBeVo is fundraising for a Vancouver training hub through their second Play with the Pros event, a tournament where lo- cal beach volleyball players com- pete with Olympians, scheduled this year for Saturday, Dec. 2. Two-thirds of the players on the Canadian beach volleyball team are from Ontario, which the executive director of WeC- oBeVo, Jodi McIntosh, equates to travel expenses stacking up for athletes outside of that province. “There’s not a lack of partici- pation here, we're just trying to help create that path for kids to dream big,” said McIntosh. Five thousand of the $13,000 funds raised last year were used to send five players from western Canada to repre- sent their nation in China where the 2017 FIVB Beach Volley- ball U21 World Championships were hosted. The money covered ; the players’ flights, Jodi McIntosh, accommodations, EXECUTIVE DIREC- coaching, entry TOR OF WEST COAST fees and food. BEACH VOLLEYBALL Calgary born SOCIETY 2016 Rio Games Olympian and WeCoBeVo’s presi- dent, Ben Saxton, moved to Van- couver 11 years ago because it’s warmer climate allows for more time training outdoors. He'll return as a player for this year’s tournament with fellow Olympians, April Ross of Costa Mesa, Calif. and Mar- tin Reader of Comox Valley, B.C. “There are lots of talented peo- ple who just can't afford to fol- low this avenue,” said Saxton, who has the fallback of financial help and support from his family. According to McIntosh, WeC- oBeVo plans to apply for non-profit status to obtain grants and hopes a hub will be formed by summer 2019.