Mar 15 Minister for Sport Congratulates Spartans

Men's Volleyball (championship recognition celebration)
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minister for Sport Congratulates Spartans
the Honourable Michael D.Chong speaks at TWU's men's volleyball team's gold medal campus celebration

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The Trinity Western University men's volleyball team was honoured to have Canada's Minister for Sport, the Honourable Mr. Michael D. Chong speak at the team's all-campus CIS gold medal celebration Monday afternoon at TWU's Langley, B.C. campus.

In his speech to the Spartans and the approximately 130 individuals who attended the celebration, the Minister brought words of congratulations to the Spartan men's volleyball team and talked about how important having a healthy active lifestyle was for Canadians and how TWU is showing itself to be a cultivator of that lifestyle. He commented on the importance of university athletes serving as key role models for younger Canadians to inspire and encourage them to be more physically fit and active. The Minister for Sport also noted that TWU is having a "presence on the Hill" with both the Laurentian Ledership Centre (LLC) and the impact our teams are having nationally.

The Honourable Mr. Michael Chong was able to attend the congratulatory reception for the gold medalists thanks to a joint effort between the Minister's office, the LLC, TWU's President's Office and TWU's Department of Athletics.

TWU has a current student LLC intern, Matt Senft, in Mr. Chong's office in Ottawa. Senft knew that the Minister would be visiting Vancouver, and found out that he had an afternoon free. Having contact with the TWU President's Intern Simon Moore, Senft emailed Moore to find out if there were any celebrations happening in honour of the Spartan Men's Volleyball team. Along with numerous other ways Moore is involved at TWU, he also co-produces the Spartan Web Radio broadcast for Spartan athletic events. Having this vested interest in the Spartans, Moore contacted the Department of Athletics to let them know the Minister would be in town and to ask if there were any plans for celebrations. With just enough advanced notice the Spartans were able to change a few arrangements to accommodate the Minister's visit. In addition, the Minister's appearance at TWU was facilitated by a former LLC intern, Jeff Thiessen - a TWU School of Business graduate who was in Michael Chong's office several semesters ago - who volunteered to drive Mr. Chong from Vancouver to TWU and then back again to make sure Mr. Chong arrived at the airport in time to catch his 7:00 pm flight back to Ottawa.

The celebration was in honour of the TWU men's volleyball team and their historic Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championship 3-0 (25-21,
25-8 and 25-16) win over the University of Alberta on March 5th at the CIS National Championship in Hamilton, Ont. The Spartans now have a complete set of CIS championship medals. They won bronze in 2004 and silver in 2005 to go with this year's gold medal. In addition to the gold medal, the Spartans were awarded the CIS championship R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award. The championship result was one of the shortest and most lopsided championship final victories in the history of the CIS men's volleyball championships. Ironically, the two teams had combined for the highest scoring match in CIS championship history the year before when Alberta defeated TWU 3-2 (29-27, 29-31, 27-25, 18-25 and 15-13).

Along with Minister Chong, special guests at the reception included Mr. Ed Fast, Member of Parliament for Abbotsford, and Mr. Kurt Alberts, Mayor of the Township of Langley. Mr. Mark Warawa, Member of Parliament for Langley, sent a representative who read a letter of congratulations on his behalf as he was in Ottawa at the time and was unable to attend. Warawa is a TWU alum and is now representing Langley in the House of Commons not far from the Laurentian Leadership Centre adding another link to the TWU network across Canada.

The event was a wonderful celebration of TWU's National Championship victory, and was also an example of the relationship building Trinity Western students, staff and faculty are involved in across the country through the Laurentian Leadership Centre, the TWU internship program and Spartan Athletics.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2009-02-16
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca