Daniel Rependa
Staff Writer
@excalweb
It’s basically the end of the school year and if you’re tuning out of the York sport scene, you’re not alone. It’s exam time, students are working their hardest for grades, faculty are preparing for the exam-and-essay rush, and most sports team are in the off-season. However, recently something big and fairly unexpected just happened. We had an individual at York win a gold medal in fencing.
York’s Kayla Lambie won gold in the OUA women’s individual sabre competition, effectively earning herself the Fred Wach Trophy. The sport isn’t as publicized as basketball, hockey, or volleyball, so don’t feel bad if you have no idea what sabre-style fencing is. I didn’t.
Sabre-style fencing is differentiated from épée or foil-style fencing in that you are able to score points and attack your opponent with the side of your blade instead of just the point of it. You score points by hitting your opponent anywhere above the waist, except for the hands.
What was once just a competitive club within the confines of York’s walls has risen to become a threat in inter-university sports. This brings rise to the question: what other teams do we have at York with large amounts of competitive prowess and skill?
Currently our other varsity teams are basketball, volleyball, hockey, cross country, track and field, football, field hockey, tennis, and soccer. However, the OUA hosts many more inter-university competitions than just these sports.
With such success coming from teams likes our fencing squad, who’s to say our other competitive clubs, not yet granted varsity status, wouldn’t be just as successful?
Teams like our men’s rugby club might just be worth granting varsity status. And although York doesn’t have a lot of individual sport clubs that the OUA could host, I’d say it’s highly unlikely to think that out of the boasted 45,000 undergraduate students that York has, there isn’t one who’s a competitive skier, or golfer.
Now, realistically, to move a team to varsity status takes a lot of preparation and funding. There’s coaching staff, athletic trainers, athletes, scouts, facilities to practice in, equipment to use, and paper work to sign. It’s not as easy as saying “you’re up to the plate.”
But York needs to recognize talent where there is some. The fencing team won OUA gold, but it took 10 years just to be allowed to compete in the OUAs.
York students have a lot of talent. We are one of the largest universities in all of Canada and have a humongous selection. With the fencing team doing well in the OUA this year, the door has opened for York to look into some other athletic facets of its corridors. So, students of York, get your names out there and play the sports you love.
