Author Archives: Ian Wilson

Guilty Pleasures: Movies, Politics and Geology!

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Double header of Guilty Pleasures is live for this Sunday! When you are finished with “What on Earth are we Watching?” you can run it back with this gem of an episode.

This episode dives into the guilty pleasures of Brandon, Vincent and Tasha. Three people with 3 very different passions. Yet all of them are equally interesting to learn about! Let us know what your guilty pleasure is and you could end up as a guest on the podcast.

Harrison Hot Springs is Gearing Up for a Huge Summer

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COVID-19 has not been kind to the tourism industry. Look no further than an hour and a half drive east of BCIT to the resort village of Harrison Hot Springs. Since 2020 the community has been in survival mode with businesses waiting patiently for the return of visitors from far and wide.

This summer looks to change everything. With COVID restrictions loosening the village is looking to welcome people back in force with a full summer lineup of events scheduled and being planned. Tourism Harrison Event Coordinator Colleen Geddes gave a sneak peak of what the community has up their sleeve.

“So in June we help out with Sasquatch Days which is a boat race on Harrison Lake. And then we have Canada Day we help out with the Village Hosts. And then at the end of summer we have bands on the beach.” – Colleen Geddes

Geddes also mentions how excited the village is to welcome visitors back at a greater capacity. The relief alone to the businesses is something that has been needed for a long time. What remains to be seen will be if the Public Pool will reopen for the summer. The facility has been closed since March of 2020.

The unique challenge faced with the planning of events for this summer results from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

“Everything you need to host an event has gone up in price. So working on our budget to try and keep our budgets low, obviously funds are low. And then everything you need has gone up in price so balancing a budget has been really hard.” – Colleen Geddes

This summer is gearing up to be incredible for local tourism hotspots. With the restrictions for COVID being lessened, expect high amounts of travel to these areas and a boost to several local economies.

Vancouver Warriors are Building Connections Through Social Media

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Social Media is a powerful tool when it is used for good. The Vancouver Warriors have done exactly that with their social media campaign this year being exceptional. Entertaining, creative and fun are just a few words that can be used to describe what is witnessed whether its gameday or not.

The players are clearly having fun and it exemplifies that they are people too, just like the fans. Creating opportunities for the fans to get to know the players and allow them to express themselves makes for an entertaining social media feed all season long. Clarissa Sabile, Warriors Social Media Coordinator, spoke about some of the attitudes that helped all this come together.

“I learned very quickly that these athletes, not specifically box lacrosse but just the Vancouver Warriors players they are very, very accessible, very kind, very open to wanting to create content and all they needed was someone to help them make that content and that’s where I came in.” – Clarissa Sabile

With creating this online presence comes creating a place for fans to connect and people to feel included. Lacrosse is a sport that not many know a great deal about. However, with the right space to learn and feel accepted, the fans can feel a part of something special.

“Its obviously a league that is still growing and that’s really fun to me and very exciting. But with that I just really wanted to create that space online that people could both learn about lacrosse and also learn about the team and also have a lot of fun” – Clarissa Sabile

Sabile also talked about her own feelings regarding being accepted into the industry and into this team. This inspired her to create a space where other people could have that same feeling and feel like they belong.

The Warriors season may be over but many of the players will be competing in other leagues throughout the summer such as the WLA here in BC or in the PLL in the United States. Therefore, there is still plenty of opportunity to catch your favorites in action until next NLL season.

Bigger Than Basketball: A Movement for Athletes’ Mental Health

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Thursday night saw a community come together to celebrate mental health in a beautiful way. Bigger than Basketball is about creating a community that encourages athletes to be proactive with their mental health and be comfortable disclosing when something is wrong.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdTq_n_Phju/

The event’s founder, Bradley Braich, is a young man from Abbotsford who suffers from severe OCD. It greatly affected his drive to play basketball and nearly caused him to take his own life. Braich created this event so that no one should feel they have to go through what he did alone.

“There’s a decent population of basketball players and athletes that suffer and some of us are suffering in silence. And we need to better equip coaches and athletic directors and trainers with the tools and knowledge if a player comes and their showing signs of irregular behaviour or they’re showing signs and symptoms of any sort of anxious or depressive or obsessive-compulsive behavior we need to be able to get them the help they need.” – Bradley Braich

Perhaps the highlight of the entire night was the speeches section between the all-star games. Bradley, his father Bobby, as well as Sheldon Guy all gave speeches about how mental health has impacted their lives. Sheldon Guy is a former referee and current coach that lost his eyesight in November. His journey is heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time. There was not a dry eye in the Langley Events Centre when he spoke about what he has overcome.

‘It’s beyond words’: Beloved B.C. basketball coach makes court comeback after losing vision

Bradley spoke to the importance of Sheldon’s involvement with this year’s event.

“It’s cool because Sheldon’s a coach and a referee. And so now not only are we recognizing the players mental health, we are recognizing other parts of the basketball communities mental health, and vital parts. Coaches and refs are a huge part of our game. And he’s being vulnerable, he’s expressing his emotions. And I think a lot of younger men can really learn from that.” – Bradley Braich

The event itself raised over $4400 dollars, bringing the total since its inception in 2018 to over $9400. All the proceeds go towards the Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, you can call the BC Mental Health Support Line at 310-6789 for free 24 hours a day.

University of the Fraser Valley Brings Home Canada West Sports Information Awards

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Another year, and more success for the UFV Cascades and their sports communications department. UFV brought home two awards in this year’s edition: Photo of the Year and Feature Story of the Year.

The former was won by Tanner Geringer for his capture of Manpal Brar and his teammates celebrating after Brar scored his second of the game against his former team, UBC.

The latter would go to Dan Kinvig after he penned “The Luyken Legacy”, a moving article about dynamic Cascades father daughter duo, Aieisha and Anthony Luyken. Anthony was an assistant coach and Aieisha a star player that left their mark on the basketball program at UFV, and that mark lasts to this day.

Kinvig, the Cacades’ Communications Coordinator, has written plenty of articles in his time as a storyteller but this one simply required more attention.

“I ended up spending probably the better part of a month kinda picking away at this article and just giving it the attention and time it deserved. And in the end it ended up being about a 3500 word sort of magazine style feature piece. Just trying to elevate and highlight the incredible selflessness and really cool attitude that they bring to the game of basketball and just giving back to the community and using basketball as an avenue to do that” – Dan Kinvig

While Anthony has since retired from the Cascades coaching staff, Aieisha remains a part of the very group her father helped helm when she played. She is an incredible resource for the Cascades players, using her experience and intuition for the game to help the next generation find success.

Sometimes a simple conversation can create something powerful, and Kinvig recalls exactly that when reaching out to chat about their story.

“In 2021 I ended up setting up a zoom call and interviewing the two of them, and I was kind of originally envisioning an 800-1000 word feature story detailing their involvement with the program but we ended up talking for two hours. We just had this incredible conversation, I just came away really, really just blown away by just the humility and selfless attitude that they brough to their involvement with the game of basketball.” – Dan Kinvig

Since the inception of the Canada West Sports Information Awards, UFV has taken home at least one of the awards every single year. The other awards this year were both won by the UNBC Timberwolves, taking home Video of the Year and Social Media Campaign of the Year.

Fraser Valley Bandits Visit Ahousaht Nation to Host Youth Basketball Camp

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The Fraser Valley Bandits are putting their best foot forward this weekend as they travelled to Ahousaht on Vancouver Island to host a youth basketball camp. The team sent Canada Basketball veteran and Bandits alumni Levon Kendall, who is from Vancouver, alongside Multi-Year Bandit Malcolm Duvivier to host the camp.

The community welcomed the team in with open arms and have embraced the opportunity to continue bettering experiences for their youth through a sport they love. Speaking with Vice President of Operations Andrew Savory, it is easy to see how this relationship came to be and it leaves the door open for so much more.

“The athletic director for Ahousaht was actually on the BC provincial team with Levon Kendall and the BC Summer Games team when they were both 15 and 16 and they’ve played on and off in various tournaments over the years since then. And that’s how this idea first started and there’s already talk of hopefully building this to become an annual thing not just in the community of Ahousaht but also traveling into the interior and BC’s North and even some of the coastal communities as well.” – Andrew Savory

 

The Bandits have been keen since day 1 about their community connections. Past initiatives included opening the TELUS Bandits Athletic Centre in Abbotsford as well as flood relief projects during the catastrophic atmospheric river in November of 2021.

Savory also mentioned the deep connections Ahousaht and many other communities have with the sport of basketball.

“A lot of people don’t know, but indigenous basketball is as important to these communities throughout BC than potentially any sport in the country, even hockey for that matter. It’s something that’s played year round, it’s extremely financially accessible, whether its pouring rain outside or it’s a toasty warm gym, these kids are giving it their all and they infuse their culture into it.” – Andrew Savory

The Bandits began in 2019 in Abbotsford but for this season have made the move to the Langley Events Centre. Their CEBL season begins May 25th when they head to Ottawa to face the Blackjacks.