8 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, 10, 2013 EDITOR BRIAN HORSTEAD SS poris NICK EAGLAND photo Langara men’s soccer coach, Marc Rizzardo, giving the Falcons a pep talk to fire the team up for their game against the Quest Kermodes Famous Falcon returns Marc Rizzardo returns to coach the men’s team after four-year break By NICK EAGLAND pit flies across the synthetic turf as Langara Falcons’ soccer coach Marc Rizzardo screams at his players to hustle during a drill. The men obey him because they know his legacy — he led the Falcons for 22 seasons straight with an impressive 1387-56-35 record, but in 2009, he quit. “T was getting really involved with the Olympics at the time. My wife had just gone through breast cancer and I wanted to spend more time with her,” Rizzardo said. “But she’s healthy and everything’s good now.” Rizzardo was chief therapist for the Canadian Olympic Team at the 2010 Games. “It was exciting being around the city. It was never going to happen again in my lifetime,” Rizzardo said. He reprised the role for the 2012 Games in London. “T was extremely happy I was able to bring my family,” Rizzardo said. Managing Rizzardo’s schedule could be an Olympic event itself. When he’s not coaching the Falcons or healing Olympians, he runs a physio- therapy clinic in Burnaby. Rizzardo is also a director for SportsMedBC and a_ physiotherapy consultant for Riverdance Dance Company. Lately, he’s been regularly hosting a concussion management workshop and working on a book about soccer and sports injuries. It’s a small miracle he was able to find the time to return to the Falcons last April. “Obviously I take time away from my clinic to do it, but it’s enjoyable,” Riz- zardo said. “The players are great. I like the age group and they’re very fast. We have a lot of pace. Right now we have some guys that are hurt but the other guys are stepping up. We’re hoping that con- tinues.” Rizzardo isn’t sure if hell participate in the 2014 Games in Sochi, but plans to be at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next summer. He hopes the Falcons, who are currently second place in the PacWest league, ad- vance to the nationals this year. Most people would be worn down with so much on the go, but Rizzardo embraces it. “I can’t com- plain,” he said. “My life’s pretty good.” 66 The play- ers are great. I like the age group and they’re very fast. MARC RIZZARDO Langara goes for the gold Langara badminton starts up next week and the team is determined to win By ANDREA ANTHONY badminton team got fifth place. Three years ago, they got fourth place. Two years ago, they got bronze. Last year, they got silver. This year, the Falcons are going for gold. The Langara badminton team is training hard two nights a week in preparation for the start of the season Oct. 19. Their goal is to beat the team’s biggest rival, the Douglas College Roy- als. “Tf we’re ever going to do it, it’s going to be this year,” said Marc Petreman, who hopes to accomplish his goal with the returning star players, along with new additions. Returning player Ashley Jang, a badminton player since elementary school, said that despite being busy taking courses at Langara and UBC for her science degree, it’s all worth it. “T like the program we have here. We're all one team, and I find that we're all really close and we get togeth- er and we all get along really well,” said Jang. According to Petreman, Jang is one of the top women on the team, and he believes she is the next Canadian champion. Matthew Chan, an accounting student new to Langara this year, played badminton at Mount Royal Uni- versity in Calgary, but left after the badminton team was eliminated from the school. Chan is looking forward to defeating Douglas College with the Falcons. “Tl train as much as I can, get the hours in and hopefully it works out,” Chan said. Fe: years ago, the Langara Falcons Langara Falcons soar above Quest Kermodes The Falcons move up the PACWEST rankings from fourth to second after facing off against Quest University last weekend RESULTS Falcons WOMEN'S SOCCER OCTOBER 5 Falcons 2/ Kermodes 0 WOMEN'S SOCCER OCTOBER 6 Kermodes 5/ Falcons 3 WOMEN'S RANKING Moved up to third place SPORTS By TAMMY ENGLISH Quest University Kermodes this weekend, the Langara Falcons have moved from fourth to second in the PacWest men’s soccer standings. Langara defeated Quest 2-1 in Squamish last Saturday, and 2-0 at Hugh Boyd Park in Richmond on Sunday. The two games marked the first and last meetings with Quest for the regu- lar season. Speaking before the weekend match- up, Langara coach Marc Rizzardo said that due to a series of injuries he ex- pected a competitive set of games. The Falcons played without three starters, Ae: back-to-back wins against the roster, and Quest, although yet to win a game next games this season, have a record of tight WOMEN'S games. SOCCER “We had a tough game yesterday VIU at Langara and it’s always hard to play back to aon, ® back against the same team,” Rizzardo = pm said after Sunday’s 2-0 win. : Saturday’s game inspired a few WOMEN'S SOCCER changes to the Sunday Capilano at Langara including new starters Andrew Hauser October 12 and Matt Hall-Stevenson. 12:00 pm “They [Quest] were never really in the game. We had two posts, two cross- bars...if could have been three or four to nothing,” Rizzardo said. Ramsey Alfantazi, a second-year BBA student, who scored both goals for the Falcons on Sunday, was equally proud of the team’s turnaround. “We had a bad start last game against these guys. They were coming hard at us and we were kicking long balls, turning the ball over,” said Alfan- tazi. “We started a lot better today.” In spite of Sunday’s relatively easy win, Rizzardo’s respect for the Quest team was clear. “They’ve had a tough season. They haven’t won a game yet, but they’ve been close in a lot of games,” he said. “It was good for us to make sure we beat them.” With three injured players, over half of Langara’s roster is now populated with first-year students and Rizzardo is impressed by how they’ve come through. “We’re deep this year. In the past if you lose four players you white- knuckle it a bit. But these guys are all strong,” said Rizzardo. The men’s next game is a rematch against Vancouver Island University on Oct. 12. = oP ae = > ” ™ ‘iF TAMMY ENGLISH photo The Langara Falcons facing off against the Quest University Kermodes