8 Falcons soar with Petreman Meet Marc Petreman, decorated mentor to Lan- gara’s national silver medallists By LYNDA CHAPPLE genes. The Langara Falcons badmin- ton coach is the grandson of a premier badminton player, Andy Walker, who competed after the Second World War. “My grandfather was one of the top players in the province in the 40’s and 50’s and played until the 1970's,” said Petreman. “It runs in my family. My grand- mother played, and all my brothers.” Petreman grew up in the small town of Lantzville on Vancouver Island. “T first started playing [badminton] about 1968, I was seven-years old,” he said. He began competing at 11-years old at the junior level and eventually moved to Vancouver to continue to play competitively. From 1979-2007, Petreman took 70 BC ranking tournament titles. He was Canadian master doubles champion in 2005 and 2007 and won gold at the world masters games in 2005. “T played the senior championship at the Richmond Oval with 700 players from 50 countries,” said Petreman. After coaching stints at BCIT and Capilano College, the receiving the 1999-2000 BCCAA Coach of the Year award, Petreman has settled in at Lan- gara and brought the Falcons to victo- ry on several occasions. Recently at the round-robin event at the Vancouver Island University bad- minton tournament they placed sec- ond, but only last year the Falcons’ mixed doubles took the silver medal at the Nationals in Sackville, New Bruns- wick where rivals Douglas College grabbed the gold. Petreman is proud of his team, to whom he emphasizes tactics with speed and power in training. “lve watched the game evolve to us- ing graphite rackets,” said Petreman, who says the game is now played “with much more high power and is a lot fast- er.” Be" is in Mare Petreman’s Petreman is looking forward to March when he hopes his team will be competing in Kamloops at the National Championships. Until then he is coaching his team, running his own construction business and during baseball season he is pitch- er on three local baseball teams. MYNOR CAMPOS photos Above: Lana Rockhill dribbles. Right: Danae Harding. Centre: women Falcons in a scramble. Right: Loren Lidin takes a shot. Falcons soccer teams sink HISTORY “Lack of cohesion” leads women’s teams to disap- e Langara Falcons soccer teams were out in full force at the BC- CAA provincial championships at UBC Okanagan this past week- Though neither the men’s nor the women’s team made it to the gold med- Women's : provincial pointment, says coach; wins men’s team fares same By ALEXANDRA GRANT 2005-06 1998-99 1986-87 end. 1984-85 1983-84. Source: Langara athletics al championship game, the women’s team won the bronze medal in a sweep- ing 3-0 victory against rival Kwantlen Eagles Sunday morning. “Obviously, you go there to win, so ([’'m] disappointed,” women’s head coach Ryan Birt said of the results. “The girls were very, very disappointed because I think they realized as well that it’s something that they kind of let slip away.” Birt added that though they were not able to advance to the gold medal game, he believed his team’s resilience helped them achieve their win against Kwantlen. “One of the great things about this group is that they’re able to bounce back and move on, and we saw that in the results of the game they played on Sunday against Kwantlen in the bronze medal match,” said Birt. “It was really kind of a one-sided affair.” Goalkeeper Loren Lidin ended her tenure as a Langara goalkeeper by te- naciously defending the net. “In the last ten minutes she was re- quired to make two or three good saves and did very well, so it was nice to see her perform at the level that she’s ac- customed to playing at in her last col- legiate game,” said Birt. Before the tournament, Falcons for- ward Kate Steele believed her team would execute well under pressure. “T think we realized how frustrating it is to watch us play not as well as we can, and I don’t think we’ll let that hap- pen when it comes down to champion- ship,” she said last Tuesday. The men’s team had an early end to their run at the tournament, losing 1-0 to Capilano University on Friday eve- ning. Coach David Shankland said one of the team’s weaknesses is its occasional lack of cohesion on-field. “T think we’re very technical...we’ve got some good, exciting players when we're on the ball, we can finish when we get those chances, those are our strengths,” he said. “Unfortunately, sometimes don’t click at the one time.” they B-ball Falcon has high hopes, humble aims Dan Hobden only current Langara player scouted outside Lower Mainland BY JENNIFER FONG “Dan [Hobden] is the type of player that every coach looks for: he’s easy to coach, he understands the game well and he works hard,” said Tim White- head, assistant coach for the Langara Falcons men’s basketball team. Hobden, 19, is the only player on the current roster who was scouted out- side of the Lower Mainland. Hobden was living on Vancouver Island, fresh out of Cowichan Secondary School, when he received an invitation to try out for the Falcons. This is his second year on the team. “T was one of those kids who always played all of the sports he could,” said Hobden. Hailing from Eastbourne, England, the 61 business student start- ed playing basketball in grade 7. After joining a team in middle school he “loved it more than any other sports from then [on].” “T like that it’s a team sport and it’s a really easy sport to practice by your- self,” said Hobden. He said he also likes the fast paced nature of the game, the sense of camaraderie, and the indoor setting. "That's a big thing, soccer was freezing,” he said. He told the Voice his best moment this year was scoring four three-point- ers in the 38rd quarter during an exhibi- tion game. "I'm kind of the guy who shoots three-pointers,” he said. "I take what I think are good shots. I try to shoot quality over quantity," said Hobden of his strengths. His sports- manship is another. "If I think another man has a better shot than me, I'll give it to him over me shooting." Teammate Devin McMurtry said "He's a leader in how he conducts him- self. He's very respectful, good to all of the guys, never late, very reliable.” Mc- Murtry also added that “he's a great shooter, he's probably the best shooter on the team." There isn’t a specific team Hobden aspires to be on, but there is a location. "If I was to play basketball profession- ally, I would like to play in England, just because that's when I watched basket- ball first," said Hobden. "I know they don't make much, but I kind of like that. It's just like, play a little ball, make a little money, have some fun." As for his predictions for the Fal- cons, Hobden said he has high hopes for this year. "I think we'll be top 3 in the league, and I think we have a really good chance of doing well in the pro- vincials, if not winning it." JENNIFER FONG photo Dan Hobden, 19, Langara business student and basketball player. 66 Dan is the type of player ev- ery coach looks for. TIM WHITEHEAD, ASSISTANT COACH