May Athletics Review

Spring has sprung and the Brentwood fields, courts, and waterfront have been flooded with a full array of sports action though the weather has only just begun to fully cooperate.   On the fields, our boys and girls rugby teams are rounding into form and getting ready to gear up for the provincial championships later this month.  The Senior Coys have shown steady progress all season and are coming off a couple of impressive wins over AA rivals SMUS and Rockridge. Meanwhile, our Junior Boys have also asserted themselves as a force on the Island having shown well in both sevens and fifteen competition. Our Girls team, despite its inexperience, has also shown a great deal of promise and is improving quickly. They are coming off a narrow loss to #3 provincially ranked Mark Isfeld. The big news last weekend was the Silver medal finish of the Junior Girls 7s team at the BC Championship. They played the Championship game in front of several thousand fans at the Langford 7s Women’s Tournament on Saturday, May 12th. We will keep you posted with their playoff runs. In soccer action, our Junior and Senior Girls teams have been battling hard in league play. The Junior Girls finished second in league, narrowly missing out on a berth to Islands when they lost a last minute heart-breaker to Frances Kelsey. The Senior Girls team has been very busy since returning from Spring Break. They have competed in two tournaments both of which resulted in big wins against some provincially ranked teams. The team most recently qualified for the North Island championships but unfortunately did not advance to provincials. On the courts, our tennis teams are in the midst of provincials. The team played well winning an exhibition match 7-4 over local rivals Shawnigan Lake School. The Juniors headed to provincial last week where the girls placed 4th and the boys came 5th. The seniors came 2nd on the island and have booked their ticket to the Vancouver for provincials after the break.   On the water, our rowers represented Brentwood in fine form at the 48th Annual Brentwood International Regatta. Brentwood finished second among all the high-school teams competing at the regatta. Despite some challenging weather conditions on the opening day, we managed to run a record number of races (134) on the Saturday. The event was a great success and a spectacular showcase for our school. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our Head of Rowing, Laryssa Biesenthal, and our Regatta Coordinator, Mrs Debbie Sage, for all their hard work organizing and managing the event. Our golf team is also off to a busy start and this week is competing at both the ISA tournament and the Vic City Police Tournament. While our competitive teams are fun to watch, our other programs are equally vibrant and engaging. Outdoor Pursuits has provided our students with amazing opportunities as they have immersed themselves in rock climbing and white water kayaking. Other students have been enjoying an eclectic mix of cross-country running, badminton, cross-training, yoga, squash, fitness fusion and weight lifting. The third term is, without question, our busiest athletic time of the year. Any visitor to our school on a sports day is sure to be delighted by the activity and enthusiasm that pervades our campus – please consider yourself warmly invited – just try and bring some sun with you! Mr. Blake Gage, Director of Athletics