8 THE VOICE, TUESDAY, NOV. 29, 2016 EDITOR JENNA TYTGAT SS poris iger no deterrent for some SUBMITTED photo A North Shore Rescue helicopter touches down in Suicide Gully on Mt. Seymour, where many people frequently tend to go out of bounds. Things can go wrong quickly when adventurers head out of bounds By SEAN HITREC ack Stevenson, a first-year kine- siology student at Langara, doesn’t mind snowboarding off of the groomed path in search of ex- citement, despite the safety warnings. Stevenson isn’t alone. Every snow season, people on the North Shore mountains go off trail in search of ex- citement and fresh powder. Not everyone has been as lucky as Stevenson, and even he has had his share of close calls. On one boarding trip, Stevenson fell into a tree well, a pocket at the bottom of a tree where the snow hasn’t fallen. “It’s a little disconcerting. It’s pretty scary, but there is usually always a “There’s definitely a feeling of help- lessness though.”. Despite this, he still goes out of bounds sometimes when snowboard- ing. “Tt wasn’t enough to totally scare me off, I guess,” Stevenson said. Mike Danks, team leader of the vol- unteer run operation, North Shore Res- cue, said that the risk is not worth it. “T think the big draw for people is fresh, untracked powder and, just on the other side of the boundary line,” he said. “It’s this pure clean snow and they think, oh, ’ll just zip out there and doa quick run and I'll get back in bounds re- ally easily,” Danks said. “Unfortunately, on all three of the lo- Danks said the out of bounds terrain is unpatrolled, at risk of avalanche, and full of “traps.” Danks referred to a story about a snowboarder who was missing for days. “We had a very high profile out of bounds snowboarder named Sebastien Boucher,” he said, “He was lost for three days during a very severe winter storm. He was in- credibly lucky to have survived,” Danks said. Bradley Wing, first-year computer science student, said that he never goes out of bounds. “T hear what happens in the news if you go out of bounds and I don’t want that to happen to me or my family,” ACCIDENT Safety tips 1 If you get lost or trapped out of bounds, stay where you are. 2 Build a shelter to protect yourself from weather while still being visible to searchers. 3 Broadcast your location with a fire or a whistle. Source: northshorerescue.com friend around,” Stevenson _ said. cal mountains, that’s not the case.” Wing said. tea a TANNER BOKOR photo Joggers run past the Richmond Olympic Oval, the site of Vancouver Futsal Association tournaments. Vancouver could score a professional Futsal team to play ina new U.S. league starting next year. By TANNER BOKOR ark Cuban, the Richmond \Y) fatanae Oval, and FIFA have one thing in common: they’re all part of the growing sport of futsal. Futsal is a sport similar to soccer that is played indoors, but uses a small- er court, net, and ball. The sport emerged in the 1930’s in Uruguay as a recreational game to be played during rainy days at local YMCAs. The sport has been growing in popu- larity on a global scale, most recently with the FIFA Futsal World Cup being held in Columbia this past September. Alexander Elliott and Michael D’ Agostino, co-founders of the Vancou- ver Futsal Association, hatched the idea to bring futsal to the west coast of Canada after playing professionally in Germany six years ago, and launched the league officially in 2010. “Given the weather out west and the technical benefits that it has to players, we had some immediate interest as to find ways to get youth more involved in the sport,” said Elliott, who is also the men’s soccer head coach at Quest Uni- versity in Squamish. Elliot says that futsal helps build Support for pro Fustal team growing skills not only for futsal die-hards, but helps supplement building skills for soccer players. “It’s about technical ability in tight areas,” said Elliot. “The game makes you think really quickly, and forces you to be creative in tight spaces.” Peter Lonergan, marketing and com- munications officer with B.C. Soccer, says that futsal is a more popular sport elsewhere in Canada. “From a futsal standpoint, back east, due to weather and available facilities, it’s a lot more prevalent, I'd say,” said Lonergan. The Vancouver fustal scene may be receiving a major boost thanks in part to a new pro league started in the U.S. Rumors of a Professional Fustal League team in Vancouver have been swirling in recent years. The league, with U.S. billionaire Mark Cuban on its growing leadership team, plans to officially launch in 2017, but there has yet to be confirmation of a local team here in Vancouver. Elliot says that while the enthusiasm for the growing sport is strong in Van- couver, there’s still a ways to go before the city can support a professional lev- el team. “It’s a bit of jump to say that the mar- ket of Vancouver is ready to go get thousands of people to watch a futsal game, while we’re still building support for the sport at a grassroots level,” said Elliot. Football fans ignore B.C. Lions’ roar Attendance for football games in Vancouver dwin- dling, while Whitecaps numbers going up By STUART NEATBY Sunday, and some CFL fans in Van- couver feel like their home-team might be losing some of their audience to another BC Place favourite. Attendance for BC Lions games, at an average of just over 21 thousand people in attendance, was down during the 2016 season. Although this was slightly lower than the 2015 average, it was a far cry from the over 28 thousand average of the 2014 season. Aftab Hadi, owner of Robson Sports, an apparel shop, said that he had seen a sizable decline in sales of BC Lions jerseys and apparel over the last two years. During the same time, he has noticed an upswing in sales of Vancou- ver Whitecaps apparel. “TThey are] almost the same people because people are looking for some entertainment. They need some thrills, some excitement, some game. So of course they are moving to the White- caps,” he said. Reid Anderson, a casual Lions fan, said that he believed the Lions man- agement had an “arrogant attitude” towards its fanbase. “T think that the Lions’ price point is too high. For the entertainment value, I think that the Whitecaps deliver a sim- ilar experience for less money,” he said, while watching Sunday night’s fi- nal at the Red Card Sports Bar, a down- town sports bar. The Vancouver Whitecaps average attendance increased in 2016 to over 22 thousand people, up from 1,822 in 2015, according to Nathan Vanstone, a spokesperson for the team. Whitecaps tickets can be purchased for as low as $15. Jamie Cartmell, the director of com- munications for the BC Lions, said it was difficult to pinpoint why atten- dance for the team had diminished. He pointed to a growing number of Cana- dian football fans that have chosen to forego BC Place ticket prices in order to watch at home. “T don’t think there’s any one clear reason why attendance has declined,”he said. “Right now, we’re the only real winning team that this city has.” Te Grey Cup season wrapped up a ‘ ieee | STUART NEATBY photo BC Place is hated by some fans be- cause of high food and beer prices.