It’s no secret that the Laurier Brantford campus is small when compared to most other colleges or universities, but that does not mean that there is any shortage of athletes 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 extramural sports are, Nolan Kreis, captain of the dodgeball extramural team, offers a description. “[They are] higher than intramurals, 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 one would find 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 volleyball, co-ed dodgeball, and co-ed indoor soccer.
Dodgeball extramurals first start lasted year, when the dodgeball team was asked to participate in a tournament at George Brown College. Kreis was asked if his intramural squad, along with a few other players, would like to go to George Brown and take part in a tournament against other colleges, to which he agreed.
The team faced competition tougher than 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 are handled mostly by Extramural Coordinator, Kate Doyle, and Manager of Athletics and Recreation, Greg Stewart.
“It’s my job to go to tryouts, pick captains and help pick the teams so it’s fair”, says Doyle. Meanwhile, Stewart describes his job as, “Finding, entering and arranging tournaments along with seven other senior students.”
The men’s extramural hockey team got their start in 2009 and co-ed volleyball entered extramural competition last year. Although the men’s hockey team performed decently, finishing one tournament in fourth place out of eight, the men’s hockey team were often met with a small roster and an inconsistent line-up that could be judged as one of the reasons they did not fare better than they did.
The volleyball team, on the other hand, performed well last season even finishing first in their inaugural tournament.
Across campus there appears to be support for Laurier Brantford’s extramural teams and the idea of extramural sports in general.
As Doyle says, “(Extramural sports) are great for athletes who don’t have the opportunity to take on varsity.”
Stewart also believes they are great for the school on the whole. “Extramurals offers extra stuff for students, they are small in cost, but they are close to varsity,” he said.
The hope is that extramural sport may serve as a warm-up for what is to come in the 2014-2015 school year when Laurier Brantford will start to participate in varsity sports as part of the OCAA. In the 2014-2015 season, Laurier Brantford will take part in men and women’s soccer.