Senior Tigers Update: October 10, 2019

SENIOR VOLLEYBALL PLACE 4TH OUT OF 40 AT DOUGLAS COLLEGE TOURNAMENT
Our Senior Volleyball Team placed 4th out of 40 teams at the Douglas College Tournament on October 4-5. While our Tigers season started a little slow, last week YHS defeated West Point Grey Academy 3 sets to 2, Notre Dame 3 sets to 1, St Thomas More 3 sets to 1 and then went on to have a great tournament. This week, YHS defeated Crofton House 3 sets to 1 raising their league record to 4 wins and 2 losses. Our Tigers are currently in first place in our Lower Mainland Independent School league and ranked 6th in BC among all ‘AA’ sized schools. We expect that ranking to move up next week.

Next week, our Senior Tigers travel to Rundle College in Calgary for the Western Canadian Independent Schools Volleyball Championships (WCISVC). YHS has attended this event every year since 1972 and YHS will be the host location for the 2020 WCISVC Championships next October.

SWIM TEAM AT ISAs
On Thursday, October 10, our Tigers swimmers face their first big test of the season by competing at the ISA Swim Championships at Watermania. YHS is the defending ISA Girl’s Champions. Results will be shared next week. Go Tigers!

CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM UPDATE
While all of our teams have been competing in weekly games and weekend tournaments, our Cross-Country Team has been quietly running along, literally. The Tigers compete at weekly cross-country meets against all other schools in our Lower Mainland Independent School league and have been enjoying some terrific results. The girls will be competing at our Zone Championships on October 22 at Jericho Park.

FIELD HOCKEY UPDATE
Our Varsity Team defeated Crofton House 3-1 in a recent league game while our Junior and Senior Teams have been competing hard and doing well in their respective league games.

All three field hockey teams will compete in an ISA competition on October 19-20. Our Junior and Senior Teams will travel to Shawnigan Lake School while our Varsity Team competes at the ISA Tier 1 Championships at Crofton House (CHS). Come cheer on the Tigers at CHS on October 18 at 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm and on October 19 at 10:00 am and following playoff game.

*WEEKLY FYI*

YORK HOUSE IN BC SCHOOL SPORT
Many may wonder about the organizational structure of high school sport in BC and where York House fits into it. I often get asked questions such as: 

  • Why does YHS not play Vancouver public schools? 
  • At BC Championships does YHS compete against all public and independent schools?
  • Why are we a ‘AA’ school?

This 2019-20 school year there are some brand new changes. Here is an overview of the organizational structure of sport:

Lower Mainland Independent School Athletic Association:
YHS is a member of the LMISSAA. This is our local league where we play our league games/meets against other teams in our LMISSAA league. During the season, YHS athletes/teams also compete in various invitational tournaments where we could play any school in BC (public or independent). We also set up friendly exhibition games against other schools.

Also, ISABC Schools (Independent Schools Association of BC) organize ISA events. These ISA Championships are simply for bragging rights among the ISA schools. It is also an opportunity for our teams to compete against schools like Southridge, Brentwood College, or St. Michaels University School. These are schools we may not normally meet over the course of a season.

LMISSAA Playoffs:
At the end of the regular season, we have LMISSAA playoffs to determine the final placings in our league. If YHS places high enough in our LMISSAA Championships, our teams will advance to the Zone Championships.

Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championships:
This is the first year for new zones in BC School Sports. YHS has always been in the Lower Mainland Zone, however, our new zone is the Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone (VS2S). This new zone includes the Lower Mainland Independent league schools, all Vancouver public schools, and all schools (public and independent) in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound up to Whistler.  All senior YHS teams will now have to attend a VS2S Zone Championship event in order to qualify for BCs. The top athletes/teams at the VS2S Zone Championships earn a spot in the Provincial Championships. 

  • October 22: Cross-Country at Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championship Meet at Jericho
  • October 24-25: Varsity Field Hockey at Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championship Meet at Crofton House/Eric Hamber
  • October 29: Swim Team at Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championship Meet at Watermania
  • November 13-14: Senior Volleyball Team at Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championship Meet at St. Thomas Aquinas in North Vancouver

Provincial Championships:
BC School Sports (BCSS) runs BC Championships for almost all high school sports at the senior level. Some sports that do not have BCSS sanctioned championships are table tennis, water polo, rowing, and ice hockey. Grade 8 and Junior Provincial Championships are invitational events and not official BC Championships. BCSS Provincial Championships include all schools in BC (public and independent). However, some schools have large student populations while other schools are very small. 

How do we differentiate between these schools? BCSS has a tiering system based on student population. Large schools are ‘AAAA’ or ‘AAA’ and smaller schools are AA or A. It can be confusing as different sports have different tiering. For example, Crofton House and Little Flower are ‘AA’ in field hockey but are ‘AAA’  in volleyball as both have a larger student population than YHS. A larger student population does not always mean a stronger team. It is not uncommon for ‘AA’ to be stronger than ‘AAA’ in some sports.  

York House is a relatively small ‘AA’ sized school for all sports.

Our fall season athletes are working hard to qualify for the following BC Championships:

  • November 2: Cross-Country BC Championships in Abbotsford (Clearbrook Park)
  • November 6-8Varsity Field Hockey BC Championships in Victoria (Lambrick Park Secondary)
  • November 15-16: Swim BC Championships in Richmond (Watermania)
  • November 28-30: Senior Volleyball Team BC Championships in Vernon (Kalamalka Secondary School)

David Prissinotti
Senior Athletics Director

Senior Tigers Update: October 3, 2019

JUNIOR TIGERS VOLLEYBALL WIN DOUGLAS COLLEGE TOURNAMENT
Our Junior Volleyball Team participated in the 24 teams Douglas College Junior Girls Tournament this past weekend and took home the tournament championship with a 2-1 win over Pinetree Secondary of Coquitlam. The Tigers were on fire defeating Heritage Woods and Handsworth in round-robin. On Saturday, their role continued beating Terry Fox, Little Flower Academy (LFA), and then Pinetree in the final. Congratulations to our Junior Tigers and their coaches, Jackson Liu, and Brianne Wager. Thank you to A. Yung (parent) for photos of the team.

GRADE 8 TIGERS VOLLEYBALL WIN SEAQUAM TOURNAMENT
Not to be outdone, our Grade 8 Volleyball Team travelled to Seaquam Secondary for a tournament this past weekend and cruised through the competition beating league rival, St. Pat’s, 2-0 to take home the championship. Congratulations to our girls and to Head Coach Mr. Bester and assistant, Sarah Promislow ‘11.

SENIOR FIELD HOCKEY TAKE SILVER AT UBC
Senior Tigers Field Hockey went four wins and two losses this past weekend at the UBC Tournament. The two losses were to Kits as the Tigers settled for silver in this tournament. Of course, the Senior Team is our Senior 2 team while the Kits squad is their top team, so it was a great result for our Senior Tigers!

Our Varsity Tigers Team battled against the best AA and AAA teams in BC and played well defeating Cowichan and Kelowna Secondary School (KSS) and losing hard-fought battles with Little Flower Academy (LFA), Collingwood, Handsworth.

YHS ATHLETICS COMMUNICATION POLICY
While our athletic program is committed to excellence and hard work to compete among the top teams in BC, education is our first priority. We are committed to growth and do what we can to encourage and challenge our student athletes to reach their athletic and personal potential.

One area we stress is communication. For student athletes in Grade 8 through to Grade 12, we encourage our student athletes to be the primary communicators with their teammates and coaches.

  • Encourage your daughter to be proactive with communication in any of the following areas:
  • Looking ahead at their schedules and informing a coach about any missed practices or games.
    Questions about skill development (i.e. what I can improve?).

David Prissinotti
Athletics Director