Ss By KEVIN UNDERHILL Ihe Langara Falcons men’s bas- ketball head coach says he hopes to get back to the PACWEST championship, despite leading a mostly-rookie team. The team has made it to the champi- onship final the last three years, winning twice. In his four years as the head coach, Paul Eberhardt has never expe- rienced an influx of this magnitude. The challenge that lies ahead is piecing together his young talent into a team, he said. Fourteen of 15 players are new this year. “You have to teach the skills and the systems and the plays but my most im- portant challenge for this group is teaching them how to become a team,” he said. Eberhardt has been coaching high school and college-level athletes for 33 years and will have his hands full. This unit will require more of his direct at- tention. “It’s exciting for me as a coach be- cause it’s like a blank slate. I get todo a lot more teaching...it’s a nice chal- lenge,” he said. KEVIN UNDERHILL photo Coach Eberhardt gathers his team for a huddle following a practice at Langara College. Flock of fresh faces Langara Falcons men’s basketball coach has a whole new group to mould into a great team Sole-returning player Max Neumann said that with the injection of youth, they have the opportunity to be health- ier and more athletic than last year’s injury-prone team. Most of all, Neumann is ready for the season to begin Oct. 29 in Squamish. “We've got all our new pieces and now that our preseason is almost over, I want to go out and actually play with these guys,” he said. Taking a team stocked with rookies from different coaching systems and making them into a championship-cali- ber team is something that Eberhardt he can’t do alone, he said. He will be looking to Neumann and other more experienced players to take on leadership roles. Eberhardt says it won’t be the same path as in previous years but he still hopes to guide his team back to nation- als. “Our goal is to qualify for the nation- al championship again. We’ve gone three years in a row ... and our goal is to get back there,” Eberhardt said. A goal that isn’t out of reach, accord- ing to Neumann. “T definitely think we can go back to nationals and win the PACWEST,” said Neumann. 66 It’s excit- ing for me as acoach because it’s like a blank slate. I get to do a lot more teaching... it’s a nice challenge. PAUL EBERHARDT MEN’S HEAD COACH Falcons who can't be adopted, adapt With ‘Adopt-A-Falcon’ still under revision Some ath- letes have found a way to earn money By VINCENT MATAK n old financial aid program for [asereaine Langara College ath- etes set to re-launch this year is being pushed back. Jake McCallum, director of athletics and intramurals, told The Voice last No- vember the Adopt-A-Falcon program — which helps student athletes cover the costs for equipment, travel meals and non-conference trips through dona- tions matched by Langara College - would be updated and re-launched for September. McCallum told The Voice on Tues- day the program — which still requests donations “to assist student athletes” on the Langara College website — isn’t completed. “Other than not having it done? Not having it done” he said referring to the delay. He said he initiated a review of the program last year because it “wasn’t functional”. He later added that people were donating money for individual student athletes, rather than the de- partment as a whole. “That’s not really how it works,” he said. “The money comes in for the greater good.” He also said when the program is re- launched — hopefully later this fall — do- nations made won’t be matched by Lan- gara. He added that money hasn’t been coming in through the program since he initiated the review process last year, despite information requesting donations existing online. “T haven’t had any money come in since I’ve been in the position,” he said. “T can’t comment on what was com- ing in before.” Some coaches have said the program hasn’t been in use for up to five years. Paul Eberhardt, head coach for men’s basketball, said since he started coaching at Langara four years ago, the program has never been used. “This is my fourth year here and I’ve never had an athlete who’s been able to use that,” he said. He added that since he started, “a handful” of students have had trouble paying their $150 athletic fee which goes toward equipment costs, as well as travel expenses for games outside of PACWEST league and travel meals. Eberhardt said he has helped some athletes find work with a friend’s con- struction company, organized fundrais- ing initiatives and helped some secure scholarships. He also said the school has occasion- ally waived fees for students who struggle financially. Ryan Birt, head coach for women’s soccer, said the last time the Adopt-A- Falcon program was used for his team was around five years ago. Birt, who’s been coaching at Langara for 15 years, said he thinks the pro- gram was pulled because of “tax impli- cations,” although he couldn’t confirm. “The athletic director would be bet- ter able to explain to you what the changes are,” he said. MICHAEL LYLYK photo Equipment is probably the most important for any sport. Darren Wu, captain of the Langara Ultimate team SEAN LEE photo Langara Ultimate Club has chance to be a Falcons team The team is full of Lan- gara students, and that is a pretty big deal. By SEAN LEE College’s Ultimate club to make it to the country’s biggest tournament. The only problem: they can’t afford to get there. With the team finally reaching its goal of having a roster entirely of Lan- gara College students, the club is close to reaching recognition as a Falcons team, according to team administrator Chris Ren. They won the bid to attend the Cana- dian University Ultimate Champion- ship (CUUC) last year, but were unable to go to Montreal, Quebec due to lack of funding. The Langara Ultimate Club started off their second year with a third place ranking at the Canadian Western Uni- versity Ultimate Championships (CWUUC) Sept. 26, losing to UBC and the University of Victoria, and beating SFU. Both UVic and UBC declined the I: been the ultimate goal of Langara spots they won at CWUUC because they could not afford the trip. Langa- ra’s team, the next in line, is also de- clining their spot, for the same reason. When asked about the team’s com- petitive goal, Wu expressed that he wishes the team to continue their sea- son at the CUUC nationals this year, which takes place in Ottawa, Ontario from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18. In Ontario, the Queen’s University Gaels Ultimate Frisbee team is official- ly recognized as a varsity athletics club. In addition, University of Western Ontario Mustangs and University of Ottawa Gee-Gees both recognize UIti- mate Frisbee as part of the athletics department. “That’s what the goal is. I know that one school in Canada is a varsity team, which is sick. That’s what we want for our school] team,” said Wu. & Falcons’ Tally WOMEN'S SOCCER MEN'S SOCCER W-D-L W-D-L 2-3-3 4-0-5 Ranked: (NR) Ranked: (NR)