The perennial contenders for the highest provincial prize in high school ultimate are being tested by new arrivals to the field. A handful of Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»teams have finished one, two, three at the B.C. championships for nearly a decade, but the sport’s rapid expansion means fewer dynasties, more parity and better competition.
“The sport is growing like a weed right now,” said Graham Dunne, the coach at Eric Hamber and the league’s convenor since 2002.
“All leagues are expanding and getting stronger. The number of club programs in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»is growing every year and the sport is really starting to catch on in North Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey schools.”
Tight, the co-ed team drawn from St. George’s and York House, won three consecutive titles from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, the schools relinquished their streak to Kitsilano and then Point Grey won in 2012. In 2013, Prince of Wales unseated the defending champion Greyhounds.Â
This year, in advance of the B.C. championships this weekend at UBC, Prince of Wales is ranked fourth behind No. 3 St. George’s/York House. Eric Hamber is seeded sixth, Kitsilano ninth and Killarney 12th.
“These are unusually low seeds for Vancouver,” said Dunne, calling Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»the “perennial powerhouse district.”
The top contenders from Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»will compete for gold against Burnaby’s St. Thomas More and Sutherland from North Vancouver.
“The edge should go to Sutherland who have a very strong program this year,” said Dunne.
In the mix with Vancouver’s returnees is Stratford Hall, a small International Baccalaureate school founded in 1999 and located on Commercial Drive. Two teachers helped create the Sabres’ program in 2007.
“The real growth has been in quality of the schools participating,” said Kyle Nystad, the athletic director at Stratford Hall.
Six years ago, the school had a single team of 18 students in Grade 6. “This season we will have 100-plus students from grades 6 to 12 playing ultimate at our school coached by six teachers,” said Nystad.
The sport, which is an exciting non-contact, high-cardio combination of soccer, basketball and football, is one of the most popular sports at Statford Hall and looks to stay that way.
“Ultimate has really served as a force to unite our school,” said Nystad “The older students help coach the younger teams, giving back to the program and serving as great role models.”
They also host Sabrefest, an elementary school tournament that started five years ago with four teams from five schools. This year’s Stratford Hall will host 16 teams from a mix of 10 public and private schools.
With the growth of the sport, success is an inevitable outcome. In 2013, 12 players competed for a club at the Canadian championships, and Katherine McGuire made the U18 provincial team that won gold at nationals. This year she’s joined by Kiera Lee-Pii on the girls team and three boys, Ari Nitikman, Josh Gaudette and Gurvir Mahil, play for the open provincial team.
Stratford Hall isn’t alone in its . The same U18 girls provincial team includes six players from the defending B.C. champion Walesmen: Angel Lee, Julia Zhang, Paige Muir, Sam Mew, Sophia Chan and Zoe Todd. Peter Yu, a graduate of Eric Hamber secondary, also competes in the Major League Ultimate with the .
For the B.C. high school championships, scheduled for UBC on May 24 and 25, the Sabres junior team is ranked second behind Point Grey and ahead of the contenders from St. George’s and York House, which means places one, two and three could again be claimed by Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»teams.
