ae Se]

weekend at the Richmond Oval. PHoTo By JosHUA REY

Constraints led to creation

Inventor of wheelchair rugby surprised at international reach

ByJOSHUA REY

uncan Campbell never

thought messing around

with friends in a gym

would lead to the creation
ofa Paralympic sport.

Campbell, who became a quadri-
plegic after diving accident, created
wheelchair rugby with some friends
at a small gym in Winnipeg in 1976.
‘They wanted to play a sport other
than wheelchair basketball, so they
came up with the idea for wheelchair
rugby. The name they originally came
up with was ‘murderball’.

“Tt just started with me and some
of my friends who were also quad-
riplegics,” Campbell said. “At the
time, people like us could only play
wheelchair basketball. We were in a

gym playing it, and we started to fool
around and the idea just came about.”

Over the years, it has grown world-
wide and became an official sport
at the 2000 Paralympic Games in
Sydney, Australia.

Campbell, who recruits and
mentors players for Team BC, which
finished in 6th place at the annual
Vancouver Invitational earlier this
month at the Richmond Oval, said
there was little challenge in creating
the sport.

“Some people thought that any
wheelchair sport should have an able-
body counterpart. It was a blockade
but it didn't last long.”

Wheelchair rugby is played indoors
ona hard floor court in teams of four.
Using a volleyball instead of a rugby
ball, the wheelchair sport has a lot of

Ontario Lightning (white) and Alberta Roughnecks (blue) compete at the 2019 Vancouver Invitational, an annual wheelchair rugby tournament hosted this past

physical contact. The forward pass is
allowed, unlike in rugby where play-
ers can only pass backwards.

Campbell said he's happy to see

: how the sport and
the equipment
have developed.

“T never thought
wheelchair rugby
would be this
successful at the
time,” Camp-

bell said. “It has

Duncan
Campbell expanded to 40
FOUNDER OF WHEEL- countries and the
CHAIRRUGBY wheelchairs are

more suitable for

the game then before.”
Nathan Bragg, communications
coordinator at the BC Wheelchair

Sports Association, admires Camp-

bell for his constant dedication and
support.

“Duncan is an amazing guy,” Brage
said. “Without him, myself and others
wouldn't be where we are today. He is
always involved with the sport and
community, and gives back.”

Joel Ewert, a wheelchair rugby
player for’ Team BC, also has a lot of
respect for Campbell, and is grateful
he recruited him.

“Duncan is an inspiration to every-
one,” Ewert said. “He taught us that
your little idea could make a big
impact on people.”

Campbell hopes the sport will
grow even mote.

“I hope the game keeps expand-
ing,” he said. “I also hope it
continues to bring people with
disabilities together.”

Team on edge

Falcons seeded
last at basketball
CCAA nationals

By LIAM HILL-ALLAN

he Langara men’s basketball
team is feeling confident,
despite the pressures of
hosting this year’s national cham-
pionships as an underdog team.
Langara is hosting the 2019
Canadian Collegiate Athletic Asso-
ciation Men’s Basketball National
Championship at the Langley
Events Centre from March 13 to
16. The Langara Falcons entered
the tournament ranked last out of
the eight teams from across Canada.
Langara has not participated in
the championship since 2015, when
it tied for 5th place with Holland
College from Prince Edward Island.
Coach Paul Eberhardt said the
lower ranking has actually made
the upcoming championship less
daunting.
“I think there’s less pressure on
us,” Eberhardt said. “The number

one seed is supposed to beat us.”

Grant Galbraith, who plays
centre for the Falcons, said the
team’s lower ranking at the cham-
pionships could actually provide
them with an advantage.

“Teams won't be expecting us to
make as much noise as we plan on
making,” Galbraith said. “Maybe
they'll take us more lightly and
we'll be able to surprise some teams
and make a run at the champion-
ship.”

‘Ihe team has had a rocky season
so far. According to Eberhardt,
injuries and player dropouts made
for a difficult beginning.

Despite the team’s challenging
start and underdog status, Eber-
hardt said he still has hope of
success, though no expectations.

“No number eight seed has ever
won the tournament,” Eberhardt
said. “So I guess we'd kind of like
to be the first.”

While a low ranking may take
pressure off of players, Langara’s
director of athletics and intra-
murals, Jake McCallum, said that
hosting the championships puts
pressure on the school.

“You're hosting and you want
to put your best foot forward,”
McCallum said. “It’s always nice to

get some wins at nationals.”

Alexa Leynes and Tyler Anderson model the new Musqueam uniforms that
will be worn for the first time at the 2019 CCAA Men's Basketball National
Championship. See story next week. PH07T0 COURTESY OF LANGARA COMMUNICATIONS

Not just
on the
sidelines

Competitive cheer-
leaders struggle to be
recognized as athletes

By CHELSEA LIU

C ompetitive cheerleading has
emerged as its own sport
with international recogni-
tion, yet some still view it as an activ-
ity that is supplementary to other
sports.

The main challenge in making
cheerleading its own entity in sports
requires convincing industry leaders
to take it seriously, said one coach.

Karen Fraser, a cheerlead-
ing coach, said this was one of her
biggest struggles when establish-
ing her competitive cheer company,
Midnight Cheer, in 2006.

“When I wanted to open my
own business, it was hard because
people didn’t look at cheerleading as
a sport,” Fraser said.

‘The team, based in South Vancou-
ver, recently competed at the Aloha
Spirit Championships in Phoenix,
Arizona, after
training for weeks.

At the champi-
onships there were
12 competitive
cheer companies
from all around
North America,
each with multiple
teams competing
at various levels.

Fraser was
introduced to cheerleading when
she began cheering for her high
school cheer squad in Ontario. After
moving to Vancouver, she cheered
for the BC Lions and founded
Midnight Cheer. Fraser said people
still see it as a halftime show for
football. She said people don't see
the athletics and hard work involved.

“You have to maintain a certain
level of physical fitness in order to
do tumbling and stunts,” Fraser said.

Keri Lewis, media relations for
the B.C. Cheerleading Association,
said the challenge for competitive
cheer is still the societal perception
that cheer is not a serious sport.

“The B.C. Cheerleading Associa-
tion works very hard to educate the
general public on what cheerleading
actually is,” Lewis said.

She also said the physical practice
of cheer has changed too.

“Athletic calibrew has gone up
exponentially,” Lewis said.

Midnight Cheer has three prac-
tices per week and most team
members are high school students.
Grade 12 student Sasha Predojevic,
a base for Midnight Cheer, said the
athletics involved in cheerleading is
something people should notice.

“It’s hard, tiring work, we train a
lot, we do a lot of cardio and strength
training,” Predojevic said.

Karen Fraser
FOUNDER OF
MIDNIGHT CHEER

1923 - Female students were
finally allowed to cheerlead.

1948 - The National Cheerleading
Association was founded.

1980s - Competitive cheerleading
gained popularity over school-
based cheer.

SOURCE: VARSITY.COM