The Bigger Team
Why the Spartans care about golf.
The Spartans women’s soccer team erupts with excitement when Kayla Dilling’s header hits the back of the net — the goal that will make them the Canadian champions. Phones ring when men’s basketball forward Jacob Doerksen is named CIS Player of the Year on March 12 and again, 11 days later, as women’s soccer striker Nikki Wright is named BC University Athlete of the Year. Two months later, a golf ball drops quietly into hole 16 at the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club; this too is another electrifying victory for the Spartans.
So why do the Spartans care about golf? Over the last 15 years, the Trinity Western University Spartans Golf Tournament has raised more than $1.3 million toward TWU student-athlete scholarships and the Spartan Athletics’ Complete Champion Approach™.
This year’s tournament, held May 15 in Coquitlam, BC, raised more than $336,000. The tournament and banquet featured four keynote speakers: women’s tennis legend, Monica Seles, and NHL greats, Pat Quinn, Peter Mahovlich, and Marcel Dionne. A silent auction boasted items such as signed jerseys from Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Hull, Sidney Crosby, and Roberto Luongo.
The tournament’s title sponsor, WirelessWave, Canada’s largest retailer of Rogers products, has partnered with twu for the past five years to put on a great event with great prizes. Other corporate sponsors of this year’s event included Glentel Inc., Samsung, Bell, Rogers Wireless, LG Electronics, RIM Blackberry, Gentec, Virgin Mobile, Blu Marketing, Nokia, Bosa Properties Inc., and Vtech.
TWU President, Jonathan Raymond, Ph.D., who participated in the event, said, “This golf tournament is a great blessing at Trinity Western University. Better said, the golfers and all the committed volunteers that make this tournament successful are a great blessing. The scholarships funded by the tournament make it possible for the University to attract terrific student athletes year after year who bring honour and recognition to TWU, Canada’s most remarkable university.”
Something else that made this year’s tournament memorable: it poured rain for most of the day, proving that Spartans supporters are determined to fight for their team in any weather. So the next time a Spartans’ game raises you to your feet, remember the bigger team effort — the one that extends off the court or the field to include a multitude of staff, corporate sponsors, and some very dedicated, and occasionally wet, golfers.
by Caleb Zimmerman
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