Author Archive: Administrator

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New Governance Proposal: An Open Letter to the Principals and Athletic Directors of BC

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Hello Everyone,

For over one year, I along with the rest of the BC Secondary Schools Rugby Union Executive have been deeply concerned about a proposed change to the way BC School Sports is governed which is coming up for a vote after Spring Break. If adopted, my main fear is that the sport of rugby would be completely unrepresented in a new “Legislative Assembly” which is being proposed and that even worse, we would lose virtually all of our ability to regulate, improve and make key decisions about the future of high school rugby in this province.

Quite frankly, as your Commissioner, I would be deeply ashamed of myself if I let down all of you and especially the people who came before me by not standing up for our sport.

However, I am just one volunteer and nothing more. Therefore, for over one year I have worked with everyone, including the Executive Director, Staff and Board of BC School Sports to prevent and mitigate any negative changes which might affect high school rugby, such as losing the right to elect our own Executive, determine the structure of our Provincial Championships and to always make decisions which are in the best interests of the student-athletes and coaches who are at the heart of our sport.

Despite frequent calls (and even one of 90 minutes) to BC School Sports, emails, repeated Zoom meetings and every type of appeal you can imagine, BCSS has now officially sent out its final package which would actually eliminate all of our Sport Commissions, including rugby, and replace them with appointed “Sport Advisory Committees” which have no real authority or ability to make decisions. Therefore, a total of 15 Sport Commissions have now gone officially on record by signing the attached letter to the Principals and Athletic Directors of BC who will ultimately be voting on this proposal.

Please take time to read the attached letter and feel free to contact me, including over Spring Break, if you have any further questions. I urge you to talk to your Athletic Director and urge him or her to vote NO to the new governance model which is being proposed.

There is a lot at stake, not just for our sport but for all sports, which is why the overwhelming majority of sports in this province have now come together.

Thank you,

Walter van Halst
Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary
Commissioner, BC Secondary Schools Rugby Union
Email: vanhalst_w@surreyschools.ca
Cell: (778) 855-9937

An Open Letter to the Principals & Athletic Directors of BC Schools pdf

 

BCSS COVID 19 Memo 3 – April 7, 2020

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Hello Everyone,

I think we all knew this was coming, but now it’s official. BC School Sports has officially cancelled the Spring Season of Play in all schools for this year. Attached is a memo from Jordan Abney, the Executive Director of BC School Sports.

In addition, our Scholarship Chair, Ian McPhee has asked me to pass along a note that obviously, without either a season or a provincial championship taking place this year, the BCSSRU will not be awarding any scholarships this season. Of course, once life, school and sports all return to normal, and we all can’t wait for that, we will be delighted to do so again.

Finally, as mentioned in Jordan Abney’s memo, it’s important to note that a controversial new governance proposal for BC School Sports has been put on hold for now. Essentially, the proposal would centralize a great deal of authority, if not all of it, from all the existing 19 member Sport Commissions, and I can tell you in the over 10 years I have volunteered with the BC Secondary Schools Rugby Union, I have never seen so many different sports such as basketball, football, soccer, rugby and so on agree so strongly about how wrong and impractical that would be.

So, as it stands, there will be a virtual BC School Sports AGM sometime in June, but the critical issue of what the future of all high school sports looks like going forward has been postponed for now. At the appropriate time, when we are all dealing with far less serious issues than we are today, I will be sending all of you more details about that.

For now, sadly, the main news is that there will not be a Provincial Championship for BC High School Boys Rugby for the first time since the strike-shortened year of 1987, but that is to be expected.

Please take care, and take care of those you know who may need support at this time.

Walt

Walter van Halst
Commissioner, BCSSRU

 

Notice of BCSSRU 2019 AGM

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Notice of BCSSRU Annual General Meeting: Wednesday, May 29th at 6 pm.

This notice is to remind and invite a representative from all member schools to attend the BC Secondary Schools Rugby Union Annual General Meeting (AGM) held during our BC High School Boys Rugby Provincial Championships. As always, this meeting will be held in the upstairs meeting room of the Legacy Centre building in Abbotsford Exhibition Park, across the field from Rotary Stadium.

The meeting will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, May 29th, and should finish by approximately 7:30 pm. There is no charge to attend this meeting of any kind.

A reminder, this meeting is open to all member schools, not just those which have qualified for the Provincial Championships. If anyone has any questions or a discussion item which they would like to bring forward, please email me at vanhalst_w@surreyschools.ca by 3 pm on Friday, May 24th. An agenda will be sent out to all member schools on Monday, May 27th.

Download AGM Notice (pdf format)

Photo Gallery – 2018 Provincials

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To view photos from the 2018 Provincial tournament please visit the links below.

Photos courtesy of Rick MacDonald Photography

Opening ceremonies/Awards

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmac65/albums/72157669892642928

Day 1 Action

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmac65/albums/72157694424043002

Day 2 Action

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmac65/albums/72157694442431592

Day 3 Action

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmac65/albums/72157691861441740

Day 4 Action

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmac65/albums/72157697754865485

South Delta’s rugby Sun Devils enjoy an epic rise to new heights, but BC’s new AAA Tier 1 champs play from a deeper place

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by Howard Tsumura

ABBOTSFORD — Andrew Kraft could appreciate the surreal nature of the moment.

Two years ago, if you had dared breath aloud the fact that the South Delta Sun Devils could win a B.C. boys high school rugby championship at the second-highest tier of provincial competition, the response would have been a lot louder than mere snickers.

Yet as you watched it all unfold Saturday at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium, as Tsawwassen’s finest kept the hometown Robert Bateman Timberwolves at arm’s length for the entire B.C. Triple A Tier 1 title match, you realized just how quickly great coaching and the right collection of physically-gifted and committed players could precipitate a rise.

And anyway you slice it, this has been an epic rise.

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For Collingwood, speed thrills! Cavaliers find bounty of offence to top Brentwood College and win first B.C. title since 2013

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by Howard Tsumura

VANCOUVER — If Ethan Lucke had picked another sport to make his specialty, you could quite easily picture him suiting up in any number of different roles.

Perhaps anchoring a defensive backfield in football as a strong safety?

Certainly crouching into the blocks awaiting the starter’s pistol in the 100-metre sprint.

And definitely using that foot speed and anticipation with a glove on his catching hand in centre field.

Alas, football, track and baseball did not end up winning Lucke’s heart.

Rugby did, and on Saturday, as one piece of a total team effort that saw West Vancouver’s Collingwood Cavaliers beat Brentwood College 45-31 for the B.C. Double A Tier 1 provincial title, the easiest way to define how speed set the Cavs apart from the rest of their competition this season was to start with the effort of the team’s Grade 12 back.

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Oak Bay coach Atkinson: “I’m almost speechless…” Barbs first public school in a decade to win B.C.’s top-tiered rugby crown!

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by Howard Tsumura

LANGLEY — When you spend your entire high school rugby career growing up in the shadow of Goliath, finally getting a chance to step out into a spotlight of your own can be a little blinding.

“For all these years, Shawnigan Lake has been like a super-hero,” Oak Bay Barbarians’ senior Nick Carson explained on Friday evening. “Just unbeatable. So this means a ton. I knew since the beginning of the season that we could do it. But now that we’re actually here? It’s pretty surreal.”

They’d already beaten the Stags once this season, 20-15 in the Vancouver Island Quad-A final.

Yet taking down the single most reliable program in all of B.C. high school sports in the provincial championship game environment they have come to call their very own by winning it all in eight of the previous nine seasons?

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