STORY BY MIKHAIL HELLER
The Bruins were in full turnout last Saturday for homecoming weekend as they hosted alumni games for each of its varsity teams at Trafalgar Campus.
Family and friends of the Bruins gathered together to enjoy this season’s rosters going head-to-head against past alumni. Both the men and women’s rugby teams kicked off the games at 10 a.m.
“This is great event where students and staff of every campus can come together and see the talent these teams have to offer, and it’s good for players from each team to get to know the Bruins from other teams,” said Jim Flack. “The alumni have been in the same position as all of these young players. Today can be a good learning experience.”
All of the alumni teams wore Sheridan Bruins shirts that said “true double blue” across the chest.
A lot of smiles, appreciative taps, and respectful nods went back and forth between the alumni teams and the Bruins, noticeably more during the volleyball sets in the afternoon. The way the alumni volleyball team matched up was hard to tell these players haven’t competed at a high level in a long time.
Once the men’s volleyball game had ended Flack brought the men’s varsity team aside for a few words of encouragement going into the start of their season.
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“I’ve seen a lot of different rosters and talent come through this school, looking up at all these banners you can see only one hung for volleyball, not to speak less of any of the teams before but I can see a lot of great talent in the gym right now and it can be your time to get another banner hung in this gym as well,” said Flack, referring to the 1985 Bruins volleyball team that won provincials.
Highlighting the games in the evening were the women and men’s basketball teams going up against the alumni, some who were previously on the Bruins rosters last season. This is the first game that the men’s varsity team roster has officially played together.
“It’s a great time for the players to get all their first game jitters and butterflies out,” said Willie Delas.
The women’s alumni team bolstered a surprisingly strong squad that gave the Bruins more than enough competition to deal with, ultimately losing the match to their Double Blue predecessors.
“What I basically wanted was for them to go out and relax and play, not only for the main starters but for the people who aren’t going to being playing a lot. We know we’ve got some work to do but we want to take pride in our defense and it didn’t show up tonight, but at the same time I saw a lot of good things that happened,” said Delas.
Haeven Durrant, 25, Alumni Player was one of the women who put on strong performance against her old team.
“It’s funny when you become alumni. You graduate, you see if your team improved without (me) being there but it’s cool. It’s always nice to come back and beat up on them, right?” said Durrant with a smile.
She had some words of wisdom for her old team, some of which she was just playing with just last season.
“When I was here for the past two years we were always short on numbers but we always came through, we always ended up improving from the year we did before. First year we didn’t make OCs (Ontario Championship), next year I got injured but we still managed to make OCs so keep pushing, get farther, and get a medal.”
The men’s varsity team basketball game against alumni had much a different atmosphere to close the day’s events. Both the current roster and returning alumni came in with chips on their shoulders and something to prove. For the young Bruins the game was about showcasing the new competitive roster but for the past players it was about showing everyone else that they are still relevant.
It was a heated game from start to finish, as the alumni did not hold back their emotions. Michael Selkridge from the alumni team put on a show, beating his chest after every dunk however, the alumni lost to the new Bruins, showing how well they mesh.
“Being back here, especially going up against my old team feels amazing,” said Selkridge. “Nothing’s changed, and this team still plays the same up-and-down the court pace. A lot of schools will be surprised when they face them this season.”
The Bruins continue their campaign at home starting with the women and men’s soccer playoffs beginning Oct 12 and hosting Mohawk College in women and men’s volleyball this Sunday.