Springing Into Success: Hamber Sports Teams Conquer The Year’s Final Season

Photo Credit: Maggie Perrault

As the school year comes to an end, so do our Hamber sports teams’ seasons, which have been filled with thrilling moments and non-stop action. In this final spring phase, our Hamber athletes can attest to success with banners, trophies, and medals galore. With a variety of sports teams active while the weather got warmer, let’s take a look at what our athletes have accomplished. 

The Senior Girls Soccer team defended their city championship title for the third year in a row, proving to be a dominating force on the field. With players from grades 8 to 12, these amazing young athletes went undefeated through league play before securing the trophy with a 3-1 win against Templeton Secondary. Coached by Ms. J. Polukoshko (English), with help from Hamber alumni Arlyn Gilmour and parent coach Charlie Caskey, the Senior Girls soccer team never failed to make Hamber proud. 

Isabella Prior (12), played her final season on the team, and one game in particular stood out to her. “The last game we played was really emotional, and we made an amazing comeback,” she explained. “Templeton scored first, but we didn’t let the pressure of it being city finals get to us. I scored, and two of my teammates did too, and then we had that momentum to keep us hanging on for the win.” 

Being a senior on the team meant that Prior had more responsibilities, ones that she shouldered with pride. “I remember being in Grade 8 and 9 and looking up to the seniors, and wanting to take on that role one day,” Prior shared. “I think it’s really important for us older players to make the younger girls feel welcome, whether that be giving them advice or feedback or just cheering them on during the games to get their confidence up.” 

Prior looks back on her senior season with pride, and knows she’s made some memories that will last a lifetime. “It’s been very bittersweet this year! Five years playing for Hamber has been really rewarding, and I’m super excited to see how the girls do next year.”

The Senior badminton teams also saw similar success to the Senior Girls soccer team. Both the senior teams, in the boys and girls bracket, won cities, and they came ninth and fourth in provincials respectively.

Cedric Lai (11) reflected on winning city championships. “We won most of our games– we lost to Churchill during the regular season but ended up beating them in city finals to win the banner. It felt great because, since we lost in the normal season, we had to be really motivated.” Lai expressed how proud he is of his team, saying, “We played the best badminton that I’ve ever seen in the season.” 

Through the trials and triumphs of their time together, Lai was confident that the team had grown closer. “Obviously, most of the team had played together in previous years, but there were some new additions,” he explained. “That didn’t matter though, because we all came together.”

“We had a really supportive environment when we were playing because even players who were on the side were cheering really loudly, which was great,” Lai said. 

The boys and girls worked together on improving their individual games this season. “We practiced at the same time as the girls,” Lai shared. “We would sometimes play scrimmages against each other to work on our skills.” When it comes to being a senior next year, Lai has a clear idea of what he wants to impart to the younger players. “There’s some lack of motivation in the younger grades, especially commitment wise,” he said. “So I’d like to make them feel more motivated to play with the team and hopefully they will feel more motivated to come to more practices.”

Keenan Mak (9), who played on the Juvenile Boys Volleyball team, reflected on what he considered to be a job well done. “Our season went pretty well,” he said, “We placed second in Cities and went to zones.” Mak knew immediately which games his team lived up to their potential, and which ones they could’ve given more. “Our worst game was against Kits. They weren’t very good, but we ended up losing,” he said. “Our best game was definitely against Van Tech in the semifinals.”

“I think our team was hitting well,” Mak said when explaining his team’s strengths. “We had some pretty good offense. We need to work on our defense, though.”

Mak also plays volleyball at the club level, outside of school, but specifically enjoyed the close-knit dynamic of the Hamber team. “Everyone you play with here is someone you know, which is nice,” he said. “I think we all became friends and are friends who play together on this team.”