8/3/2019 Sputnik Issue 5 - Page 11(2)

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The Sputnik // Thursday October 13 11

It’s no secret that the Laurier Brantfordcampus is small when compared to mostother colleges or universities, but that doesnot mean that there is any shortage of ath-

letes and talented students at this school.This abundance of talented athletes has

 been part of the reason for the introduction

of extramural sports at Laurier Brantford.For those unsure of what exactly extra-

mural sports are, Nolan Kreis, captain of 

the dodgeball extramural team, offers adescription. “[They are] higher than intra-murals, but not as competitive as varsity

sports.”In other words, these teams participate

against other post-secondary institutions,

 but do not follow a structured league as onewould nd in OUA or OCAA athletics.

The different extramural teams that

Laurier Brantford has are men’s basketball,men’s hockey, women’s hockey, co-ed vol-

leyball, co-ed dodgeball, and co-ed indoorsoccer.

Dodgeball extramurals rst start lastedyear, when the dodgeball team was asked

to participate in a tournament at GeorgeBrown College. Kreis was asked if his in-tramural squad, along with a few other

players, would like to go to George Brownand take part in a tournament against othercolleges, to which he agreed.

The team faced competition tougherthan expected, and used this as a lesson.as now all extramural teams are chosen

through tryouts.Besides just getting the athletes to play

for these teams, there is also a lot of work 

done behind the scenes. These duties arehandled mostly by Extramural Coordina-

tor, Kate Doyle, and Manager of Athletics

and Recreation, Greg Stewart.“It’s my job to go to tryouts, pick cap-

tains and help pick the teams so it’s fair”,says Doyle. Meanwhile, Stewart describeshis job as, “Finding, entering and arrangingtournaments along with seven other senior

students.”The men’s extramural hockey team got

their start in 2009 and co-ed volleyball en-

tered extramural competition last year. Al-though the men’s hockey team performeddecently, nishing one tournament in

fourth place out of eight, the men’s hockeyteam were often met with a small rosterand an inconsistent line-up that could be

 judged as one of the reasons they did notfare better than they did.

The volleyball team, on the other hand,

performed well last season even nishingrst in their inaugural tournament.

Across campus there appears to be sup-

port for Laurier Brantford’s extramuralteams and the idea of extramural sports in

general.As Doyle says, “(Extramural sports) are

great for athletes who don’t have the op-portunity to take on varsity.”

Stewart also believes they are great forthe school on the whole. “Extramurals of-fers extra stuff for students, they are small

in cost, but they are close to varsity,” hesaid.

The hope is that extramural sport may

serve as a warm-up for what is to come inthe 2014-2015 school year when LaurierBrantford will start to participate in varsity

sports as part of the OCAA. In the 2014-2015 season, Laurier Brantford will takepart in men and women’s soccer.

Laurier Brantford’s emergence on the extramural sceneCraig HagermanStaff Writer 

Volleyball is one of the sports Laurier Brantford will eld extramural teams in this year. (Photo by Venetia Bodanis)