Ss BONNIE CHENG photo From left: Imran Wadia, Matthew Chan and Eric Chiu sporting their bronze medals at nationals. Bronze at nationals Badminton Falcons played hard in Halifax, N.S. By BAILEY NICHOLSON Ihree star players from the Lang- ara Falcons badminton team are bringing home bronze medals after a cross-country trip to Ca- nadian Collegiate Athletic Association Badminton National Championship. This year’s championship games took place March 5 to 7 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 48 college students from across Canada competed. Langara players Eric Chiu and Imran Wadia partnered to win bronze in men’s dou- bles, while Matthew Chan won bronze in men’s singles. Falcons’ badminton team head coach Marc Petreman said he is proud of his players and that they were up against some steep competition. “It was sort of like junior hockey players against [the] NHL,” Petreman said. “You can’t always pull off a gold medal in these, you never know who you're going to be up against from the other provinces.” This was Chan’s third time compet- ing at nationals and he said it would probably be his last time playing for Langara. Chan said that a slipped disk in his back affected how well he was able to play and that he was a little dis- appointed with how he placed. the gold myself.” 66 3. “Tm definitely not bitter about los- You can't ing,” he said. “It just would have been always nice if I could have walked away with pull off a In addition to their separate games, g old medal Chan, Chiu and Wadia came together in these, to compete as a team and represent B.C. for the Pacific Western Athletic you never Association (PACWEST) team, along know who with players from Vancouver Island ? youre University and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. PACWEST lost the gold medal to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association team, but were proud to take silver, according to Petreman. “We were really happy. It was look- ing like we were going to be bronze but we pulled off a good win against Alber- ta in the semi-finals,” he said. Although no Langara Falcon left Halifax with a gold medal, the experi- ence of competing is what matters at the end of the day, according to Chiu. “It’s all about meeting new people and having fun,” he said. going to be up against from the other provinces MARC PETREMAN BADMINTON HEAD COACH Title defense not so easy Second place at provincials won't stop men’s basketball team from working toward Canadian championship By SARA RABEY men’s basketball provincial win- ning streak was quashed last weekend, a wild card spot means they'll still get a chance at the national title — giving them motivation to push themselves even harder than before. The men’s basketball team went into the Pacific Western Athletic Associa- tion championship with hopes of win- ning for the third time in a row, but lost 82-76 to the Vancouver Island Universi- ty Mariners. The two teams were tied 58-58 head- ing into the fourth. According to Faleons head coach Paul Eberhardt, the team struggled of- fensively and were having difficulty scoring in the fourth quarter. “Once we got down six, we were chasing them the rest of the way,” Eb- erhardt said. Elliot Mason, Falcons player of the game, out shot everyone by at least 10 points, with a total of 29 points. Mason felt he had a great game, but failed to execute in the fourth quarter when it E' though the Langara Falcons- really mattered, he said. “T really need to take control better instead of leaving it to our rookie point guards. It’s unfair for me to put that kind of pressure on them,” Mason said. “T kind of need to take more control and lead the team a bit better. So I'll do that at nationals.” Falcons’ Mason and Montell Lind- gren were both selected for the all star tournament team for their great play. Lindgren said it hurt to lose the tour- nament, but getting the silver medal was motivation to work even harder for nationals. Eight teams will meet at the CCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion- ship. The winner from each of the five provincial conferences — Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Alberta and British Columbia — along with the team hosting the nationals event. Each year two wild cards are up for grabs to complete the eight. This season the wild cards went to B.C. and Alberta, so even though the Falcons came in sec- ond, they are able to compete. “We've got good experience. We’ve been there the last two years. We won last year, so we want to defend our na- tional championship,” Eberhardt said. “Hopefully we'll go there and bring back the gold.” The championship will be held on March 19 to 21 at the Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont. SARA RABEY photo Langara men’s basketball team will defend their national championship title in Hamilton, Ont. March 19 to 21. Stre COLF TEE TIMES LANGARA GOLF COURSE 7.30 a.m. to dusk FRASERVIEW GOLF COURSE 7.30 a.m. to dusk MUSQUEAM GOLF & LEARNING ACADEMY 8am. to 9 p.m. POINT GREY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB First light to dusk McCLEERY GOLF COURSE 7.30 a.m. to dusk MARINE DRIVE GOLF CLUB 8 am. to dusk SHAUGHNESSY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB 7.30 a.m. to dusk Source: course websites Yoga, stretching and strength training are a few ways golfers can prepare their bodies for the season By ANNA DIMOFF s golfers hit the greens this sea- A: strengthening the muscles involved in getting the perfect swing is an important step to avoid in- jury, according to local experts. After the winter season, golfers need to make sure that their bodies are balanced and strong to endure the stress placed on their joints, so “there won’t be any deficiencies within their muscles that will be used to swing the club,” said Brent Day, a kinesiology in- structor at Langara College. Anthony Agtarap, the founder of En- gineered Bodies Strength & Condition- ing, focuses on general training for in- creased strength and proper movement techniques with his clients in the golf performance program. “They turn into really good strong movers,” said Agtarap. “They’re able to take all that strength and power that they’ve developed in the training pro- gram and put it to their swing.” Within his program, Agtarap often works with clients to correct certain aspects of movement that are causing them pain. He attributes this pain to repetitive motion. “If they only do this golf-specific training they have complaints of shoul- der injuries, lower back pain, like chronic sothey’re always in pain,” he said. “But if they train as amore gen- eralist, those common = inju- ries, they’re miti- gated.” Yin yoga, which helps increase mobility by hold- ing relaxing poses for longer, is a popu- lar choice for clients who golf or play tennis, according to Deanna Spadafo- ra, a yoga instructor with Vancouver Corporate Yoga. “They tend to find relief from that because they’ll be twisting in the oppo- site way of what they usually do and it starts to lengthen out the muscles that are getting chronically tight,” she said. Day also spoke of the benefits of stretching through yoga. He said yoga helps to increase the range of motion and flexibility in athletes “so there isn’t any extra stress placed on the joints and muscles used.” Jim Sutherland, a recreational golf- er who’s been participating in the sport for about 15 years, said he recognizes the movements that cause lower back pain and the subtle differences in his swing when things are working. “When I’m not hitting the ball well I quickly realize that usually one of the reasons is my shoulders are round,” Sutherland said. Basic movements such as touching his toes, stretching his shoulders and rotating his back, are a few things Jordan Kidlark, a long-time amateur golfer, does to warm up. “T just do the basics and keep loose and limber so I don’t pull anything.” ANNA DIMOFF photo tch into early golf season to avoid injury