The Eyeopener — April 2, 2014

Volume 47 - Issue 23April 2, 2014

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2 Wednesday, April 2, 2014

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3Wednesday, April 2, 2014 NEWS

Theatre school building stuck with stairsA lack of elevators in the theatre school building is affecting more than just disabled students

Ryerson Theatre School students currently use the stairs to get to and from classes and performances. PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

By Sierra Bein andLaura Woodward

The Ryerson Theatre School (RTS) building’s lack of accessibility has been a problem in the past and will most likely continue to be a prob-lem in the future for all students — even those without disabilities.

Built in 1885, the three-storey RTS building has no elevators, ramps or automatic doors — just steep, narrow flights of stairs lead-ing to classrooms and theatres on the upper floors.

“I would definitely say the acces-sibility is a problem,” said second-year theatre production student, James Peters. In the past, Peters has helped carry a person in an electric wheelchair up the stairs.

“Three people had to carry the chair and two people spotted so that the chair wouldn’t get dam-aged,” he said.

“Quite often we carry people up the stairs — more often than you think.”

Peters said that while theatre production has safety standards and precautions to ensure no one gets injured, dancers often hurt themselves during practice when they do not land properly.

In March The Eyeopener wrote of a second-year dance student who had to carry her wheelchair-bound mother — who is fighting lung, bone, brain and liver can-cers — up the RTS staircase so she could watch her daughter perform.

But upon further investigation, The Eyeopener found that it is not just people with disabilities who are affected by the accessibility is-sue. Students who get injured and students who need to move props are affected as well.

For dance students, injury is nearly impossible to avoid. So are the RTS steps.

“Just the other day a girl popped out her knee and the Toronto EMS was struggling to get her to the am-bulance because of all the stairs,” said first-year dance student Stella Medley.

Sarah Mclennan, another first-year dance student, has been strug-gling to get to her classes because of her latest ankle injury.

“It’s really hard to get up and down the steps with crutches,” Mclennan said. “An elevator would be helpful.”

Peter Fleming, RTS production and operations manager, said that not having accessibility has been a

challenge for everyone. “Of course even if they were to

put an elevator into the building, all the floors are different heights anyways so you’d have to ramp between different floors,” he said.

“We could use [an elevator] to move set and costume items up and down, I mean not just for peo-ple,” Fleming said. “We carry sets up and down two and three flights of stairs. We often think ‘wouldn’t it be nice to have one.’”

Second-year theatre production student Perrin Bryson has had to move equipment and sets up the flights of stairs for the performanc-

es she’s worked on.“I’ve torn several muscles from

moving equipment or set pieces for a show,” Bryson said.

“Sometimes it puts us behind based on our schedule, if it’s heavi-er than expected. It throws off the show more than the academic part of the program,” she said.

Ryerson president Sheldon Levy acknowledged that this has been a problem. He says there has been a search for a solution since before he took his position with the uni-versity.

“We are always trying to put in money to be able to make it a

little bit better and I know that Ju-lia Hanigsberg is now talking with the theatre on [a] hybrid solution, using some of the facilities on cam-pus but not in the theatre school to help them out,” he said.

“We think an elevator would cost $3.5 to 4 million,” said Hanigsberg, vice-president of ad-ministration and finance, by email.

The university has looked at five or six different solutions, includ-ing other theatres in Toronto.

“None of them worked for what is needed by the school — the closeness the students need to this campus and the cost,” Levy said.

Getting a “higher” education in residence

Residence drug dealers are breaking bank selling to students in housing.

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

Residence drug dealers claim obstacles are slim to none for selling drugs in student housing

By Scoop W. Gerbil

Students living in residence are having no trouble finding drugs, especially considering how their dealers are only a few floors away. A first–year student living in residence distributes around $1,000 worth of marijuana each week — earning more than an average part-time minimum wage job.

The dealer told The Eyeopener anonymously that half of this money is made exclusively from sales within Ryerson’s student

residence. He gets loaned about 128

grams (4.5 ounces) of marijuana every week to sell. By the end of the week, he owes his connection $750. “I usually come out with between $200 and $400 in my pocket,” he said.

He has been distributing simi-lar amounts since he arrived at Ryerson in September and said that his original motivation for selling at school was to “help out [his] friends and smoke for free.”

“I already knew some people down here to sell to and I figured

[residence] would be a good mar-ket, plus I’d be able to support my own habits,” the dealer said.

The dealer has been smoking and selling pot out of his room since the beginning of the school year, with few obstacles from se-curity.

“They caught me with a bong once and just took it. There’s no real repercussion. Everyone I know who smokes weed in resi-dence does it in their room,” the dealer said.

A number of students in resi-dence have said security is ineffi-cient at chasing down the drugs.

An anonymous resident said he smokes in his room every night. “I smoke weed, shisha and ciga-rettes. I’ve also sold some drugs in my room,” he said.

Security and emergency ser-vices manager Tanya Fermin-Poppleton said security does not directly deal with drug-related incidents on campus, as it’s the job of the residence advisors.

“Security would get involved only if there is a security con-cern,” she said.

Student Housing Services was not able to comment on the ques-

tions regarding procedures about residence advisors are required to take when encountering drugs.

The drug market in residence is not dominated by one dealer.

Another dealer in the same building said that he makes a substantial amount of money distributing marijuana in the building — about $500 worth of profit per month.

The dealer says that he takes a number of precautions to ensure his confidentiality, but has not had any issues avoiding prob-lems with security.

“I keep my [pot] in jars be-cause it smells like a skunk’s ass. I just try to keep my head up and my head down at the same time, if you know what I mean,” he said. “I just try not to draw too much attention.”

Although pot is his most con-sistent source of revenue, the sec-ond dealer also sells MDMA.

“It’s smaller and easier to man-age and you make more money so it’s honestly worth it. But the risk of starting to [use it] is what scares me,” he said.

A student who has bought MDMA in residence said he nev-

er has difficulty finding it and has never run into issues with secu-rity.

“I’ve bought MDMA a couple [of] times. We just go up to the guy’s door and get it — $10 a pop,” the purchaser said. “It’s only in the aftermath where peo-ple get caught, when it’s already too late. Security is not doing anything to solve the problem in terms of busting people. It’s only when people have made a mis-take with the drug.”

The first dealer said that of all the inconveniences he faces, his clients are the most frustrating.

“Stoners are tardy, they’re just unpredictable. You never know when they’re going to call,” he said. “Dealing with stoners in general is just never easy, it’s hard getting two of us in the same place at the same time.”

The dealer said that he’s happy with the way his business has progressed throughout the year and is not looking to stop.

“If I was loaded I’d still be sell-ing weed,” he said. “I’ve gotten used to it, it’s fun. I like being able to have my friends come over and help them out.”

4 Wednesday, March 19, 2014EDITORIAL

Editor-in-ChiefSean “Rolling Rock”

Tepper

NewsRamisha “Coors”

FarooqDylan “Corona” Freeman-Grist

Associate NewsSierra “Coors Light” Bein

Biz and TechBadri “Beck” Murali

Arts and LifeLeah “Sam Adams”

Hansen

CommunitiesNicole “Heineken” Schmidt

Head Copy EditorAllison “Miller Lite”

Tierney Elkin

FunJake “any kind” Scott

MediaBehdad “research”

Mahichi

OnlineLindsay “Magic Hat” Boeckl

John “Guinness” Shmuel

General ManagerLiane “PBR” McLarty

Advertising ManagerChris “Canadian Club”

Roberts

Design DirectorJ.D. “Newcastle” Mowat

Sports Edition

Creative Director: Shannon “MGD” Baldwin

Design Director:Sean “Bud Light” Wetselaar

Staff Writers:Tristan “Hulk” Simpson

Krista “Swordplay” RobinsonMichael “Soccer”

Grace-DacostaSarah “Volleyball” Cunningham-Scharf

Josh “Hockey” BeneteauDaniel “Basketball” RocchiDaniel “Basketball Jones”

MorandDevin “Hockey Again” JonesMonique “Dribble” HutsonNitish “Skating” Brissonauth

Photography: Natalia “Canadian”

BalcerzakJess “Sapporo” TsangFarnia “Singha” Fekri

Marissa “Stella Artois” Dederer

Intern ArmyLuke “Too” Peters

Jacob “Young” Dalfen-BrownVanessa “Under” Ruperto

Raiyana “Age” Parekh

ContributorsRob “cat” ForemanBlair “glory” Tate

Igor “Dragon” NesterenkoSam “Thrones” YohannesAlex “Drogo” Godlewski

Charlie “booze” BossyLaura “Fries” WoodwardBrennan “Uno” DohertyEmily “Dos” TheodoreEmma “Tres” Poisson

Keith “cuatro” CapstickVanda “cinco” Urbanellis

Rebecca “sizzurp” Goss

EIC slain: “He had no patience for useless things”

I’m writing this in hiding, the rea-son — I may be responsible for the death of Eyeopener editor-in-chief Sean Tepper. I’m not saying I did, that would be hearsay. HEARSAY.

A long, high-tension cover meet-ing led news editor Sierra Bien to pitch a story about bouncy castles. The context is not important, what is important is that when on-line editor Lindsay Boeckl asked, nay demanded it be on cover, Tepper shot the idea down mid-air — a classic Sean move, which has become known as “being Tep-pered.” Boeckl then called for her comrades “to rise.”

The citizens of Photopia and

The Republic of News broke into a paper airplane battle before a neutral party member, one Johnny Depp, called for reconciliation and all members of masthead plot-ted together for Tepper’s demise.

After the meeting, Tepper went into a Hearthstone binge. He grinded for hours and lost a game, one star from legendary. After-wards, he was inconsolable — he was only able to repeat, “Fucking Ragnaros.” Later that night, he also lost his basketball game and sunk deeper into depression.

Features editor Sean Wetselaar led the revolt, which Tepper didn’t see coming due to his depression.

He was blindsided despite the pe-tition delivered to him earlier that day warning of the revolt if the cover font was not changed. (He ripped that up, stating “my vote is the only one that matters.”)

The masthead then marched into his office, and forced Tepper on to the peeling, disgusting paint of Gould Street, where they tied him to the road. They inflated a bouncy castle on top of him and jumped in it — a just punishment for his crimes, according to photo editor Natalia Balcerzak. It was not until later that they found he had died — stabbed in the heart by the edge of his most valuable possession, his Starbucks gold card.

He’d managed to untie himself and began to write what seemed like a plea for help in the liquid from his venti-foam-no-whip-chai-latte-with-a-triple-shot. The only distinguishable word was “Bro…”

The masthead took his emp-ty Starbucks mug, stuck it to a large stick and paraded it to his apartment (which is practically a penthouse, bourgeois bastard). We then ceremonially shredded and burned his comic books. In-cidentally, the masthead of The Eyeopener would like to take this moment to formally deny that this had anything to do with the six-alarm blaze at the same address later that day.

We put his bobble heads in the oven too. We have no shame about that one.

A brief candlelit vigil was held at the Silver Snail. Sports editor Shannon Baldwin, who was in at-tendance, said, “I hope you don’t rest in peace. If only you had put a bouncy castle on cover.”

All RSU members (full time undergrads and full and part-time grads) are eligible to vote on by-law changes, motions, & set direction!

For more info on your membership in the Students’ Union visit www.rsuonline.ca

ASL interpretation provided. If we need other accommodations to ensure your participation, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

5:00pm Registration5:30pm Start

SCC115Student Centre

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RSU Spring General Meeting

Annual General Meeting of the Ryerson Students’ Union

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• Exercise your democratic right

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FREE DINNER

5Wednesday, April 2, 2014 NEWS

Presidential search continues

News Bites

The Ryerson presidential search committee hosted a student-only town hall April 1. Students gave their input on who they think should replace Sheldon Levy at the end of his term next year.

The event took place in the Sears Atrium of the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre. The committee will use student opinions to help compile a working model of their ideal candidate to assist them in their search.

RSU meeting mo-tions announced

The Ryerson Students’ Union’s (RSU) annual spring general meeting will take place April 2 in in room 115 of the Student Cam-pus Centre.

The meeting will be held to de-termine the priorities of the RSU in the upcoming school year. All full-time undergraduate and graduate students can attend the meeting and contribute to the discussion.

The RSU holds two general meetings per year. The last gen-eral meeting was Nov. 13. Ryerson president Sheldon Levy topped Ryerson’s “Sunshine List,” making a total of $370,475 before benefits.

ILLuStRatIon BY LInDSaY BoECKL

Rye’s top salaries revealed The annual “Sunshine List” reveals Ryerson’s top earnersBy Brennan Doherty

Last year, 949 Ryerson faculty members made over $100,000. This is 57 more than in 2012, ac-cording to Ontario’s public sector salary disclosure statement, also known as the annual “Sunshine List.”

The list is a publicly available document released annually by the provincial government that gives the name, organization and sal-ary of any individual employed by the government or a government agency who makes over $100,000 a year.

Ryerson became subject to the disclosure statement in 2006. Topping the list for Ryerson, president Sheldon Levy took home $370,475 last year with an addi-tional $20,575 in benefits.

He saw a $54,000 decrease in total earnings from last year.

Levy said that inflation needs to be taken into account when con-sidering public sector salaries.

He made $445,780 in 2013 thanks to a one-time bonus of over $80,000. This bonus was granted

because base salary increases of $80,000 or more for senior admin-istration is illegal.

Levy told The Eyeopener in 2013 that he could not defer the bonus, so he donated it to student scholarships. He hopes to do the same this year.

“I sometimes get a bonus and I don’t take it and it goes towards some student need or something like that,” Levy said.

Of the remaining nine highest-paid staff after Levy, five hold the title of provost, vice-president or executive lead positions and receive base salaries between $287,498 and $331,226.

Two professors and a dean take up spaces seven to nine, with pro-fessor of electrical and computer engineering Anastasios Venet-sanopoulos making $271,087.

Faculty of community services dean Usha George made $249,542 and computer science profes-sor Alexander Ferworn raked in $245,827 in base salary.

John Isbister, the vice-provost of faculty affairs, finished off the top ten list with a base salary of

$236,135.Isbister and the vice-president of

research and innovation, Wendy Cukier, both saw their salaries de-crease by less than $5,000.

In the case of Adam Kahan, the vice-president of university advancement, his annual salary dropped by more than $15,000.

Most salaries dropped slightly with the exception of Mohamed Lachemi, the provost and vice-president academic, who saw a base salary boost of almost $32,000.

However, Lachemi moved from the position of dean for the faculty of engineering and architectural science to vice-provost.

The two professors and the dean who made the top ten list for Ry-erson saw an average salary boost of 4.5 per cent from last year.

Public employees on the list this year made an average of $127,433 — a slight decrease from last year, with the highest-paid employee being the president and CEO of Ontario Power Gen-eration, Tom Mitchell, who made $1.71 million.

6 Wednesday, April 2, 2014ARTS & LIFE

School of fashion students gear up for another year of Mass Exodus, the largest student-run fashion production in the world

On April 3, the largest student-run fashion production on the planet will again take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, con-tinuing a 26-year-old tradition

By LeahHansen

of industry-standard design and hard work.

One of the most anticipated nights of a Ryerson fashion stu-dent’s university career, Mass Exodus draws industry profes-sionals, students and fashion af-ficionados from across the GTA to the runway shows and exhibit, which together make up the pro-

duction as we know it. The runway offers fashion de-

sign students a chance for their pieces to be seen by potential em-ployers and clients. The exhibit displays all capstone projects pro-duced by fashion communication students. Their final theses often incorporate various types of me-dia, including photography, visual

elements, illustration and graphic design.

Presented by the school of fash-ion, the show is entirely student-produced and includes expertise from a variety of schools within Ryerson including theatre and ra-dio and televsion arts.

For this year’s production, we’ve brought together previews,

a series of student profiles, photo galleries and videos in a celebra-tion of students’ hard work and dedication.

The runway shows will take place at 12:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. and the exhibit will be open to the public on April 3.

For more Mass Exodus content, visit www.theeyeopener.com

Amy Tahmizian’s outerwear col-lection, titled Chappelle, is dedi-cated to her late grandfather, Arthur J. Chappelle. The colours of her leather and wool garments are inspired by her grandfather’s watercolour paintings from the 1960s.

After placing third in last year’s Danier Design Challenge, Tah-mizian, a fourth-year fashion de-sign student, realized her passion for working with leather and got Chappelle sponsored by Danier.

Next September, the Aurora native will be continuing her fashion degree for a fifth year due to her commitment on Ryerson’s varsity soccer team. She hopes to work with a large company after graduation to build her business skills before potentially starting her own line.

Tahmizian said she’s excited to have her mother watch her trib-ute to her grandfather unfold on the runway this Thursday.

“For all of us, this is it. I think I’ll be crying the whole day,” she said.

During her recent internship in Germany, fourth-year fashion communication student Catrina Chen was inspired to explore the conventions of masculinity and femininity. For Mass Exodus, Chen created a garment that is meant to challenge gender norms.

“I’ve known I’ve wanted to be in fashion since I was a little girl,” Chen said. “Everyone in my family is in fashion.”

Chen’s garment can be trans-formed into 10 different pieces, which will be showcased at the Mass Exodus exhibit on Thurs-day. Her piece will offer a per-sonalized experience for each user with adjustable hemlines, removable sleeves and addition-al components.

“There hasn’t been a minute where I haven’t though about [my design],” Chen said. “I nev-er want to stop thinking about it.”

Amy Tahmizian holds up a photo of her grandfather, who inspired her collection.

PHOTO: MIKAILA KUKURUDZA


Catrina Chen’s design explores the conventions of gender norms.

For more student profiles, visit www.theeyeopener.com

Preview: the runway

Preview: the exhibit

Setting the international stage

Design student Alannah Lindberg adjusts her piece on a model.


Fashion design and communication students are hard at work preparing for Mass Exodus, which takes place on April 3 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.


By Mikaila Kukurudza

In the days leading up to this year’s Mass Exodus, students are putting the final touches on their collections to get them runway-ready.

“What you see on the runway is strictly the vision of the de-signer,” said Henry Navarro, a school of fashion professor and member of the Mass Exodus 2014 production team.

The student-run production is becoming more and more popu-lar, Navarro said. This year, the Mass Exodus production team had to readjust the structure of the stage after selling 25 per cent over the expected number of tickets within the first two weeks.

Mass Exodus hosts two run-way shows. The first will be held at 12:30 p.m. and runs just under two hours. Vice-president and buying director of The Room, a

luxury women’s department at the Hudson’s Bay Company, will choose the best pieces from the first show to appear again on the runway in the curated show, held at 6 p.m.

“Fashion is a very competitive industry,” Navarro said. “We want to give our students a real-istic opportunity. We try to mim-ic in our program what happens in real life.”

Before student designers’ col-lections are confirmed to be in either show, students must have their designs approved by a pan-el of professors and industry rep-resentatives.

“The idea is that the curator is making his or her selection based on the industry standards,” Na-varro said. “It is no longer on what the school of fashion is say-ing, it’s about what the industry is saying.”

For the full preview, visit www.theeyeopener.com

This year’s Mass Exodus exhibit will be a showcase of thesis work from Ryerson’s fourth-year fash-ion design and communication students. Each student’s work for the show is their final assignment before graduation. The event al-lows students to showcase their talent and what they’ve been working on since September.

Knox Adams, a fourth-year fash-ion communication student who is presenting his capstone project at the exhibit, has prepared an online makeover web series. The project concentrates on how clothing and makeup shape the perception of people.

“I focused on size, age, gender, environment and race,” he said. Thursday is the first time audiences will get to see Adams’s videos.

The exhibit, which is viewable from the entrance to the runway, is an opportunity for industry profes-sionals to see the talent coming out of the school of fashion.

“It gets the students’ names out there,” Adams said.

This year, many students have chosen video as their medium. As a result, the production team is intro-ducing a screening room to the ex-hibit. With 30 seats, students’ proj-ects will be shown in the screening room at scheduled times.

Mass Exodus 2014 will also see the introduction of a mobile app. The app will give audiences a guide to all the presentations and profiles of the students. Each pro-file includes information about the student, their work and their social media information, making con-necting with favourite exhibitors simple.

The Mass Exodus exhibit will be open to the public on April 3.

By Alex Heck

The faces of

Mass Exodus Mikaila Kukurudza takes a look at some of the students behind the production

7Wednesday, April 2, 2014 COMMUNITIES

Meet Ryerson’s Rebecca Black.PHOTO: MIKAILA KUKURUDZA

Ryerson’s own Rebecca Black

By Jacob Cohen

Fridays have been scientifi cally proven to be the best day of the week — just ask Rebecca Black. After waking up at 7 a.m., she goes downstairs to have her cereal — looking fresh, as always.

Although 2011 is long gone, Rebecca Black is making head-lines once again.

You may have seen her around Ryerson’s Ram in the Rye or Oakham Café, or in her offi ce on the second fl oor of the Student Campus Centre (SCC). That’s be-cause Rebecca Black is the assis-tant food and beverage manager for both restaurants in the SCC — not the American teen who once took the internet by storm.

Living in the shadow of a ce-lebrity isn’t easy. For starters, there are always important deci-sions to be made — like whether to sit in the front seat or the back seat. Then of course, there’s the entourage. Black is constantly be-ing heckled by crazed fans looking for a little love. After the hit single Friday was released, she received dozens of tweets and emails.

“I get a lot of friend requests and messages saying, ‘I’m such a big fan, please add me!”’ Black said over a free cup of coffee at the Ram — one of the many perks that come with fame.

Black, a graduate of Ryerson’s journalism program, used to live a tranquil life before that fateful Friday. Some messages she has re-ceived are humorous, while others have been downright misleading.

Black received an email from an individual wanting to start a pod-cast project. Given her degree and previous experience in radio, she was excited about the proposition.

“I said ‘Oh that sounds great, I’m interested, but I’m sorry I don’t know you, who sent you my way?’ And he said ‘I’m just a nobody, but I really need your star power to make this project happen.’ Then I realized he thought I was the [fa-mous] Rebecca Black,” Black said.

Rebecca Black may have dragged the name down into infamy, but Ryerson’s Rebecca Black has en-joyed the ride. She’ll even crack a Friday joke every now and then — after all, she is always ready to get down.

Former Ryerson chancellor, Raymond Chang, placed a bid of $10,000 for Tessanne Chin, the season fi ve winner of NBC’s The Voice, to perform her fi rst song in Canada. Read the story at www.theeyeopener.com.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS

Northbound to NunavutBy Sidney O’Reilly

Students build greenhouses to help an impoverished community

In a small community in Nunavut just off the shore of Hudson Bay, grocery costs are nearly six times the amount of prices in Toronto. Because of this, more than half of the people in the community are unable to feed their families week to week. A group of Ryerson stu-dents are hoping to change this.

Enactus Ryerson, a student-run organization that allows students and faculty to work together on innovative projects across Canada, is embarking on an initiative called Project North this July in hopes of alleviating struggles that the 748 residents in this community face.

“Being a proud Canadian, see-ing and hearing of poverty in our

northern communities makes me sick,” said Ben Canning, co-project manager of Project North.

They will spend three weeks in Repulse Bay, Nunavut building a wind-and-solar-powered green-house. The unconventional dome-shaped structure will supply fresh vegetation at an 80 per cent price reduction. The project itself has a budget of about $300,000.

But the greenhouse isn’t the only task the team will be undertaking — they’re also hoping to educate the community on maintaining the gardens year round.

“We’re going into high schools to teach agriculture and the ben-efi ts of off-the-grid farming,” said Sonya Noronha, vice-president of human resources and member de-

velopment for Enactus Ryerson.Since Repulse Bay is so far north,

the group will experience periods of 24-hour darkness and 24-hour sunlight. Because of this, the green-house needs to be “off-the-grid.” It doesn’t rely on electricity, but rath-er wind turbines and solar panels that power the dome during the summer months and store energy for the dark winter months.

Though Noronha said it’s pos-sible that smaller, privately owned domes may exist, this will be the fi rst time a dome of this scale has been constructed as a farming and community project. It will also be the fi rst greenhouse as far north in the Arctic Circle as Repulse Bay.

Find the full story at www.theeyeopener.com

Big voice, big bucks

THE WISESBy Josh Beneteau

SPORTS ISSUECelebrating Ryerson’s stand-out athletes of the year

8 Wednesday, April 2, 2014SPORTS ISSUE

There’s really nothing like a hockey dad. They tie your skates, build you rinks and teach you everything you know about the game. For Ja-mie Wise, it even meant being the water boy for the York University Lions, getting to ride the team bus and spending as much time at the rink as he could. But by coaching at York, Ja-mie’s father, Graham Wise, was mostly with the team and wasn’t home as much as he wishes he had been.

“It’s probably something I regret,” Gra-ham says. “You look back on it and that’s one thing I tell young coaches right now with families — is you really have to balance it be-cause it goes by so quick.”

It was Jamie’s mother Sue — a former track and fi eld coach at York — who would drive her two sons to practice and games. She had to take a teaching position in the kinesiology department and stop coaching track and fi eld so that she could spend time getting her sons where they needed to be. But she could tell early on that Jamie was going to be a great hockey player.

“He was athletic and saw the game well,” she says. “He was passionate about the sport.”

After 19 years with the York Lions, Gra-ham made the move to Ryerson in 2006. So when Sue found out Jamie would be joining the Rams, she was very excited. She says she tries to go to as many games as she can and is glad they are fi nding success together.

“It’s special to see them both reaching their goals,” she says. “I know it’s been a long, hard road with Ryerson and this was a really fun year.”

Graham just fi nished his eighth season with the Rams and Jamie his fi rst. Together they

have created a very strong team — leading Ry-erson’s men’s hockey team to their best regular season record, 17-11-0, good for third in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) west divi-sion.

Jamie says he was happy to be able to go through this historic season with his father.

“It was good for [dad] to turn around Ry-erson,” Jamie says. “Ryerson used to get two wins a season, so it’s good to do it with him.”

Jamie has seemingly found his place at Ry-erson as the team’s top scorer and the second-leading scorer in the country. With 21 goals this season, his teammates agree that he has proven himself on the ice and is more than just the ‘coach’s son.’ Outgoing captain An-drew Buck says Jamie leads by example more than anything else.

“Obviously he’s a really good player, but he doesn’t act like it,” Buck says. “He’s a pretty humble guy and he really wants to win.”

Graham and Jamie both emphasize the im-portance of keeping their relationship profes-sional when around the team. They agree that to be successful, Jamie has to be treated like any other guy on the team.

“When we’re in the environment of the team, then it is a coach-player relationship. When we’re at home, it’s a father-son relationship,” Graham says. “We probably watch more golf together [than hockey].”

Although the Rams lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Lakehead University Thun-derwolves, both Jamie and Graham were recog-nized by the OUA for their accomplishments. Graham was named OUA West coach of the year and Jamie was named a fi rst-team all-star.

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

For extra content, complete galleries and to vote for your favourite athlete, visit www.theeyeopener.com

KENECAPINGUE-GILES

It was 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, March 23 when Keneca Pingue-Giles decided to pick up and go to Winnipeg. After throwing some clothes into a backpack, she hailed a cab and had just about an hour to make it to Toronto Pearson International Airport to catch her 10:30 p.m. fl ight. In the car, she took to her iPhone, frantically trying to book a ticket online. She says it was the most spontaneous thing she has ever done.

On the court, she’s Ryerson’s star guard. But off the court, she is a big sister — a big sister who bought a $400 plane ticket to Manitoba so that she could surprise her 15-year-old sister, who is on her high school’s var-sity basketball team and had a provincial championship game the next day.

“She ran up to me and she started crying and I started cry-ing and it was just a super-nice moment. I’m really glad that I went,” Pingue-Giles says. “And I know she appreciated having her older sister there to support her.” Thirty-fi ve hours later she was back on a plane to Toronto.

The third-year criminal jus-tice student and aspiring law-yer strives to support others the way she was supported on her journey to becoming the Ontar-io University Athletics (OUA) all-star that she is today.

“This is my fi rst year being injury-free so I actually had the opportunity to show all my tal-ents this season… but [being an OUA all-star] was something I wasn’t even expecting,” Pingue-Giles says. “If I can go to prac-tice and be as effi cient as pos-sible and get shots up and help my team, then it’s a success to me whether we win or lose.”

Pingue-Giles achieved career highs in almost every statistical category this season — leading the team with 12.9 points per game and more than doubling her rebounds.

Born in Winnipeg to parents of Caribbean descent, Pingue-Giles realized that she loved

basketball when she was 10 years old. She was enrolled in the Boys and Girls Club of Canada — an elementary after-school program that organizes various activities for children, like time for gym and help with homework. She thanks former volunteer George Bain Pacolba for sparking her inter-est in basketball.

“Anytime we had to do some-thing sports-wise, I would al-ways go to George. He was the basketball guy and would help me no matter what,” she says. “Even if just the boys wanted to play, he would make them play with me... he was like the older brother of the group.”

Pingue-Giles spent eight years in the Boys and Girls Club and volunteered for four years after leaving elementary school. In 2011, she was invited by former Rams coach Charles Kissi to at-tend training camp and received a basketball scholarship to at-tend Ryerson in the fall. But she still keeps volunteering close to her heart.

The day after a three-point loss to University of Toronto on Feb. 19 — the team’s fi rst and fi nal playoff game of the season — the team was sched-uled to hold a basketball clinic at Island Public School in To-ronto to work with younger students and teach them drills. Some players were reluctant to go, still upset from the previous night’s game, but Pingue-Giles focused on “just helping out the kids.” The team worked with Grade 2 students, who were as-signed to each draw a picture of their role model. Little did she know that one student would decide to draw her.

“I had only spent a couple of hours with her and I was al-ready her role model,” Pingue-Giles says. “It just shows the power that sport can have on someone, physically and aca-demically. You learn skills that you can use forever.”

Pingue-Giles says it was her proudest moment off the court.

By Monique Hutson

Wednesday, April 2, 2014 9SPORTS ISSUE

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI


LISAMAKEEVA

If you ask Rams basketball player Jean-Victor Mukama to share the se-cret to his award-winning season, he won’t give you shooting tips or train-ing advice.

He’ll tell you it started with an at-titude adjustment.

“I think my strength right now is I’m willing to learn from anybody,” Mukama says. “I had times when I would be stubborn and pick and choose who I would listen to. But since I’ve been [at Ryerson], I’m way more humble, I’m way more willing to listen to anybody.”

The 19-year-old shooting guard says it was this change that helped lead him to becoming the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East rook-ie of the year.

Mukama appeared in all 22 confer-ence games for the Rams this season, starting in six of them while averag-ing 16.5 minutes per game and rack-ing up 145 points and 66 rebounds. His 26 steals and 10 blocks were also good enough for ranking second and fourth on the team, respectively.

Those statistics are indicative of the commitment that the Quebec na-tive admits he lacked during his high school basketball days at École sec-ondaire Académie catholique Mère-Teresa, a Catholic French-immersion school in Hamilton, Ont.

“I was just kind of standing around,

pretending to play defence and when it was offence, I would play 100 per cent,” Mukama says. He outgrew these habits under Ryerson head coach Roy Rana’s defence-focused system.

But Mukama also acknowledges that the advantage his towering six-foot-eight frame gives him over other guards doesn’t hurt either. “Just by standing there, it changes someone’s shot,” he says. “They want to shoot because they can’t see the rim some-times. When I put my hand up it’s even worse.”

Mukama is now an inch taller than his listed height from the beginning of the season, but he’s no stranger to such a pace. He estimates that when he entered high school, he was about fi ve-foot-nine. By the time he left, he was six-foot-six and people were start-ing to take notice of his play.

One of those people was Rana, who is also a coach with the Canadian ju-nior men’s national team. He fi rst met Mukama when he invited him to try out for the squad. Though Mukama didn’t make that team — which in-cluded the likes of Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Ennis who have entered the 2014 National Basketball Association (NBA) drafts — the relationship he developed with Rana during that time helped make Ryerson his destination of choice over a number of Canadian and American schools.

JEAN-VICTORMUKAMA

By Nitish Bissonauth

PHOTOS BY JESS TSANG

Representing Ryerson is a routine Lisa Makeeva has been gracefully doing since day one. In her rookie season as a Ram, Makeeva won an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) gold medal in the gold free skate event and she’s been medalling every year since. In her third year with the Rams, Makeeva is without a doubt an important fi gure for the program — winning gold, sil-ver and bronze in three events at the 2013–14 OUAs held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Makeeva’s journey to success started only a few blocks away at Moss Park Arena. “When I was fi ve, my mother decided to take me to a public skating session and I guess I liked it enough to keep coming back every week,” she says.

Both of Makeeva’s parents were ath-letes, so it was important that she be-came involved in some kind of sport. She explored ballet and rhythmic gym-nastics for several years before eventu-ally sticking to skating.

“Just like most kids attend school and don’t really question it, skating was just another part of my daily rou-tine and something I enjoyed doing,” Makeeva says. “As I got older, I began to take it more seriously.”

She trained at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ont. and at the age of 14, she got the opportunity to train in St. Petersburg, Russia — which she describes as one of the best things that happened to her through skating.

“Through this experience I got to learn more about the Russian culture and train with some of the best coach-es in the world,” she says. “It was a rewarding three years, but at the same

time it was very challenging to be away from my family at the age of 14.”

Makeeva says she was lucky to be surrounded by supportive friends who welcomed her into their families while she was in Russia.

“My life now does not revolve around skating as it used to in the past,” she says. “Having said that, without skating, I wouldn’t be the per-son I am today and it defi nitely taught me some of my most important life les-sons.”

Like most athletes, Makeeva has a secret to her success on the ice. A stuffed toy elephant on skates follows her in her skating bag everywhere she goes. As for the signifi cance, she says there is no special meaning behind it, just that elephants bring her good luck.

“Elephants are just sort of my good luck charm and people [who] know me well tend to give me elephant gifts,” she says.

Makeeva also likes to drink cof-fee and eat dark chocolate the day of competition, and right before she hits the ice she drinks something citrus to wake herself up.

It may not be the usual pre-compe-tition diet — especially for a nutrition and food student — but it does the trick and will continue to do so since she doesn’t plan om walking away from skating anytime soon.

Makeeva says she will be skating for the Rams in her fourth year and then continuing to work as a coach after she graduates.

“Having a clean skate and landing all your triples after so many years of practice is a great feeling.”

11Wednesday, April 2, 2014 SPORTS ISSUE

pretending to play defence and when it was offence, I would play 100 per cent,” Mukama says. He outgrew these habits under Ryerson head coach Roy Rana’s defence-focused system.

But Mukama also acknowledges that the advantage his towering six-foot-eight frame gives him over other guards doesn’t hurt either. “Just by standing there, it changes someone’s shot,” he says. “They want to shoot because they can’t see the rim some-times. When I put my hand up it’s even worse.”

Mukama is now an inch taller than his listed height from the beginning of the season, but he’s no stranger to such a pace. He estimates that when he entered high school, he was about fi ve-foot-nine. By the time he left, he was six-foot-six and people were start-ing to take notice of his play.

One of those people was Rana, who is also a coach with the Canadian ju-nior men’s national team. He fi rst met Mukama when he invited him to try out for the squad. Though Mukama didn’t make that team — which in-cluded the likes of Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Ennis who have entered the 2014 National Basketball Association (NBA) drafts — the relationship he developed with Rana during that time helped make Ryerson his destination of choice over a number of Canadian and American schools.

“He’s committed, he works hard, he loves the game and does it the right way — very respectful, very polite,” Rana says. “He’s a high-character kid, the kind of kid you want in your program.”

Mukama is in the fi rst year of a child and youth care degree, a program he fi rst heard about while struggling to decide what to do after high school.

He isn’t certain where it will take him, but he’s confi dent that it’s a natu-ral fi t for his philanthropic aspirations.

“I don’t know for sure what I’m go-ing to do, but I know it has to do with helping the community and helping kids,” he says.

“Even if I don’t play basketball [or] even if I play pro, I’m going to have a good impact on the community wher-ever I am, helping people.”

In the meantime Mukama has his sights set on next season, when Ry-erson hosts the Canadian Interuni-versity Sport (CIS) men’s basketball championships.

As the host team, the Rams will automatically qualify for the tourna-ment in what will be the fi nal season for many of the team’s veterans. Mu-kama is eager to repay the teammates who have helped him grow on and off the court.

“We have to do everything we can to make sure they leave with a nation-al championship,” he says.

JEAN-VICTORMUKAMA

By Daniel Rocchi

JULIELONGMAN

By Tristan Simpson

Julie Longman is similar to the In-credible Hulk. No, the fi ve-foot seven-inch libero doesn’t turn green and smash every competitor on the wrong side of the net, but she says, “The Hulk would represent me be-cause off the court I’m small [but] when I’m on the court I have a big presence.”

A libero specializes in defensive skills and wears a contrasting jersey colour from his or her teammates. They are not allowed to block or attack the ball when it is entirely above the net and they can replace any back-row player without prior notice to the offi cials. The women’s volleyball team has only two liberos on its roster.

“As the libero, I take control of the backcourt,” Longman says. “I enjoy the challenge. You have to pass the ball perfectly every time.”

Longman’s pre-game routine is to get mentally prepared by listening to Eminem tracks. “The old stuff, not the new stuff,” says says.

The Newmarket-native is an in-

tegral part of Ryerson’s women’s volleyball team. Her 3.79 digs per game average leads the team and ranks seventh in the Ontario Univer-sity Athletics (OUA). She was also named the OUA East libero of the year and selected as a member of the all-rookie team. But she admits that she wasn’t expecting the challenge. “Not once was I told I was going to be our starting libero,” she says.

Longman started playing competi-tive volleyball in grade school and had the chance to watch Ryerson’s women’s volleyball team play in her fi nal year of high school. “I remem-ber watching them play last year and I liked the dynamics and how they played together,” she says. After head coach Dustin Ried approached her to join the Rams, “It’s been all Ryerson [ever since].”

But her success on the court hasn’t always transferred to her academ-ics. Longman says the transition to university from high school was her biggest obstacle.

“School is not my specialty, but I

know I have to work hard in it to be successful,” the fi rst-year economics and fi nance student said. Longman wanted to succeed in all aspects of her time at Ryerson, so she changed her work ethic completely. Now she prides herself on being able to pro-duce in both athletics and academ-ics. “I knew coming in my fi rst year I would have to prove myself in school before I can play,” she says.

Longman has a strong determina-tion to achieve her goals. The sea-son is over, but Longman says she won’t stop working. This summer she plans to play beach volleyball with her teammates to continue de-veloping her game. Unlike indoor volleyball, the beach game will re-quire her to dig and spike — which could be the chance for her inner-Hulk to start smashing.

“Outside of volleyballl I think people would think I’m boring,” she says. But if Longman ever did have to stop playing volleyball, she says her life would be simple — “just work hard and make money.”


ADAMANAGNOSTOPOULOS

By Sarah Cunningham-Scharf

Adam Anagnostopoulos came into his rookie season on Ryer-son’s men’s volleyball team with a couple of lofty goals: to receive the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s volleyball rookie of the year award and to be named to both the OUA and Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) all-rookie all-star team. The driven 19-year-old knew he’d have to work hard to carve out his role as the team’s starting setter in order to get the playtime needed to achieve those goals.

Not only did he accomplish all of this, but he was named assis-tant captain and led his team to the fi nal four in the OUA men’s volleyball playoffs.

Anagnostopoulos says that fi nding out he had achieved these recognitions was a relief. “For me, my goals push me but they kind of weigh on my shoul-ders at the same time. I was happy when my coach told me [about receiving rookie of the year] before the quarter-fi nals. He did the same thing with the CIS team before the semifi nals and that was another load off.”

From his warm personality, you wouldn’t expect the blonde-haired Anagnostopoulos to be a competitive person, but he’s been an athlete for most of his life. He grew up loving basket-ball, but in Grade 9 he attended a Kitchener-Waterloo Predators competitive volleyball club try-out for fun. Afterwards, then-coach Barrett Schitka convinced Anagnostopoulos to stick with volleyball. “The fi rst thing he said to me was ‘I’m going to change your mind about basket-

ball,’” Anagnostopoulos says.Now, Anagnostopoulos is

Ryerson’s OUA and CIS all-star setter — leading the OUA with 441 total assists and ranking fourth in assists per game with an average of 9.59. But even Ryerson’s best can have bad — and sometimes embarrassing — days on the court.

“We have a team policy that if you ever serve it under the net, you have to pull down your shorts and make your next serve. And everyone starts clapping and everyone’s obvi-ously looking at you,” he says. “I had to do that at Royal Mili-tary College — it isn’t the place to do that.”

While he has fun with his team, one of the biggest factors in Anagnostopoulos’s decision to attend Ryerson and play for the Rams was the draw of the creative industries program. He is adamant that his focus should, fi rst and foremost, be on his education.

“I likely won’t be playing volleyball in four years. We’re student athletes and the student comes fi rst,” he says.

After achieving — and sur-passing — his goals for his fi rst season as a Ram, Anagnosto-poulos is looking forward to his next three years on the team.

“As a team, I think we can go all the way — top four in Cana-da, we have the talent,” he says. “For myself, I’d obviously like to make fi rst or second-team all-star. And I hope I can keep that [starting setter] position next year, that’s my goal.”

PHOTO: MARISSA DEDERER


JAHMALJONES

AARONBEST

By Daniel Morand

Jahmal Jones and Aaron Best may be the Rams’ leading scorers, but don’t expect to fi nd them in a club popping bottles after a big win or at a restaurant discussing the victory over eight-ounce steaks. After each game, the due are back on the court for up to an hour taking jump shots and focusing on what matters most — basketball.

It’s a routine that gives the teammates-turned-roommates peace of mind. “As an athlete, it’s always nice to know that you’re always pre-pared,” Best says. “It’s a precautionary method. It’s something that you get into the groove of doing and it became a ritual.”

With a 17-3 record in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) confer-ence games, it’s hard to blame Jones and Best for enjoying their time on home court. Both have been named OUA all-stars and this season saw Jones become the second-leading scorer in Ryerson history, averaging 19.1 points per game. Jones was also named to the OUA fi rst-team all-star team for the third time in his career. Best’s scoring ability this season was second only to Jones — averaging more than 10 points per game.

While they have found success together as Rams, their relationship extends years before either considered Ryerson as their post-secondary school of choice. At 15 years old, Best played alongside Jones in the Ontario basketball development program. Years later, the friendship they developed on the court as teenagers helped infl uence Best to join the Rams basketball team with as long-time teammate was Ryerson’s starting point-guard.

From the get-go, their chemistry in the Rams basketball program was obvious. In Best’s second game as a Ram, Jones jokingly taunted the rookie to showcase his high-fl ying talents. “I want a dunk from you, I

want a dunk from you,” Jones teased. Best made good on the request and bested a George Brown College player with a one-handed dunk — Jones was the fi rst to run over to him and celebrate.

“When I came here, he was one of the fi rst guys to really show me the ropes,” Best says. “He’s defi nitely someone who leads by example and I look to him for that.”

Since Jones embraced his leadership role as Ryerson’s starting point-guard, he and Best have led the Rams from OUA bottom-dwellers to being nationally ranked. In Jones and Best’s fi rst year playing together, the Rams fi nished second in the OUA East — the best conference fi nish in over 20 years.

When playing together, the pair thrive in transition. The point-guard fi nds Best sprinting up court to attack the rim. That cookie-cutter play is tough to handle for even the quickest of defences and has been re-peated countless times this season.

The duo laughs off comparisons to Batman and Robin. Yet, their friendship has all the makings of a leader-apprentice dynamic. “I’m the bad cop,” Jones says of his relationship with his teammate. “[But] sometimes you got to reel him in and tell him ‘its alright, you’re still growing, you’re going to make mistakes.’”

The Canadian Interuniversity Sports Final 8 will take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre next year in what is Jones’s fi nal season as a Ryerson Ram. Coach Roy Rana is looking to improve his team’s third-place fi nish in the OUA East, and Jones wants to deliver Ryerson its fi rst-ever national championship. “Knowing that nationals is in our backyard, we have no excuses,” Jones says. “I guess teams will see what we really have to offer in front of our friends, family and school.”

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI


ALEXBRALETIC

Realizing that he is about to be surrounded by Nipissing University defenders in the third game of the season, Alex Braletic decides to launch a shot from well outside the box. The opposing keeper never stood a chance against the brilliance of Braletic. The fi fth-year mid-fi elder saved his best season for last — scoring 13 goals in the regular season before leading the Rams to nationals for the fi rst time in the program’s history. Braletic also became Ry-erson’s fi rst athlete in any sport to win a Ca-nadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) most out-standing player award.

For most athletes, winning MVP is the highlight of their career. For Braletic, it’s just an afterthought. “I look back at the season I had and just think, ‘We made it to nationals, we had an undefeated season and had a great time,’” he says. But like some athletes before him, Braletic’s academic struggles jeopar-dized his athletic dreams.

In his second year with the Rams, Braletic — one of the men’s soccer team’s most valu-able players — was strapped to the bench as a glorifi ed water boy for the entire season because he failed to maintain the 2.0 GPA required of student athletes at Ryerson.

Even during the Ontario University Ath-letics (OUA) quarter-fi nal game against the University of Toronto that ended the Rams’ 2011–12 season, Braletic was forced to sit out. “I defi nitely thought the loss was avoidable if I had played. I felt terrible, absolutely terrible,” he says. Braletic fi nished the 2011 Spring se-mester with a 1.84 GPA while studying electri-cal engineering. Braletic says he skipped most of his classes because he was focusing on soc-cer and felt that he could still pass his classes even if he didn’t show up.

But Braletic’s outlook on life and academics changed after a heart-to-heart talk with head coach and director of athletics Ivan Joseph. He says their conversation made him realize that there’s more to life than soccer and he was wasting an opportunity to receive a higher ed-ucation by not trying his best in all aspects of his life. Joseph says Braletic needed someone to challenge him and not let him slip through the academic cracks just because he’s a tal-ented soccer player. “He was cheating himself. He’s probably one of the smartest guys I’ve

ever coached,” Joseph says. After that discussion Braletic did everything

to get back on the fi eld. He attended all of his classes, submitted as-

signments on time and started studying for tests well in advance. His hard work paid off — by the end of the 2012 Winter semes-ter Braletic’s GPA was 3.0. But he also made sure his soccer skills stayed sharp during his time away from the fi eld. Braletic continued to be a part of the team as an assistant coach, went to every practice and game that didn’t confl ict with class, worked out six hours a day and played in three competitive men’s leagues outside of school. Braletic could also be found embarrassing defenders while wearing a fl uo-rescent pink tank top and matching headband in Ryerson’s intramural soccer league at the Recreation and Athletic Centre.

Now Braletic is on pace to graduate next year. His grades have never been higher and his performance on the fi eld has never been better. But Braletic’s leadership is the biggest change his coaches noticed. “The piece he was always missing was the ability to lead,” Joseph says. “Not for the recognition or the crowd but for the desire to make people around him better.”

In the 49th minute of the Rams’ fi nal regu-lar season match against Laurentian Univer-sity, Braletic buries the ball deep inside his op-ponent’s net from a kick just outside the box. But instead of fl exing or hugging his team-mates like he usually does to celebrate, he takes off his jersey and reveals that he’s wear-ing a second one. The other jersey belonged to fellow Rams midfi elder Martin Dabrowski, who couldn’t attend the game because his fa-ther was in the fi nal stages of his battle with cancer. Braletic wore the jersey in a show of support for Dabrowski and his father.

Then when Dabrowski’s father died just before the quarter-fi nals, Braletic gave an emotional speech at halftime to rally the team around Dabrowski before scoring a game-tying goal in the 90th minute to send the match into overtime — where the Rams would eventually pull out the win. “[Bra-letic’s] best attribute isn’t his striking, or goal-scoring ability,” associate coach Filip Prostran says. “It’s his ability to inspire the people around him.”

By Michael Grace-Dacosta

PHOTO: NATALIA BALCERZAK

JOANNAKOLBE

SEBASTIEN DUBOIS-DIDCOCK

When Sebastien Dubois-Didcock fi rst pulled on his protective jacket and épée mask, he wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into. All he knew was that his mom told him he would get to fi ght with swords. As a 10-year-old boy this wasn’t an op-portunity he could turn down.

At his fi rst practice the coach motioned for his junior team to gather around.

“Being in this sport, as physical as it can be and as much as it can demand, let’s just admit up front that we all got into this sport be-cause deep down we’re all kind of nerds and geeks,” the coach said.

The boys couldn’t help but agree.Flash-forward to 2014, Dubois-

Didcock just won his fi rst-ever On-tario University Athletics (OUA) fencing championship, helped lead the Rams to silver in the team épée event and is about to graduate with a degree in photography.

The 21-year-old Desjarlais trophy winner has been considered one of the best fencers in Ontario since he started his varsity career, but it wasn’t until his fourth and last year as a Ram that he brought home the gold.

“I tried not to get ahead of my-self, but halfway through the fi nal match it hit me,” says the captain of the men’s fencing team. “It was a really weird moment, but I knew I had the situation under control.”

Fencers in the épée discipline score points by touching the tip of their swords anywhere on their

opponent’s body. Dubois-Didcock managed to win the fi nal match by a score of 15-12.

The sport is unique in that it doesn’t get a lot of coverage and isn’t anywhere near as popular as hockey or basketball. Other than the Olympics every four years, most Canadians won’t catch a sword fi ght on TV unless they’re watching Game of Thrones. But Dubois-Did-cock doesn’t mind.

“Once you get into the sport, your mentality changes a lot,” he says. “At the end of the day we’re just as intense as athletes from any other sport.”

According to the Toronto-na-tive, mental preparation require-ments are much higher than other sports that may be more physical. “That being said, our sport is still very draining.”

Joanna Kolbe, captain of Ryer-son’s women’s team, grew up fenc-ing with Dudois-Didcock at the Toronto Fencing Club. Despite win-ning the championship three years in a row, she was unable to capture her fourth and fi nal OUA champi-onship this year — coming home with the bronze.

“Even though I lost my fi rst match, I still managed to win the bronze medal match, which is hard to do,” she says. “I was still sad that I lost, but the girls who I lost against are pretty good ... So, no regrets.”

Although Kolbe may not have had the best personal fi nish to her time as a Ram, she did help lead the

way to silver in the team épée event and was named an OUA all-star.

Dubois-Didcock was also named an OUA all-star and is the fi rst Ram to ever win gold in the individual épée event.

As captain, Dubois-Didcock says that participating in sports throughout his life has helped him land crucial qualities like patience, confi dence and independence. On Ryerson’s team, he doesn’t consider himself the leader, just an integral member who instructs footwork and blade work in practice and, above all, supports his fellow fenc-ers.

He admits there aren’t many photographers who are also ath-letes, but contends that these roles complement each other well when learning to work as a team.

“[In photography] we have cli-ents and art directors, people who we might not agree with, but we have to learn to work with each other while still being assertive to our own style and ideas,” he says.

Dubois-Didcock plans to free-lance for a while after he gradu-ates. Specializing in food and drink photography, he plans to shoot for magazines, advertising companies and websites.

As for fencing, he’s taking a break.

“It was an honour to represent Ryerson, but it’s time to move on with my life,” he says. “I’m sure I’ll get back to it eventually, but I’m in no rush.”

By Krista Robinson

&

PHOTO: JESS TSANG



2013–2014 WAS AN OUTSTANDING SEASON FOR THE RYERSON RAMS.

Join us in celebrating the accomplishments of all our amazing student-athletes!

WWW.MATTAMYATHLETICCENTRE.CA MATTAMYAC

RYERSON RAMS.CA

RYERSON RAMS

First Ever CIS Player of the Year & OUA East Most Valuable Player

ALEX BRALETIC, SOCCER

4 OUA Rookie of the Year AwardsCAMERON GALEA-ANDREWS, SOCCER

ADAM ANAGNOSTOPOULOS, VOLLEYBALL JEAN-VICTOR MUKAMA, BASKETBALL

DOMENIC ALBERGA, HOCKEY

2 OUA Coach of the Year AwardsGRAHAM WISE, HOCKEYIVAN JOSEPH, SOCCER

4 CIS All-Canadian and All-Rookie Awards8 OUA All-Rookie Team Awards

9 First Team OUA All-Stars6 Second Team OUA All-Stars

We can’t wait for the start of the next season,See you soon!

17Wednesday, April 2, 2014

THANK YOU FANS!

“Thank you to all our students and fans. Without all of your support and enthusiam none of our successes would be possible.” Dr. Ivan Joseph – Athletic Director

ATHLETIC CENTRE

18 Wednesday, April 2, 2014FUN

This is the last shitty math square I will ever have to make. Actually, I’m a little choked up over this. How about a $20 giftcard to The Beer Store (19+ only) if you are the chosen winner? The contest ends April 15. Drop your submission in the contest box outside of The Eyeopener office in SCC 207. You MUST bring valid photo ID as well as your student card to claim the prize.

Name: Student #:Phone #: Email:

Farewell from Fun

Here we are, the last paper of the year. I’ve spent quite a bit of my school year coming up with horo-scopes, which takes several hours due to the TTC-induced smog blocking my view of the planets. It’s been a long ride, but I feel like I got to know you, dear reader.

I know you from the hidden cameras I place on newstands and from the location-tracking ink I use to print the sudoku.

It will be strange not having that kind of relationship with you anymore. But don’t cry, we’ve had some great times. Remember when you didn’t win the sudoku? That was hilarious.

Do you remember how I always complained about how difficult it is to actually make a sudoku? Well, I was lying — bitching for the sake of bitching.

There’s a website that will gen-erate random sudokus based on the difficulty level you put in. I’m sorry for misleading you and I hope you will forgive me.

Goodbye by JakeScott

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Wednesday, April 2, 2014 19

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March2014_Ryerson.indd 1 2014-03-26 1:35 PM


Somewhere under the lingering ice and snow, we know there is evidence of warm days to come. As the academic year winds down, I want to thank you for inspiring the optimism and confi dence that continue to build Ryerson strength and distinction.

When I look back on 2013-14, community leadership is a huge highlight: in academic competitions, social innovation, international initiatives, record-breaking varsity seasons, and city-building, not only here in Toronto but nationally and globally.

You make my job easy. I am so proud to represent everyone at Ryerson for the passion you bring to your work, the joy you dedicate to our diverse and inclusive culture, and the vision we share for the university’s future.

All the best in your assignments and exams – and wherever the summer takes you, have a great experience that exceeds your expectations and takes Ryerson along for the ride.

Sheldon LevyPresident

Documents

The Eyeopener — April 2, 2014