8 THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015 SS poris EDITOR NICH JOHANSEN LAURA MAY photo Jacinda Yeung plays badminton in the Langara College campus gym. Player of the year award goes to Langa- ra badminton star After only four months of playing with Langara, Jacinda Yeung has been awarded the top badmin- ton award in the province By MICHAEL LYLYK tionals in Halifax, N.S. this week- end with the rest of the Langara College badminton team — not to play but to accept her award as PACWEST women’s badminton player of the year. While Langara took home the win in the team event at the PACWEST Pro- vincial Badminton Championships last month thanks to Yeung and her team- mates’ efforts, a player must win in their singles event to qualify for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Associa- tion’s Badminton National Champion- ship. Yeung lost the women’s singles fi- nal by a mere two points at provincials, placing second, dashing her hopes for a berth at nationals. “She worked so hard,” said Chan. “She’s probably the most improved player of the whole PACWEST division. i Yeung is heading to the na- It’s her commitment to the sport that helps motivate the rest of the team.” Yeung first played badminton in Hong Kong at the age of 12. When she moved to Vancouver six years ago, she became a regular visitor to the Vancou- ver Racquets Club before joining the Falcons’ badminton team this season. While working full-time and taking classes for the nutrition and food ser- vice management program at Langara, she still manages to fit in badminton practice four to five times a week. “You can make a lot of strides in four months if you put your mind to it,” said badminton coach Mare Petreman. “What she doesn’t have in foot-speed, her mental toughness on the court makes her capable of delivering beauti- ful shots.” Yeung admits she can get nervous during games, but the more tourna- ments she plays the easier it gets. Even though she isn’t playing at the nationals, she’s still looking forward to showing up in Halifax with the rest of the team. “I think it’s a good learning experi- ence for me,” Yeung said. “I’d like to experience the atmosphere and cheer for my teammates.” Langara men's team confident at provincials The Langara men’s basketball team looks to win a third con- secutive provincial champion- ship this weekend in Abbotsford By TANYA COMMISSO ith the men’s PACWEST Basketball Provincial Cham- pionships this weekend, Langara’s defending cham- pions say they are not letting the pres- sure to pull out a third straight win af- fect their performance. For the past two years, Langara’s men have gone into the tournament placing first in the r4 4 league. They then went on to win the We have title. This year, they are entering the talent provincials in sec- to go all ond place behind the Vancouver Is- the way land University through tO = Mariners. nationals The team’s sec- . ond place standing and win isn’t worrisome for senior player Jitin- that as der Lohcham. well “Pm kind of hap- py, just because I like being the un- derdog,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with how we’re going to play.” The pressure to perform is greater for VIU, who are expected to beat the Falcons in the tournament, said Paul Eberhardt, the Falcons’ head coach. He said the struggle to beat the Mariners motivates the Falcons. ELLIOT MASON FIFTH YEAR PLAYER TANYA COMMISSO photo Jitinder Lohcham shoots a basket on Feb. 28 against the Kwantlen Eagles. “T think the [team] are actu- ally fired up about the chal- lenge, like ‘hey you know what, we’re not the top dog this year, let’s show every- body that we still have it!’” Eb- erhardt said. The Falcons’ 115-73 victory last Saturday against Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles marked the Falcons’ last regu- lar season home game, which Eberhardt viewed as a warm-up for the upcoming tournament. It also preceded a celebration for the team’s six departing se- nior players: Daniel Hobden, Garrett Ling-Lee, Jitinder Loh- cham, Matt Madewan, Elliot Ma- son and team captain, Glenn Ruby. “It’s going to suck because I’ve been playing here for four years, and this being my last home game, there’s a lot of emotions,” Lohcham said. The Falcons will play their first pro- vincial game of the year on March 6 at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, with an optimistic eye on a repeat win at the national championships. The na- tionals take place from March 19 to 21 at Mohawk College in Ham- ilton, Ont. “We haven’t been as consis- tent as we would like to be, but as long as we take care of the mental things, we have the talent to go all the way through to na- tionals and win that as well,” said senior player Elliot Mason. Golf season comes early with warm weather Due to an ususually mild winter and consisent sun- shine, golfers are hitting the greens many weeks sooner than in past years By REBECCA PHAIR are in luck, as warm weather has let them start swinging early. The oddly warm weather through February has made for ideal playing conditions almost a month ahead of the typical season, giving golfers a great start. “It’s a nice change for people to get some early games in,” said Yin Chu, a spectator at the Langara Golf Course. Typically, frequent winter showers mean the golfing season doesn’t begin until early to mid-April. Colder weath- G:: at the Langara Golf Course er also usually discourages ambitious golfers from hitting the greens too early. This year however, players have al- ready enjoyed a week of pre-season games and may even be able to look forward to several more weeks of great weather before the official season be- gins. “We've had to extend our hours this week already, and we’ll probably bump them up next week too,” said Sonya Gardner, clubhouse employee at the Langara Golf Course. The course has added an extra hour in the morning, now opening at 9 a.m. and an extra two hours in the after- noon, now closing at 4 p.m. Chu, 67, said he is now too old to play golf but still enjoys watching his son and friends play. He hopes the weather will allow him to enjoy watching as many games as possible with his son. “We are praying for the weather to last,” said Chu. COURSE hours 1 Langara Golf Course 9am. to4p.m. 2 Queen Elizabeth Park Pitch and Putt 8 a.m. to dusk 3 Fraserview Golf Course 9am. to4p.m. 4 Marine Drive Golf Club Sunrise to Sunset Source: Courses websites REBECCA PHAIR photo Golfers practise their putting at the Langara golf course on Mar. 2.