Tag: Varsity

Categories
Sports

A whole new ball game for the Concordia Stingers

Stingers' Corrin Chapeskie standing near the dugout. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

A bright future lies ahead for the baseball team.

After a season-opening 6-3 win against the McGill Redbirds on Sept. 6 at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Park, the Concordia Stingers and their head coach Howie Schwartz are optimistic about their upcoming season and their future in varsity baseball.

This year, the Stingers will be competing against teams from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), as well as other Quebec universities who are trying out for a potential new league for the 2023-24 season with the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).

“We have four teams now: Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, McGill, Concordia, and University of Montreal. Bishop’s is going to be available next year, and then we’ll have an official league. We’re playing those three teams unofficially on a sixteen-game schedule and in the OUA on a sixteen-game schedule,” said Schwartz.

The coach also expressed a lot of satisfaction and confidence in his team, which is mostly made up of rookies.

“Our team is just much stronger defensively. We’ve had three games so far and our defence has picked up considerably from last year. I still want to see some improvement with our hitting, but even [that] has strengthened.”

Out of a roster of 40, only about 12 are returning from the 2021-22 season. However, Schwartz noticed that the rookies have been acclimating nicely to the program. Due to his heavy recruitment efforts in the off-season, some of those recruits came from as far as B.C. to play for the Stingers.

Catcher Mack Lake, a first-year student in economics from B.C., said he wanted to stay in Canada to play baseball in university. His first meeting with Schwartz cemented his decision to come to Concordia.

“Howie was just wonderful. Talking to him was really nice and I felt like he wanted me to come,” said Lake, a baseball player for almost a decade.

“Most of all, on the mound, we have a much stronger and deep pitching staff, and, at this level, pitching is going to make a difference. I’m very pleased with our pitchers this year,” continued Schwartz.

Against McGill, such a bullpen was beneficial to the team. Due to a rotation of five talented pitchers, the Redbirds’ batting lineup could never get used to any one of them. But that same bullpen will be stretched thinner as they prepare for an intense week ahead.

The Stingers will be facing the Redbirds for the third time this season on Sept. 20.

“They’re surely going to be ready for us. They don’t like losing to us and we don’t like losing to them,” said Schwartz with a chuckle.

On Sept. 12, the Stingers played an exhibition game against the John Abbott College Islanders that resulted in a 10-8 win for Concordia. The Stingers will be headed to Trois-Rivières for an exhibition double-header against Collège Laflèche on Saturday, while their next league double-header will take place on Sunday in Ottawa against Carleton University.

Categories
News

Students protest Redmen name

Photo by Esteban Cuevas.

It’s time to change the offensive name, says Indigenous athlete.

McGill University students protested in front of the school’s administrative building last Wednesday to demand the change of the Redmen name as it could be offensive towards Indigenous people.

“Indigenous students are still getting hurt, right now, year after year, while the university continues to delay their decision on the Redmen name,” said Tomas Jirousek, a third-year Indigenous varsity athlete on the men’s rowing team at McGill, from the Kainai Nation in southern Alberta.

Jirousek organized the demonstration at McGill. His campaign has attracted a lot of support on social media, with 2,800 people marked as interested or going on the Facebook event. More than 9,000 people have signed his petition.

This is not the first time McGill’s sports teams have received criticism for having a name associated with Indigenous people. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Indigenous Affairs is leading a campaign to change the name for good.

“If you look at the historical legacy of the Redmen name, you see that the university recalled the McGill Squaws and the McGill Indians,” said Jirousek. “Those are the most derogatory terms to address Indigenous people.”

The men’s sports teams at McGill have been called the Redmen since the end of the 1920s. According to the McGill Athletics website, the name was a reference to the colour of the teams’s uniforms. However, in 1980, the Redmen began using a picture of an Indigenous man as its logo. It was discontinued in 1992, but the name remained the same. In a McGill Athletics press release from 1992, Richard W. Pound, then chair of the Athletics Board, said: “We believe that the Redmen name and logo are quite separate issues.”

The issue emerged again in 2016 as a Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education discovered the past connotations of the name.

“The Task Force notes past usages of the name ‘Indians’ to refer to men’s teams, and ‘Squaws’ or ‘Super Squaws’ to refer to women’s athletics teams, as well as phrases such as ‘Indians on a Warpath’ and ‘Redman Scalpe’ that appeared in McGill media,” said the SSMU Indigenous Affairs in an open letter to the officials of McGill University.

Jirousek speaking to the crowd during the demonstration. Photo by Esteban Cuevas.

McGill athletes were told to not comment on the issue. Julie Audette, the communications manager at McGill Athletics, redirected media advances to McGill’s media relations. A McGill spokesperson did not respond to The Concordian’s request for comment. However, on Oct. 24, McGill’s Provost and Vice-Principal, Christopher Manfredi, addressed the controversy in a written statement.

“In this particular instance, any decision about the Redmen name must emerge from a process that engages all relevant stakeholders in conversation, drawing us together while building on a sense of shared community and dedication to McGill University,” Manfredi wrote.

The issue has also spread outside of McGill University’s campus.

“I think it all comes down to this lack of listening and genuine consultation with Indigenous people and obtaining consent,” said Louellyn White, First People studies teacher at Concordia University.

“It’s only a name,” said Bhashan de Beaulieu, a Quebecois and Abenaki man that lived some years in the Kispiox Indian Reserve in British Columbia. “It’s not negative. For [Indigenous people], the colour of the skin never had any importance. For them, we are all brothers. Any Native that you could meet will tell you the same thing,” said de Beaulieu.

More than a thousand McGill students have signed SSMU’s open letter to change the name. McGill students will be able to vote on the name change between Nov. 9 and Nov. 12. The SSMU Indigenous Affairs is hosting a conference about “Origins, Interpretations & Impacts-Indigeneity & Sporting Imagery” at McGill this Thursday.

“It doesn’t really matter what the next name will be. It only matters that it is nothing racialized [or a] depiction of another culture,” said Jirousek.

Photos by Esteban Cuevas.

Categories
Sports

What it takes to make the cut

with Excerpts from Tim Lazier

How a new student-athlete is juggling school, sports and life

The varsity season is officially underway, but most of our student-athletes spent the summer working out and getting ready for tryouts. First-year lacrosse player Chris Boutin is no different. He explains what it was like to try out for a Stingers squad and make the team, and how varsity athletes have to juggle a packed schedule.

I started playing lacrosse back in high school, because it made me feel like a part of the school and more than just a student. At first it was just a way to stay in shape and I honestly thought it might be a one-time deal, so I gave it a try.

After that first year, in grade 10, I was hooked. I played again in grade 11 and was not only a starter, but a captain. Heading into my first year at John Abbott College, I had that itch to keep playing. Like all athletes and their respective sports, I just couldn’t wait to get back out on the field. It was something that I wanted to pursue and had the goal of playing at the university level.

Lacrosse isn’t one of Concordia’s most prominent varsity sports, but being under the radar, especially as a first-year player, fit Boutin just fine. The tryouts were held at the Loyola campus during the last weekend of August.

Heading into the tryouts for Concordia’s lacrosse team, I was nervous but also very anxious to get out there. No matter what the sport, student-athletes everywhere know that feeling. It was a new bunch of guys, but they made me feel welcome. After getting the cobwebs out, it was less about nerves and more about just playing the game.

I was confident enough in my abilities and myself to not be timid. Athletes know that if you’re shy and hang in the background, no one will notice you. Tryouts are all about that first impression. I wanted to be outgoing, to be a part of the team. Like many athletes, I just wanted to be a part of something bigger. Knowing that all the players and coaches were there and working toward the same goals was motivating. It was something I had missed for a very long time.

Whether they play on a varsity team or not, all university students have hectic schedules. But between classes, a job, practices, games and homework, there are no days off for student-athletes.

When I first really thought about trying out and potentially playing lacrosse for Concordia, I knew I had to make a choice. My main hours for work are on the weekends, yet all of our games are too. I knew something had to go, but before deciding, I talked to my boss about it.

Boutin works at La Tuilerie, a flooring and tile store in Vaudreuil-Dorion and has been a salesman there since January.

I walked into my boss’s office one day, sat down and explained to him my interest in sports, saying that I’ve always wanted to be a part of a varsity team. Surprisingly, he was very open and encouraged me to go for it. I realized that’s something not all bosses would do. I thought it was generous of him. He understood that sports make you excited about school and fill you with a sense of connection to your school. We worked out a schedule that not only fit my lacrosse schedule, but my class schedule as well.

Boutin is a second-year sociology student at Concordia who aspires to be a professor one day. Now that he has made the team, he is excited to get the season underway, beginning with a road trip to Ontario this past weekend. The Stingers played against Queen’s University on Saturday and then traveled to Trent University on Sunday.

Pure excitement is the best way I can describe being on the team. Heading into this fresh season, I hope our team can come together and be a competitive squad. We’ve been practicing hard these past couple of weeks and we’re all just excited to hit the field. It’s great that we started the season with a road trip. I think it’s the perfect way to build team chemistry, bond a bit and just get to know each other. I know the team struggled last year but this is a new start. Along with the other rookies, I hope I can make an impact.

When I throw on the Stingers jersey for the first time, it’ll give me a sense of pride.

The team’s first home game is on Sept. 13 at Loyola against Carleton.

Exit mobile version