They just want to have the chance to play.
It's been a heck of a couple of weeks for the Elphinstone Secondary School Cougars senior girls' volleyball team.Faced with the prospect of not having a season and dealing with the tragic death of two star athletes (Trina Borley and Hanna Anderson) in July, the Cougars just wanted a chance to compete this season and planned to dedicate the year to Trina and Hanna.
A couple of weeks after the accident, Chatelech Secondary School player Jennifer Brown told her family she wanted to transfer to Elphi in order to help the team.
"Knowing that Trina was our setter and that we have no other experienced setter, Jennifer, an experienced setter, knew how important it was for the team and herself to play, even though every practice is so emotional and just walking into that gym is difficult," said Elphi coach Jan Richey. "We also are booked into all these tournaments, which I booked last April and now I'm not sure what we are going to do or how we are going to play. B.C. School Sports has regulations that state a player would have to sit out a year if she had just transferred schools. We appealed the regulations on the grounds of extraordinary circumstances and the appeal was denied, it seems on two reasons. One, that this appeal request is beyond the scope and authority of B.C. School Sports and that also they don't consider the circumstances extraordinary. I have a hard time with that one, as I can't think of too many circumstances that are more extraordinary than this. It also seems rather contradictory."
Elphi is set to appear before the appeals committee on Saturday in Richmond.
Richey has the backing of her fellow coaches on the North Shore. During recent league meetings, all of the coaches unanimously supported Elphi in their fight to play.
Jim Martin, a director on the board of B.C. School Sports, said he feels the board should allow the transfer to take place and give Elphi an opportunity to compete in league play.
"As coaches and sports officials, if we don't allow this to happen, what are we in this for?" Martin asked. "These kids make such a sacrifice to play for the love of the sport. We need to support that and support the transfer. I know rules are in place and they have to be followed, but this is an extraordinary circumstance. It's important for your community to start to heal. All the North Shore coaches support this. Chat supports the move. This is about healing, and the most important thing is giving these kids a chance to play."
While all of this drama has been unfolding off the court, Elphi did attend a tournament last weekend at Simon Fraser University and came away with the tournament title.
"There were 32 teams in the tournament and the girls were extremely excited and emotional," said Richey. "I was really proud of how they played and came together and my three Grade 10s that I have brought up to play with us did such a great job going in."
Elphi won their pool on Friday, defeating Semiahmoo, Langley Christian and Centennial, and then won their first playoff game against Belmont from Victoria on Saturday, which put them in the top 16.
Elphi then topped Semiahmoo again to advance to the semifinals against DW Poppy, where they won in two straight.That set up a match against Brookswood in the final, which Elphi won in three sets.
"I must say all week I had a knot in my stomach about just what was going to transpire, but the girls played so well and came together as a team like I had never seen them before," said Richey. "Last year I thought we had a winning combination with all the pieces, but we couldn't win the big matches. This weekend, even though we were missing Trina and Hanna, the team played like a team. A friend of mine said it perfectly - we played with eight players on the court - six players and two angels."
