The Northwest Territories hasn’t had many of those lately, but Allie McDonald is learning to cope.
She and other organizers of Fort Smith’s Lawrie Hobart Memorial Volleyball Tournament decided that no matter the exhaustion of an evacuation that lasted more than a month – the event had to go ahead.
“We were a little bit wary of going forward with the tournament,” McDonald admitted on Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours away from the first teams arriving in the town.
“We didn’t start school until well into September, so we were a little bit hesitant. But as a committee, we decided it would probably be best just to go forward with it as scheduled.
“We already had all of the stuff organized like the T-shirts, the banners, the medals, so we figured just rip the Band-Aid and go ahead with it. But it feels very rushed – way more rushed than it typically does.”
The Lawrie Hobart tournament has been a cherished element of Fort Smith’s sporting schedule for decades.
Not only is it a major event for volleyball in the NWT, but it’s also – like Hay River’s track and field – one of relatively few such events held outside Yellowknife. (It is named for the late former principal of the town’s Paul William Kaeser High School, who helped to create the tournament in the 1990s.)
When Covid-19 forced Lawrie Hobart’s cancellation in 2020 and 2021, that was a big blow.
“The kids are very excited. They were really worried, starting the school year, that it was going to be another weird year,” said McDonald, a teacher at Paul William Kaeser for the past 11 years.
“They were really scared that the tournament was going to be affected by everything that happened within our community. But thankfully, it wasn’t so.”
Fort Smith’s 2,500 or so residents were under an evacuation order from August 12 until September 18, a period of 37 days.
Teams from Fort Smith, Hay River, the Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Ndılǫ, Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀ are taking part in this year’s tournament, meaning that – extraordinarily – every single player in an event featuring more than 30 teams is from a community evacuated at least once because of wildfires this summer.
Behchokǫ̀ is coming “with a whole ton of teams this year, which is awesome,” McDonald said.
Teams will begin to arrive from 5pm on Thursday. A pep rally starts in the Paul William Kaeser gym from 3pm.
Games begin at 7pm on Thursday and run through until early on Sunday afternoon.
Saints’ Brazier captures gold at OFSAA golf while Aigles’ Beck earns silver
Author of the article: Jim Parker • Windsor Star Published Oct 13, 2023
St. Anne Saints’ Ben Brazier won gold in the boys’ division at the OFSAA golf championship at Ambassador Golf Club on Thursday. PHOTO BY DAN JANISSE /Windsor Star
St. Anne Saints’ first-year senior Ben Brazier ended his season with a golden moment.
The 16-year-old Brazier won the high school division at the OFSAA boys’ golf championship, which wrapped up two days of play on Thursday at Ambassador Golf Club.
“I played pretty good,” Brazier said. “(Thursday) was tough. I hit the ball, but I just couldn’t score. It was a lot windier and the pin positions made it tough for putting.”
Along with Thursday’s gold medal, Brazier also won the boys’ division on the Jamieson Junior Golf Tour this summer as well as the Essex-Kent championship this season.
“I played good all year,” Brazier said.
Brazier credits some of his success this season with getting a chance to caddie for Canadian Jared du Toit at the PGA Tour Canada’s Windsor Open stop in August.
“The fact (Ambassador) hosted a PGA tournament is pretty cool and when I caddied, it put the course in a different perspective,” Brazier said. “When I saw (du Toit) play, he goes out to make birdies and doesn’t settle for anything else. He always makes the smart play.”
Brazier shot one-under par 70 on Wednesday and was one-shot back of Manitoulin’s Noah Thorpe, who faltered on Thursday with an 81 to finish in third place. Brazier responded with a five-over par total of 76 for a two-day total of four-over par 146 and a three-shot victory over Toronto St. Michael’s Carter O’Brien.
“I got a little nervous on the last tee box, but I’ve been there and you know what to do,” said Brazier, who is the area’s first player to win the high school division since Essex’s Tyler Hurtubise in 2019. “You just have to dig down and play good.”
Brazier’s performance helped the St. Anne team of Jackson Colaner, Evan Fenech and Sawyer Batten finish seventh overall in the team competition. The St. Joseph Lasers’ team of Jack Dupuis, who tied for 13th individually in the high school division, Riley Bentley, Jarrod Easter and Jaxon Easter finished in 12th place in the team competition.
In the open boys’ division, North Stars’ Ben Buchner placed 11th with a seven-over par total of 149 while Kingsville’s Cale Marontate was 15th with an 11-over par total of 153.
“(Ambassador’s) my favourite course and it was good (to be at home) because my parents and grandparents got to watch me play,” Brazier said.
While Brazier was winning gold at home, the L’Essor Aigles’ Madeline Beck won a silver medal at the OFSAA girls’ golf festival, which wrapped up two days of competition on Thursday at Batteaux Creek Golf Club in Collingwood.
Beck had a two-day total of 23-over 167 to earn the silver medal in the high school girls’ division and finished seven shots back of winner Sydney Gibson from Pickering Dunbarton. St. Anne’s Emily Young finished with a 12-over par total of 156 to tie for 18th in the open girls’ division.
New for the 2023/2024 school year, SSNL welcomes new Foundation Sport, Indigenous Games.
As the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation approaches, and schools across the province pay tribute to our province’s Indigenous community, history and culture, School Sports NL launches a new Varsity Sport honouring and celebrating Indigenous Games.
This new Foundation sport will be available to all Member schools, province-wide, and will offer student-athletes the opportunity to compete in 10 unique Indigenous Games, at a regional level. Specifically, student-athletes will compete in Seal Crawl, Monkey Dance, Owl Hop, Thong (Stick) Pull, Back-to-Back, One-Foot High Kick, Back Bend, Leg Wrestling, Stick Jump and Bench Reach. Teams of athletes will earn points based on individual performance as well as overall points collected during team events such as the Monkey Dance.
‘We’re very excited to add this sport to our Varsity roster and to provide an avenue in which the Indigenous peoples of our province can share their heritage. These unique games are not only enjoyable to watch but they are steeped in tradition and require great athleticism to master.’ says Karen Richard, SSNL Executive Director. ‘Over time, with the support of our Indigenous partners, we hope to continue to foster appreciation and awareness for these traditional games and the heritage they represent.’
The games selected for the Varsity Foundation sport have historic ties to the Indigenous peoples of Labrador, Newfoundland and Northern Canada. During the long and dark Northern winters, these games helped maintain fitness in the community while building essential skills – strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance – to survive off the land.
SSNL has worked closely with a number of groups on the development of the Indigenous Games Foundation sport including; the Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Circle, Labrador Affairs, Indigenous Education through NLESD, as well as Athletic Directors and Administrators from schools with a prominent Indigenous student population.
SSNL Foundation Sports are the introductory phase of any sport wishing to become an Official Sport through the Varsity Program. This initial level is used to establish a ‘foundation’ of interest from a regional basis, with the hopes of garnering enough interest to transition to Official Sport status. It is at the Official level that student-athletes can compete in a Qualifier tournament to earn their way to the coveted Provincial-level tournament.
Paul William Klaeser High School (Fort Smith)
Diamond Jenness Secondary School (Hay River)
Princess Alexandra School (Hay River)
