Skip to content

An ultimate chance to represent Canada

World Championships
Ultimate
Oliver Telfer, captain of the UVic ultimate team, has been selected along with several of his teammates to the U23 Canadian national ultimate team, which will compete at the world championships this July in London, England.

Oliver Telfer admits he doesn’t quite know how it’s going to feel when he puts on his Team Canada jersey for the first time. But one thing is for sure — it’s pretty cool that he gets the chance.

Telfer, who has been studying at the University of Victoria (UVic) for the past five years and is captain of the highly successful UVictim Ultimate team, is one of six students and one alumna from UVic who were recently selected to represent Canada at the 2015 World U23 Ultimate Championships in London, England from July 12 to 18.

Tryouts were held in September around the country, and Telfer was selected to the team in November.

“I’m very excited and proud, for sure,” said the former Elphinstone Secondary School student who is majoring in mechanical engineering at UVic. “I’ve been playing ultimate at UVic for five years now and put a lot of time and energy into this, so achieving this goal and making Team Canada makes all the hard work worth it.”

UVic has built a strong ultimate program — one of the best in the country — which is evidenced by the seven players who made the national men’s and women’s teams.

The last world championship was held in Toronto and featured 36 teams from 17 nations. This year, Canada will send a mixed team, an open team and a women’s team.

“We’ve worked really hard to compete at the world level,” Telfer said. “It makes you feel validated to represent the country.”

At the end of February, the national squad will be competing as Team Canada at a warm-up tournament in Las Vegas. There will also be several other tune-up tournaments and a training camp weekend closer to the July championships.

“I’m excited more than anything,” he said. “Putting on the jersey will be a really cool feeling.”

For more on the UVic Ultimate Club teams, see atuvicultimate.com.

For more information on the World Under 23 Ultimate Championship, see wfdf.org.

— With files from Ali Lee, UVic Communications Officer