C/O McMaster Sports
The women’s basketball team hits the ground running in the first month of play
As many McMaster students have become used to seeing, the women’s basketball team is once again finding themselves in the midst of a strong season. Despite a fairly inexperienced roster full of athletes making their university debuts, the team went into the winter break with a record of five to one, their only loss having come to the Guelph Gryphons.
Through the course of the season it has become very obvious that the Marauders have done a great job at playing team basketball, which has played a big part in their success. They regularly beat the opposing teams in assists by wide margins, and commonly find themselves sharing the load when it comes to scoring. It isn’t uncommon for the team to have several scorers bunched up around the leading individual point totals.
With such a young team, it’s rare to find such strong chemistry so early on, but according to forward Amy Stinson, that’s exactly what the team has been able to create.
“This year is very special for us. We have a lot of new girls, it’s a big new group. Going into the season in November we were really finding our chemistry, so as [games] went on, we were learning more and more about each other and our strengths . . . We were confident in each other and we were confident in ourselves,” said Stinson.
Stinson, a jack of all trades, frequently finds herself making a difference in the box score, whether it be by way of scoring, rebounding, or anything else. Stinson discussed the importance of being an all around player and how much focus she puts on scoring compared to all else.
“I like to look at the little things, like positioning on defence, rebounds, assists. It’s the stuff I look at when I [evaluate] my all around game. I’m happy with what I’ve been doing, but I think there’s a lot more I can do,” said Stinson.
"I like to look at the little things, like positioning on defence, rebounds, assists. It's the stuff I look at when I [evaluate] my all around game. I'm happy with what I've been doing, but I think there's a lot more I can do,"
Amy Stinson, Forward
Through the season Stinson has become a fairly consistent scoring option for the team, regularly finding herself among the teams top scorers. Despite this, she stressed that scoring isn’t actually a major focus in her game and is rather something that just comes as a result of the way the team has played.
“Scoring has actually never been something I’ve made a priority and I think that’s why I’ve had this success I’ve had this season; I don’t put much pressure on myself. I find that when I’m just in the game and playing for my teammates, sometimes it’ll just come,” explained Stinson
This season Stinson and [Sarah] Gates have been the only players on the team to find themselves scoring double digits on multiple occasions. Despite sharing this achievement, Stinson considers Gates to be on a whole different level.
“Sarah [Gates] is just another story, she’s just [incredible] . . . To her that stuff just comes naturally because she’s just outstanding,” said Stinson.
"Sarah [Gates] is just another story, she's just [incredible] . . . To her that stuff just comes naturally because she's just outstanding,"
Amy Stinson, Forward
After several strong performances in November, Gates was named the Ontario University Athletics female player of the month, putting up a league leading 25.5 points per game while shooting to a 52.6 per cent field goal percentage, accompanied by per game averages of 7.7 rebounds, two assists and two steals while shooting 38.6 per cent from three point range.
“It was my first time ever getting that award, so it was really nice! I was a little bit shocked to get it, but honestly, this will sound pretty cliche, but that’s not my focus. My focus is just to get to that national level and compete from there. We have the team to do it . . . I just see good things to come,” said Gates.
Gates, despite her own consistently strong performances, praised the efforts of her team, suggesting that they are going against the grain in what is stereotypically a “rebuilding year” in university sports.
“We have such a unique group this year, especially since it’s such a young team. The amount of work ethic and drive our team has is pretty awesome . . . When so many new [players] are coming in, people usually say it’s a rebuilding year. I wouldn’t say that — we’re definitely really good. I like being the underdog and we’ll take that to our advantage," explained Gates.
"When so many new [players] are coming in, people usually say it’s a rebuilding year. I wouldn’t say that — we’re definitely really good. I like being the underdog and we’ll take that to our advantage,”
Sarah Gates
One of the most notable games of the season was against the Gryphons on Nov. 13. After losing by a 28 point spread on Nov. 10, the team was able to refocus and pick themselves up before their next game on Nov. 13. Gates paved the way, having scored 38 points while shooting 67 per cent from the field and from three. She also put up 11 rebounds and five assists in the redemption game, which the Marauders would win by a final score of 74-70.
Gates suggested that the loss was just a part of being a young team and facing their first “strong” opponent of the season. With the nerves out after the first game, they were able to play their way in the second of the two game matchup.
“We just went in with confidence and knew that if we just played our game that we could dictate the outcome. It all came with our team's confidence,” said Gates.
With a confident and hardworking team of young players, the Marauders have a chance to make a strong push once the season resumes. Originally scheduled to start on Jan. 12, games up until Jan. 22 have been postponed, with their next scheduled game coming against the Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo on Jan. 26.
As local businesses, schools and social gatherings face cancellations in response to the COVID-10 pandemic, major sports organizations have also been braving turbulent changes.
The four major national sports in North America — basketball, baseball, hockey and football — have all been greatly affected by the virus. The original plan was to have games continue, but not allow fans or unnecessary personnel near games.
In theory, this was a great idea; it would have allowed for play to continue and the multi-billion dollar industry to continue creating some revenue, such as through television ads. However, when the first pro athlete, Rudy Gobert, the center for the Utah Jazz, contracted the virus, this idea went out the window along with any hope of play to continue. After the NBA cancelled games, the rest of the sports world soon followed suit.
As the days progress, more professional athletes are testing positive for COVID-19. This has been attributed to athletes' consistent travels from city to city for games and practices, which makes them more susceptible to contracting the virus and spreading it.
It has been suggested that the best way to mitigate exposure and transmission of the virus is for athletes to restrict travel and self-quarantine.
When I read the reports of the National Basketball Association postponing its season for a minimum of 30 days, subject to change depending on the future state of the virus, and the National College Athletics Association ending all of its national tournaments for the year, I wondered how this may affect Canadian university sports. As updates and articles shared information about major sports leagues, the Ontario University Athletics and U Sports had yet to release statements on how they were going to factor the coronavirus into their decision-making.
University and college cancellations across Ontario began on March 12 and 13 with Western University, McMaster University, Mohawk College and others cancelling in-person classes and student events for the remainder of the semester. The U Sports association then followed suit, cancelling that weekends’ scheduled national championships in volleyball and hockey, but continuing with the curling championships.
U Sports’ championships require competing varsity teams to travel to chosen host locations. The volleyball championship was set to take place in Winnipeg and Calgary over the weekend of March 14 to 16 and the hockey championships to take place in Halifax and Charlottetown over that same weekend.
Both of these tournaments were expecting teams from across the country to attend, from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island. This potentially heightened the risk of spreading the virus. To limit the spread of COVID-19, Canadians have been advised to avoid international non-essential travel; while the travel measures announced on March 16 did not include domestic flights, the situation is continuously changing from day to day. Recently, airlines such as Air Canada began suspending domestic flights.
This begs the question of why the U Sports National Championships for curling were not cancelled. This tournament involved universities from all over the country such as McMaster University, University of Dalhousie and the University of Alberta, and took place the very same weekend as the aforementioned volleyball and hockey tournaments.
At the time of writing this article, U Sports had yet to post any material on their social media to answer those questions or comment on why they made contradictory decisions to cancel volleyball and hockey tournaments, while continuing the curling championships.
After having reached out to U Sports for a statement, John Bower of U Sports stated that the curling championships had been in line with government regulations at the time.
“The total number of participants in the Curling championship was inferior to the 250 established by the Government of Manitoba on Thursday and therefore was allowed by the Province to continue and had begun prior to the cancellation of the hockey and volleyball championships,” said Bower.
It is important to keep in mind that the volleyball championships, which were also planned to take place in Manitoba, and the hockey championships in Prince Edward Island were cancelled.
The following was the response to my questions about their tournament handlings:
As stated by Bower from U Sports.
While these precautions seemed to be adequate at the time of the curling tournament’s start date on March 10, the tournament would go on to see play for another five days. All the players and potential companions travelled in and out of the province over this time.
The representative from U Sports said that Curling Canada was able to guarantee a safe and secure environment for the curling championships to take place. As we have seen the pandemic continue to spread, it seems that it would have been very difficult to guarantee anything. The tournament should have been shut down.
The U Sports national championships was not alone in the building. The event coincided with the Senior Men’s and Women’s Championships, the Canad Inns Canadian Mixed Doubles Championships and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA)/Curling Canada Championships.
The amount of people at any given time in the arena might have been under the mandated 250 person limit, but this limit became quickly outdated as the Centre for Disease Control lowered the limit to no more than 50 people just one day after the tournament finished on March 16. Considering the curling teams, general fans and family members that were in attendance, it is unlikely that this limit was adhered to during the tournament.
The first red flag was that this tournament was continued while the other national tournaments were cancelled. The second red flag was that there was no postponing or cancelling as the tournament progressed. Just as COVID-19 spread across the country, the red flags spread across this event.
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Things have been going very well for the McMaster women’s basketball team and they have no plans to slow down. Currently in first place in the Ontario University Athletics West with a 12-2 record, and the worst arguably behind them, another trip to the University Sports national finals looks on the horizon. But this time, senior guard Hilary Hanaka and the Marauders aim to leave with a medal.
“Once you get that taste on court playing against the best teams in Canada, it only makes you hungrier for more,” said Hanaka. “You know that you're there and you can compete, but I think just being on that playing field for the first time there was a lot of nerves going into it. I think we didn't play quite to our full potential.”
Although the Marauders faced teams like the McGill University Martlets, who they have seen before in exhibition play, the games against teams like the University of Calgary Dinos, who play a much grittier style than Hanaka and the Marauders were used to, caught them off guard. But Hanaka believes that having been there before, in addition to having such a tough OUA season this year and playing against highly skilled Ontario teams, will help the Mac women get to that top level to compete at Nationals.
“Knowing that we got there is a huge step in our team success,” Hanaka said. “Of course, our ultimate goal was getting to Nationals and getting a medal would have been a bonus, but I think for a young team with lots of changes, that was a huge stepping stone for us. So right now we are just making sure we have an opportunity to get back there to prove that we deserve to be there and that we can do better than we did last year.”
So far ensuring that OUA playoff spot has been going well for the Marauders. Even with the loss of key veterans like Lexie Spadafora, Jelena Mamic and Adrienne Peters, Mac does not appear to have missed a beat. One of the reasons is the addition of Christina Buttenham, a Hamilton native and transfer from the University of Iowa, where she played from 2014 to 2017.
“It's always tough to lose senior players. With their experience on and off the court, it’s obviously a huge loss for us,” said Hanaka. “But I think gaining players like Christina, who's been in high-level basketball for years, is something that is huge. She stepped right in and already fills a leadership role on the team.”
Not only does Buttenham have National Collegiate Athletic Association experience, but she also played for the Canadian Junior National team in 2014, and was named an Academic All-Big Ten selection as a junior and as a sophomore while at Iowa.
Buttenham has already been such a great addition for the team helping defensively, averaging 5.4 rebounds a game and having the fourth highest points per game average on the team, with 9.9. The help has been able to give Hanaka the opportunity to have big games like she did this past weekend against the University of Guelph Gryphons.
With a game-high of 28 points, shooting an astounding 62.5 per cent from the field and 72.7 per cent from the three-point line, Hanaka led the team to defeat the Gryphons 109-80 on the road.
🏀 FINAL: Hilary Hanaka drops 28 on the road, as @MacWbball blows past the Gryphons 109-80 to improve to 11-2 on the season.@mcmasteru returns home to Burridge Gym tomorrow! #GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/pEXrId3YnT
— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) January 12, 2019
“Getting back into things after the holiday break is never easy, so just going back into these last two games I've been on myself to make sure I've been coming out with that fire,” said Hanaka. “Of course, once you start hitting those first couples of shots and my teammates are cheering for me on the bench and making great passes, it just makes it so much fun to play with them and to do well.”
Guelph was one of two wins this past weekend, the second came against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks, who they defeated 59-43 to earn their sixth straight win. Having already played their most personal game this season against the reigning OUA champs the Carleton University Ravens, defeating them 64-52 in November, the worst is over and focusing on staying on top is the Marauders’ top priority.
“Just knowing that our end goal is to get that national championship helps us take every game as it comes and to not overthink them,” said Hanaka. “Another focus has been trying to remembering to take no game for granted, because there has been a lot of upsets in the OUA this year and we don't want one of those to be us.”
With the Marauders’ next two games coming against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves this weekend, they will be making sure they go into every practice seriously so that they are focused come game time, regardless of who is wearing the opposite jersey. This is the mindset the Marauders plan to have until the last buzzer goes off for the season.
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As December and the holidays approach, so does exam season. And for McMaster student-athletes, that means hitting the books and taking a step back from the athlete side of things. But as November comes to a close, there are still a few more games Mac fans can check out.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will take on the York University Lions this Friday at 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. The women are ranked No. 5 in the country, and will be looking to improve their 7-2 record before the break. Meanwhile, the men will be looking for a much-needed home win after losing on the road back-to-back in Ottawa this past weekend.
The men and women will be heading to London to face the Western University Mustangs this Friday. The men’s team, who has won six consecutive conference titles, will be looking to improve their 6-1 record against the 5-3 Mustangs. The women’s team currently holds a 4-3 record while the Mustangs sit at 5-3.
Although this will be it for the majority of December as the Marauders buckle down for exams, the men’s volleyball team will take a trip down south to Long Beach, California, to participate in their annual North American Challenge. The men have performed well against their American counterparts, holding a 7-0 record against their usual rivals for the challenge, the Ohio State Buckeyes. This year, they will face off against Long Beach State University, who they beat in back-to-back games last year, and the University of California Santa Barbara. The challenge will begin on December 29 and will continue until New Year’s Eve. Although they will not be close to home for the holidays, the Marauders should have no trouble entering the New Year undefeated once again.
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The McMaster women’s rugby team took home the Ontario University Athletics bronze medal on Sept. 20 after a tough but well-fought battle against the York Lions.
The 36-19 win at Ron Joyce Stadium was the first win of the post-season after an unfortunate 15-20 loss to the Queen’s University’s Gaels in the OUA semi-finals. Though the team would have loved to have been able to win the silver or gold medal, they were more than satisfied with their bronze medal performance.
“This wasn’t the game we wanted to be in,” said Sara Svoboda who had been named, for a second year in a row, the Shiels Division Player of the Year the day before.
“Obviously we wanted to go for that OUA gold medal and have a spot at nationals, but I feel like the girls rallied around each other really well,” said Svoboda. “We put together a performance we can proud of and I think we ended the year on a high note.”
The Marauders’ performance started off with a slow start, as Megan Pakulis of the Lions was the first out of the two teams to score shortly after the game began. The Marauders responded quickly with an unconverted try of their own, bringing the lead to 7-5.
The Lions remained with the lead until freshman wing Khadija Brouillette broke out past the York players, running a nearly 50-yard try right under the posts. Svoboda followed the try with a successful convert, evening the game at 12.
Reminding the Lions why they were ranked second in the regular season in the Shiels Division, centre Britni French’s try brought the Marauders to lead the game 17-12 right before the halftime break.
Along with another penalty try from Brouillette, Svoboda, Maddi Cohoon and Taylor Price all contributed to the Marauders’ score sheet.
“We had a few goals going into today's game and I think we accomplished a few of those,” said French post game. “We were aggressive, we came out and they scored on us but we gave it right back to them.”
After the game, the team celebrated the win with their family, friends and fellow Mac athletes. Rookie player Brouillette was more than happy with the outcome of her first OUA medal game.
“I think we did fantastic,” said Brouillette. “I’m so glad to be a rookie and part of the McMaster family. I love my team and can’t wait to come here for the next few years.”
Along with the team celebrating the win, they also celebrated Svoboda, French, Cassidy Calvert, and Selena Sequin being named 2017 Women’s Rugby OUA All-Stars.
Though their season just came to an end, the team's focus is already on the next season. Over the next 10 months, they plan to evaluate what they need to do to get to the back to the gold level before they begin training camp in August 2018.
“In the next 10 months were going to work as hard as we can to get as strong, fast and as precise at tackling as we can,” said Brouillette. “So when we come out next season, they’re not going to know what to expect!”
“[We’ll also] hit the weight room,” added French. “The High Performance Area is our home, so we’re going to put in all the work that we can up there for the offseason.”
However, before this preparation begins, the next couple of weeks will be spent on reflecting and reviewing the 2017 season. As the Marauders set their sights on the Canadian University Sevens Championships in March, the team still has work to do.
By: Myles Baldwin
The life of a student-athlete is different from that of most other students in the sense that the 24-hour day is consumed with either sports or schoolwork.
Living this type of lifestyle may be overwhelming, although the responsibility of the student is to manage their time around studies, training, workouts and a balanced social life.
Varsity sports help students achieve higher marks by teaching valuable time management skill and helping them develop the skill to enhance their academics.
The student-athlete title comes with leadership and accountability. Athletes are responsible for maintaining high academic marks and a dominating performance on the field.
Most people are unaware about what it takes to fulfil the “student-athlete” image because they do not understand the amount of hard work and dedication it takes. McMaster students are held to high standards, and learn different tools in in sports, which transfer to the class room as well. For example, student-athletes are expected to arrive early to work-outs, which translates into showing up to class earlier than usual as a result.
Athletes are encouraged to demonstrate leadership and hard work throughout their obligations.
Accountability is emphasized on a sports team where players are expected to show up early to get a job done and leadership emphasizes being first to arrive to get a head start. The high expectations from varsity sports triggers student-athletes to create a work ethic that differentiates themselves from regular students.
The self-discipline instigated by varsity sports lends itself to academic focus, helping to banish procrastination.
Living this type of lifestyle may be overwhelming, although the responsibility of the student is to manage their time around studies, training, workouts and a balanced social life.
According to an article in the Guardian, “the mind wanders when doing essays, but if you develop a focus and know you have to use your time efficiently then it’s a very transferable skill”.
At McMaster, students on a scholarship are expected to meet a strict grade of 70 per cent in order to remain eligible for the scholarship.
Keeping in mind the amount of time being consumed with sports, student-athletes are forced to work hard and neglect distractions from achieving their mandatory marks to remain eligible.
With the academic requirements being so high, athletes are given a goal to reach which creates motivation they use in their sports to succeed in the classroom.
Eligibility alone pushes student-athletes to work hard in their school work so they are allowed to compete in their sports. McMaster student-athletes are also provided with a fantastic academic advising group who are strictly employed to mentor and guide them through success within their classes.
The student-athletes are responsible to attend mandatory study sessions each week where they are given tutoring and guidance with completing their assignments. This process forces the student-athlete to work hard to achieve the marks necessary to remain eligible.
Daily time consumption for a student-athlete consists of mandatory early morning workouts, class, training and study hall. Athletes are given a time slot each week where they meet with academic advisors to discuss time management. Student-athletes are instructed on how to prepare a schedule, which is useful to keep track of their availability.
Knowing how to manage time wisely at a young age is a beneficial tool for life inside and outside of school.
With that being said, the risk of negative distractions and involvement of activities outside of school or sports are easily preventable. McMaster athletes are taught to manage a positive and healthy social life around their obligations as a student.
These valuable traits will also carry on to benefit them in their future careers. Sports teach young adults how to be brave and confident when stepping outside of their comfort zone.
Varsity sports teaches students how to be comfortable in difficult situations, which is key for conquering assignments at their highest potential.
Students on a sports team have many great resources available to them at McMaster. This includes guidance on how to achieve high marks, manage schedules and conquer obligations. These are all positive rewards as a result of being a part of the varsity sports community at McMaster university.
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While students all over campus were trying to find their new classrooms, the McMaster athletic year was already well under way. Showcasing key Marauders every seven days, the Pita Pit Athlete of the Week highlighted centre Britni French of the Marauders’ women’s rugby team, along with the football team’s defensive back Noah Hallett.
The women’s rugby team opened up their 2017 campaign with a dominating win over the York Lions, emphatically handing the Lions their first loss of the season. The Marauders, led by French, looked back to championship form under the lights at Ron Joyce Stadium on Sept. 3 and never gave the visiting team a chance to overtake them.
“We went into the game and our focus was to just go for it,” French said. “We are all about words, and our word for that game was punish. We wanted to punish them. We wanted them to go home and not want to play us again. I think we accomplished that throughout.”
"We are all about words, and our word for that game was 'punish'. We wanted to punish them.
Britini French
Centre
McMaster Rugby
French was responsible for kicking off a 50-0 run for the Marauders with an early try, and contributed greatly on both sides of the ball. Entering her fourth season on the team, French is part of a leadership core of senior players determined to run through every team in their path while showing the newest team members how the women’s rugby program operates.
“We have a leadership group going on right now, myself and a few other athletes on the team,” she said. “We are working together to create a positive environment and show some leadership on the field, not just in a spoken way but also by the way we play. The role I like to take is not so much the talking responsibility, I would rather show through the way I play.”
It will be important for senior players like French to lead by example on the field this season if they hope to regain their former glory. Following a tough season that ended in a loss to the Guelph Gryphons in the Ontario University Athletics Championship and an early exit in the U Sports Championship Tournament, the team has a new group of fresh faces to integrate into the team.
“We have a very young team, and our biggest challenge right now is not being caught up in that, realizing that those first-year players are just as great as our fourth-year players,” said French. “I think over our training camp, we really saw that. As the week went on, those people who were coming in as first-year athletes were then stepping into more dominant rules throughout the training session. That was awesome to see and something to keep working towards.”
Already, this young Marauder team appears to be on the right path to return to the OUA Finals and also have a good showing in the national tournament. There are still three more games to play in the rugby regular season and it is by no means an easy road, yet the Marauders have their sights set high.
“I would really like to see us in an OUA Final again, hopefully coming out on the winning side this year,” French said. “That is a goal of mine. As well as just helping this first-year athletes to continue to grow into the program.”
One key rookie on the team is Tia Svoboda whose sisters both play for the Marauders as well, and is already making a name for herself on the team, noted a pair of tries against the Lions and leading the group of incoming players who look to make an impact on a successful program.
The next team in their way is the Western Mustangs, who they will face on Sept 15 at 5 p.m. While the Marauders enjoyed a bye week during which they were able to focus more on core aspects of their game, they will maintain the same mantra while in London.
“We’ve been thinking of that one word and how we got to punch up the line and make them feel punished for playing us.”
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Say goodbye to the CIS.
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is no more, as the league has rebranded to U Sports following a press conference on Oct. 20, 2016.
Under new CEO Graham Brown, the rebrand aims to revive what is a stale product.
“We’ve been working really hard to get in front of corporate Canada,” Brown said in an interview with the Toronto Star. “They’re passionate about university sport. We just have to convince them that we’re a good opportunity for marketing [and] for promotion.”
A lack of funding has plagued Canadian university sports for years, and it should not be a surprise to see dollars and cents as the reason for the change. Currently, U Sports has around a budget of approximately $3.25 million, according to recent statements from Brown. He wants to push that budget to nearly $10 million in three years.
The rebrand is supposed to reengage corporate sponsors, though how that happens is not clear. U Sports officials say that a governance structure overhaul should allow the organization to bring in more sponsorships with less restrictions.
The larger questions revolve around the return of investment for corporate sponsors. Undergrads are a covetable marketing demographic, but generally speaking student engagement with university athletics is weak, and this has kept sponsors and broadcasters away.
Sportsnet dropped weekly Ontario University Athletics football coverage in 2014, citing high production costs and low viewership numbers. In that same year, Sportsnet created “Super Championship Weekend.” The event featured men’s and women’s basketball and hockey championships broadcasted nation-wide.
The broadcaster was generally happy with the event, as per the debrief found in the 2015 CIS Annual General Meeting report, but said “atmosphere and general attendance need to be addressed.” Do sponsors want to be supporting events that do not have good attendance? Given the current state of university athletics in Canada, the answer is “no.”
Weekly university football returned in 2016, with Sportsnet partnering with City TV to broadcast games. The first game was full of potential: Queen’s hosted Western, one of the oldest rivalries in the country, and Queen’s was opening their new stadium. Despite this, the game had lots of empty seats. The event did not draw well on television either, as only 18,000 tuned in to watch. That number is lower than the 28,000 the OUA was getting before Rogers nixed the broadcast deal.
Sportsnet is not the only media outlet to take a step back from university athletics coverage. Due to shrinking budgets, mainstream media cannot allocate resources to a product so niche. The Hamilton Spectator used to have significantly more McMaster Marauders coverage, but the Sports department has shrunk in recent years and university coverage is few and far between.
Based on viewership numbers, attendance and media coverage, leadership is right: the CIS brand was stale and something needed to change. The press conference and media release were full of platitudes and light on details for how this happens. It has not been a smooth launch, either.
Brown touted U Sports’ ability to be relevant in the digital landscape. They launched usports.ca after the announcement, but the main website for all information is still going to be CIS-SIC.ca until early 2017. Why would you rebrand as something more adaptable to the digital landscape, but still point people to a website littered with your old brand? It is a confusing decision.
The name change is a positive step. However, without a real strategy for engaging students and corporate sponsors, the rebrand will be a costly and ineffective endeavor. With the rollout of U Sports, the organization could have laid out the path for the future and given people a reason to believe in the change.
Instead, they spoke in generalities and left people with more questions than answers. There is reason to believe in Brown because of his experience growing Rugby Canada into a multi-million dollar organization, but if you feel skeptical, you are not alone.
