March 2013.pdf - Kelowna Secondary School

Sporting Spirit!
Dedicated Students Put on Pep Rally
by Brienne Welton
Black and Gold, crazy owls and extra spirit signified the anticipated arrival of the Westerns Basketball
Tournament at KSS February 7-9. Before the games had even begun, Mr. Sodaro's fantastic Rec
leadership students put on the traditional pre-tournament Pep Rally on February 6.
The entire school piled onto the bleachers to watch the activities, which consisted of chains of
students jumping through hoops, cheering contests and students being pulled on blankets in a wild
chariot race around the gym.
All of KSS saw the decorations and festivities, though very few saw the hard work of the leadership
students that made this event possible.
Unfortunately, the timing of the Westerns tournament was far from ideal. Semester two had only
just begun, and the new leadership classes had to organize an entire Pep Rally within 3 days. Fortunately
they received help from leadership students from the first semester who volunteered their time
and received no extra credits whatsoever.
Despite challenges, this event lacked no spirit and ran smoothly. Mr. Sodaro feels that his leadership
students did a great job with this year's rally, and said that "there were more Rec students involved
than ever and they really carried the crowd participation."
Gaelan Bingham, a 2nd semester leadership student had similar sentiments of overall success. "It
was a ton of work, there were several setbacks to overcome, yet I think it went well," he summarized.
"I hope we succeeded in getting everyone pumped for Westerns."
Many students were quick to judge the rally as being stupid or a waste of time, but perhaps if they
knew how much dedication and volunteer time went into it, they would view this tradition quite differently.
Gay Athletes, Straight Allies Team up for Respect
by Julia Roigk
When Brendan Burke, openly gay son of
then-Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager
Brian Burke, died in 2010 in a car accident, it
sparked something that was long overdue: a
campaign for equality in professional sports.
The NHL is the only major sports league in
North America where not a single player, whether
active or retired, has come out of the closet.
Some people even claim there are no homosexual
players at all. With more than 700 guys,
this seems somewhat unlikely. In fact, back in
2005, a well-known moderator stated in a radio
interview, "I know enough gay players, coaches
and moderators to organize an All Star Game,"
and an anonymous player gave an interview
in which he detailed his life in the NHL. And
4 MARCH 6 2013 CENSOR THIS
Above: Kennedy Snape getting ahead in the
chariot race.
Left: Hosts Izzie Simmons and Jenna Facinek
hosted the rally.
Below: The crazy owl hipes up the crowd.
Photos by Brienne Welton.
yet, no one has openly confessed to being gay.
Brendan Burke, student manager at Miami University,
came out in 2009 and was a strong advocate
for equality in professional sports. He gave speeches,
went together with his father to the Toronto Gay
Pride Parade and did his best to eradicate casual
homophobia, such as slurs and insults, in locker
rooms. Only three months later, Brendan died.
In his memory, his brother Patrick, Brian Kitts,
and Glenn Witman of GForce Sports founded the
You Can Play Project, in which straight athletes
express their willingness to stand by gay teammates.
Starting out as a hockey centered project,
players like Zdeno Chára (Captain for the Boston
Bruins), Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks) and
Jordan Eberle (Alternate Captain for the Edmonton
Oilers) shot short videos stating their support.
But YCP isn't just limited to hockey anymore.
Among the 57 videos are messages from several
universities, DC United as the first major soccer
league club and the musician Macklemore.
No matter the athletic background of the speakers or
length of the message, all the videos feature one very
important sentence: If you can play, you can play.
We don't know what's going on behind closed
locker room doors. Maybe there are athletes
already out to their team mates. But Patrick
Burke is optimistic about athletes coming out
to the public: “We’re within about two years or
so in the NHL from having a player come out."
Whether that's true, only time can tell. But the
first step in the right direction has been taken.