Volume 48 - Issue 22March 25, 2015

theeyeopener.com@theeyeopener

Since 1967

p5PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: SIERRA BEIN AND ROB FOREMAN

YEAROF THE

RAM

Wednesday, March 25, 20152

DESIGNER AMY MALCOLMPREPARING THE ZIPPER FOR HER LEATHER BAGS /LEATHER BACKPACK IN COPPER $460 BY OPELLE CREATIVE, TORONTO, ON, BOOTH I26

STARTS TODAY!PRODUCTS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: LOWBALL GLASSES $35 EACH ($120 FOR 4) BY CLAIRE ANDERSON AND STEVEN WOODRUFF OF STUDIO VINE GLASS, NIAGARA FALLS, ON, CRAFT COMMUNITY OF CANADA, BOOTH K29, NEW / HEADPHONES WITH RECYCLED SKATEBOARD EAR PADS $399 BY PIERRE-LUC DUCHESNE AND JEAN-FRANCOIS DESROSIERS OF LKPR HEADPHONES, BROMONT, QC, BOOTH O29, NEW / TORONTO BLUE JAYS LICENSE PLATE ART $129 BY ANTHONY KENTRIS OF ROUTE 401, TORONTO, ON, ETSY, BOOTH P44D, NEW

WEEKDAYS & SATURDAY 10AM TO 9PMSUNDAY 10AM TO 6PM

LATE NIGHT SHOPPINGTHURSDAY MARCH 26TH 10AM 11PM

DESIGNER AMY MALCOLMPREPARING THE ZIPPER

OFFERING $10 UNIVERSITY STUDENT RATE WITH VALID STUDENT ID FOR ONSITE TICKET SALES ONLY

OOAK_Ryerson_Mar25.indd 1 2015-03-19 5:02 PM

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 NEWS 3

False alarms could cost school thousands

Students wait outside Kerr Hall because of another false alarm.PHOTO: ROB FOREMAN

By Allan Perkins

Last year, third-year aerospace engineering student Anojan Arara Salam was right in the middle of an exam. All of a sudden, the fi re alarm went off.

Heres the fun part: Arara Salam said he thinks someone may have pulled it.

It wouldnt surprise me if that happened, he said. I didnt see any fl ames or smoke, so Im pretty sure thats what it was.

If someone did end up pulling it, they did so about an hour and 20 minutes into a three-hour mecha-nisms and vibrations exam. If there was ever a time to pull a fi re alarm, it would be in a three-hour mechanisms and vibrations exam. But incidents like this one still raise a pressing issue at Ryerson too many fi re alarms go off when there arent fi res.

So far in 2015, its happened 20 times.

When it does, it costs the school money $410 per vehicle per hour. Kerri Bailey, manager of fi -nance and strategic planning at Ryerson, said in an email that the school had been invoiced for two false alarms so far this year. At

three trucks each time, that cost Ryerson $2,460 in total, plus tax. Bailey said that of those 18 addi-tional false fi re alarms, they have not yet been invoiced and cannot determine the exact costs, but that could change.

The charge only applies when the fi re alarm is either triggered by malicious intent or by a main-tenance issue, malicious being what may have happened in Arara Salams exam and maintenance being a whole lot of things to do with the building if they happen repeatedly. Steam continuously leaking from faulty pipes and trig-gering the alarm would be an ex-ample that would cost the school money. Human error where the alarm is accidentally triggered or kitchen errors like overcooking the roast beef are not charged.

If were there three times in a day due to an issue that could be corrected, thats a problem, said Paul Versace, captain of the P325 truck at Torontos Regent Park fi re headquarters.

Versace added that between three and four trucks are usually dis-patched to Ryerson whenever they go there, which is more than the one or two trucks they usually send out.

He added that trucks come from separate stations usually the closest three or four to spread re-sponsibility and avoid overwhelm-ing one stations resources.

That means that if Ryerson is hit with a malicious or maintenance false fi re alarm charge, it could cost the school roughly as much as $1,600 in useless fees each time.

First-year biomedical sciences student David Choi thinks its pos-sible the same thing may have hap-pened to him.

He was sitting in a fi rst-year so-ciology class smack in the middle of last semester when it happened.

Someone probably pulled it to get out of a midterm, he said.

Students in Kerr Hall were sent outside for between 10 and 15 minutes, which may have been just enough time to postpone whatev-er midterm someone might have tried to avoid.

False alarms caused by pull stations are by far the most com-mon occurrence on campus, and often these spike during exam pe-riods, Bailey said in an email.

Exams are coming up soon. Re-cent trends indicate that Toronto Fire invoices could be as well.

Non-Rye students chillin in SLC

Chances are, some of these people are not Ryerson students.PHOTO: JAKE SCOTT

By Stefanie Phillips

The rumours are true students from other universities are hang-ing out and studying at the Student Learning Centre (SLC).

York University student Farrukh Saleem considers the SLC closer to his home in Scarborough than his own campus. Whenever he gets in-vited by his Ryerson friends to hang out at the SLC, he takes advantage of the opportunity.

I dont come here as often [as my own campus], he said. So I dont think it should be an issue.

Another York student, Trish Ra-mos, was studying on the fourth fl oor with her old friend from high school, Eileen Mariano, who goes to Ryerson.

Theres no place like here that you can meet up with friends, Ra-mos said.

With their busy upper-year sched-ules, both of them fi nd it hard to hang out, but at the SLC they can do their work and see each other at the same time.

Right now, the SLC is open to the public for use. It is closely monitored by SLC staff and Ryerson security.

Any complaints about behav-iour in the SLC ... is investigated, and appropriate action is taken, said security and emergency services manager Tanya Poppleton. Ac-

tion includes asking for identifi ca-tion and can also include anything from a warning to ... being asked to leave.

Poppleton did not respond to a question about whether non-Ry-erson students have been removed from the SLC.

Second-year Ryerson urban plan-ning and development student Dan-iel Orellana said he welcomes stu-dents from other schools to use the SLC.

Its cool that we have a space that people want to come to, Orel-lana said.

But his friend AJ Soto is con-cerned that students from other schools will crowd the space, forc-ing Ryerson students to compete for desks, chairs and rooms.

The fact that we put in tuition

for a new space and now we have to share it is bad, he said.

Students from other universities cannot access the study rooms be-cause they dont have OneCards. However, they can still work in the rooms if they are with a friend who does.

Ryerson President Sheldon Levy said the decision whether to kick out non-Ryerson students would be a hard one since Ryerson stu-dents went to University of Toronto libraries when their school didnt have available study space.

Ultimately, Ryerson students have to have priority ... And com-ing to exams it will even be more of an issue, Levy said, adding that he would be checking into it.

Read the full article (and more news) at theeyeopener.com

Dr. Alex Aronov & Dr. Roy Suarez & Associates

655 Bay Street Unit 7 (Corner of Bay & Elm - Concourse Level)

416 595 1200

FREE IN-OFFICE WHITENING WITH X RAYS & NEW PATIENT EXAM.STUDENT DISCOUNTS.

Devamrita Swami, Yale grad and an internationally renowned monk comes to Ryerson and invites us to a look behind the masks we wear

and examine the quality of our lives. April 8th, 6:30pm Thomas Lounge

Talk, Q&A, Meditation & FREE VEGAN FEAST!RSVP@ byoga@ryerson.ca or FB Bhakti Yoga Club- Ryerson

Editor-in-ChiefMohamed Bread Sports Omar

NewsJackie Kickass Sports Hong

Jake Horse Sports ScottKeith Magic Sports Capstick

FeaturesCharles Grass Sports Vanegas

Biz & TechLaura Granola Sports Woodward

Arts and LifeAl Bob Dylan Sports Downham

SportsJosh SPROTS SPORTS Beneteau

CommunitiesDylan Java Sports Freeman-Grist

PhotoRob SHIEEEEE Sports Foreman

Sierra Cutout Sports BeinStephen Fit Sports Armstrong

FunEmma Jury Sports Cosgrove

MediaBadri Busy Sports Murali

OnlineFarnia E-SPORTS! Fekri

Behdad Face Sports Mahichi

Web DeveloperKerry Code Sports Wall

General ManagerLiane Office Sports McLarty

Advertising ManagerChris AD....Sports Roberts

Design DirectorJ.D. Printer Sports Mowat

Circulation ManagerMegan Circ Sports Higgins

ContributorsKyle Birdie Edwards

Karoun Likes Drake ChahinianDana Biker Dwaik

Aidan The Crab MacnabAllan Perk-Piece Perkins

Devin DW JonesMatt The Bat Ouellet

Stefanie The Illest PhillipsSalmaan Party Drama Farooqui

Jake Battlestar KivancDesiree Beach Again Amani

Hayley Bizy HanksEmily LIVE Craig-EvansBrooklyn BLOG Pinheiro

Jacob Elmo DubDavid Big Bird Lao

Mansoor Grover TanweerRicha Oscar Syal

Robert Big Mac MackenzieYoup Nope Zondag

Tagwa Cant Believe Its Not MoyoLulu Royal TanenbaumAurora Life Saver Zboch

Deven Editing Queen Knill

Super Awesome InternsAnika March Syeda

Hayley Break AdamMohamud Is Ismail

Sarah-Jayne OVER?? A. Canlas

The Eyeopener is Ryersons largest and only independent student news-paper. It is owned and operated by Rye Eye Publishing Inc., a non-profit corporation owned by the students of Ryerson. Our offices are on the second floor of the Student Campus Centre. You can reach us at 416-979-5262, at theeyeopener.com or on Twitter at @theeyeopener.

Vote in the Eyeopener Fall 2015 elections! Eligible voters:Ben Waldman, Evan Manning, Chris Blanchette, Daniel RocchiTagwa Moyo, Lulu TannenbaumAndrei Pora, Julia KnopeJacob Dub, Mansoor TanweerAidan Macnab, Robert MackenzieKaroun Chahinian, Bahoz DaraCaterina Amaral, Jacob ThielenAnders Marshall, Deven KnillSean Wetselaar, Natalia BalcerzakJess Tsang, Nicole Schmidt, Leah Hansen, Becca Goss, Deni Verklan, David Lao, Luke Galati, Krista Rob-inson, Brennan Doherty, Devin Jones, Michael Grace-Dacosta, Annie Ar-none, Nick Dunne, Jake Kivanc, Aid-an Hamelin, Matt Ouellet, Brandon Buechler and Justin Chandler.

Eligible voters are students who have contributed six or more times since August 2014. If you dont see your name on the list, please email edi-tor@theeyeopener.com. Check outpage 13 for more information.

4 Editorial Wednesday, March 25, 2015oh, snap! theres no space for the annoying talking Coffee Mug! Shieeeee

Eyeopener AGM

March 30, 1:30pm, Riel Room, Oakham House.

Bring a potato.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 THE SPORTS ISSUE 5

The Sports Issue Masthead

Managing Editor

Josh Beneteau

Creative Consultant

Sierra Bein

Photography

Sierra BeinCharles VanegasAnnie ArnoneRob Foreman

Stephen Armstrong

Layout

Keith CapstickJackie HongJake Scott

Charles VanegasLaura Woodward

Al DownhamDylan Freeman-Grist

Writers

Michael Grace-DacostaBen Waldman

Charles VanegasLuke GalatiDevin Jones

Sarah Cunningham-ScharfBrandon Buechler

Daniel RocchiKrista Robinson

Matt Ouellet

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

Telling the real Rams storiesByJoshBeneteau

After watching both Ryerson vol-leyball teams win again at the be-ginning of February, I stopped to chat with Ivan Joseph, Ryersons athletic director. He was beam-ing and proudly declared, This was the best year ever for Ryerson sports.

Its hard to disagree with him.Ive been going to the Matta-

my Athletic Centre (MAC) every weekend for the past three years, watching the Rams compete with mixed results.

But in all my time here, this is the fi rst year where every team seemed to peak at the same time

which makes my job as sports editor a lot of fun. Covering the Rams has consumed my life, with me spending more time at the MAC or the offi ce than my own home.

But thats not a bad thing. On the contrary, its allowed me to tell better stories.

This sports issue is an accumula-tion of six months of blood, sweat and tears for both The Eyeopenerand the athletes. In the following pages we have profi les of 10 ath-letes who had especially strong years in their various sports. But more importantly, these are 10 athletes with interesting stories, whove done amazing things or overcome incredible odds.

Sure, at The Eyeopener weve covered every game and history

making moment from this year (and trust me, there were a lot of those). But as sports editor, Ive always looked for the stories that go beyond the games stories that someone who has never seen an Aaron Best dunk or a Veron-ica Livingston serve would still understand.

So thanks for sticking around these past seven months as weve covered everything sports at Ryer-son. The Final 8 basketball week-end was a great bookend to the year of the Ram and this issue is my fi nal sendoff before I pass the sports editor mantle to someone else.

My goal coming into this year was to have the best sports section week after week. Given how many great stories there were, I feel like I accomplished that.

Jahmal Jones and the mens basketball team with the bronze medals they won at the CIS Final 8.

EC OrthoticsProfessional Foot Clinic

Located below CIBC

Chiropody ServicesCustom made orthotics Prescription orthopedic shoes Compression stockings Laser therapy Gait analysis Foot assessment & treatment Soft tissue and nail surgeries

Most of our chiropody services are covered by

plan under Greenshield.

As a preferred provider of Greenshield, we can also bill direct for our services so that there are no up-front costs to students.

Clinic HoursMonday- Friday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. (appointment only)

1 Queen Street East Concourse Level416-363-0409www.ec-orthotics.cominfo@ec-orthotics.com

Christian MaraldoA miniature schnauzer in a pink jersey is watching his owner, Ry-erson mens soccer goalie Chris-tian Maraldo, taunt the Carleton Ravens forwards by playing keep-ups. Eventually, one for-ward challenges Maraldo, but he simply dekes him and clears the ball out. While this may seem crazy to most, for Maraldo its just another day at the offi ce. Most people fear going against the grain Maraldo embraces it.

Id be lying if I said he didnt keep us up at night sometimes, says associate coach Filip Pros-tran. Sometimes when the ball gets passed back to Christian I just look away.

Maraldo, who will be gradu-ating from Ryerson this spring

with a degree in business man-agement, started playing soccer when he was fi ve years old as a midfi elder. But he got too fat and moved into net when he was eight. His lost his fi rst game in net 14-2. His parents were pre-pared to buy him ice cream to console him after the game, but were shocked when he came off the fi eld ecstatic and wanting to

play in net again. Honestly, I cant explain that

to you, says Maraldo about his happiness after that game. Any-one can be a defender ... to be a goalie, its something that you can be remembered by.

Maraldo spent the next few years playing in and out of net before deciding to stay in net per-manently when he was 16. It was around this time that Maraldo, who grew up playing hockey and soccer, committed himself to the pitch.

I felt soccer was a lot more geared to my personality, says Maraldo. You cant really wear a pink jersey in hockey.

Maraldo had the option to play for a U.S. NCAA Division I program coming out of high school but opted to stay at home because he wasnt offered a full scholarship.

Ryerson was in need of a goalie so head coach Ivan Joseph invited Maraldo to an exhibition game at the University of Toronto. Maral-do assumed he would be watch-ing Ryerson play against U of T so he didnt bring his soccer gear. To his surprise, Ryerson was just using the fi eld for an inter-squad game that Joseph wanted Maral-do to take part in. So Maraldo hopped in net wearing a guests shirt, buffalo jeans and PUMA running shoes. It was terrible. Absolutely terri-

ble, s a y s Mara l -do on his play that day. I was like, this is it. Im never playing for Ryerson. I just lost my chance. Fortunately for Maraldo, he had a chance to show his stuff again at a recruiting day. He impressed the coaches and made the team.

Usually, members of the start-ing 11 warm up by playing Mon-

key in the Middle together but Maraldo bucks the trend and plays Monkey in the Middle with the benchwarmers. Later he does keep-ups and some freestyles to loosen up much to the ire of his coaches.

Maraldo and his coaches have contrasting views on the game of soccer. Where the coaches want a safe and simple play, Maraldo prefers a fl ashy and risky one. He loves to play with fi re.

Im really uncoachable when it comes to that kind of stuff because I have my own way in my mind of doing things, says Maraldo.

Maraldo once wore his sun-glasses and fl ip-fl ops while watching Ryerson womens soc-cer team play the Queens Gaels in pouring rain because it was familiar to him. At the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Final Four last season he wore fl ip-fl ops, three quarter pants and a pink T-shirt despite it being close to zero degrees because that was a part of his routine during the regular season. In his spare time he partakes in interpretive dance and is a connoisseur of fi ne wines.

Hes the Charlie Sheen of the soccer team, says friend Sami Bekfi .

Maraldo became the starting goalie in his third year when the other goalie quit the team to fo-cus on his studies. That same year,

M a r a l d o and the c o a c h -ing staff ac-cepted the fact that they have different viewpoints and c o m p r o m i s e d by meeting each other halfway.

At fi rst we were trying to fi t him in this square hole. Then we realized Chris-tian doesnt fi t in that mold, says Prostran. We need to treat him a little dif-ferently.

The fi rst step in this compromise was to get Maraldo to wear a Ryerson jer-sey during games. Maraldo always wore jerseys from his previous teams o r league teams. When he fi nally agreed to wear a Ryerson jersey, he chose his famous pink jersey.

The cool thing about being a goalie is you get to be different in terms of what you wear, Maral-do says. I think that because of that I always took it a step for-ward and wanted to be different than everyone.

As the coaching staff embraced Maraldos uniqueness, his play fl ourished. He was named an OUA all-star in both his fourth and fi fth years. He also helped lead his team to an undefeated regular season and a berth at na-tionals in his fourth season.

You want to wear a green, blue and black hat when you play, go for it. You want to wear clown shoes when you play, al-

6 THE SPORTS ISSUE Wednesday, March 25, 2015

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

right, Prostran says. Whatever gets Christian going and makes him comfortable.

Maraldo was subbed into his fi nal game as a Ram in the 87th minute as a striker. Shortly after-wards he got a chance to give his team the lead on a breakaway but missed, with a wide left shot a fi tting end to an unusual career. Maraldo has no regrets about his time at Ryerson and wouldnt change his fl ashy style even if it could have saved him from get-ting chewed out by coaches and opposing players.

[Its] really risky, but a lot of fun, he says.

By Michael Grace-Dacosta

I felt soccer was a lot more geared to my personality. You cant really wear a pinkjersey in hockey

Hes the Charlie Sheen of the soccer team

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 THE SPORTS ISSUE 7

BjrnMichaelsen

By Ben Waldman

Moments before his fi fth and fi nal home opener as a Ryerson Ram in November, Bjrn Michaelsen stood at centre court.

The six-foot-eight forward from Otterburn Park, Que., had stood in the spot hundreds of times before, usually with a bas-ketball fl oating several feet above his head, trying to time his jump properly, eyeing the orange ea-gerly.

This time, Michaelsen wasnt staring at his usual opponent, but the crowd in front of him. He held not his weapon of choice, that orange globe, but one that sent shivers racing down his spine: a microphone.

Along with co-captain Jahmal Jones, it was Michaelsens duty to welcome the fans, give an opening speech and greet NBA legend Bill Walton, who was there to throw the ceremonial jump ball.

That was my nightmare, Mi-chaelsen says, winc-ing as he recalls his nerves.

Speaking in front of that many people is a lot different than playing a game of basketball.

It doesnt seem all too im-posing, but Michaelsen, 25, cant imagine doing anything like it four years earlier, when he could hardly speak English and his career was just getting started.

Michaelsen was born with a slight hearing impairment, a condition that affected his ability to communicate as a child. His parents, both bilingual, chose one language to teach him, with French being the obvious choice in their predomi-nantly francophone community.

For years, Michaelsen struggled to share his thoughts, in French or English, writ-ten or verbal, a dilemma that caused him incredible stress.

Not being able to express myself made me angry, Michaelsen says. I couldnt express myself, so I couldnt communicate what I wanted to say to anybody.

Each day in high school, Michaelsen made the 35-minute commute from Ot-terburn Park to cole Secondaire Saint-Jo-seph, a private school in Saint-Hyacinthe,

Que., where most residents spoke French, many spoke Spanish and few spoke English. More impor-tantly, almost none played basket-

ball.When I got there I had to

fi nd teammates just by walking through the hall, Michaelsen says.

He got a lot of attention soon after, playing for the Saint-

Bruno Cougars club team alongside future Har-

vard standout Lau-rent Rivard and

McGill guard Si-mon Bibeau,

two of the t o p

in November, Bjrn Michaelsen stood at centre court.

The six-foot-eight forward from Otterburn Park, Que., had stood in the spot hundreds of times before, usually with a bas-ketball fl oating several feet above his head, trying to time his jump properly, eyeing the orange ea-

This time, Michaelsen wasnt staring at his usual opponent, but the crowd in front of him. He held not his weapon of choice, that orange globe, but one that sent shivers racing down his spine: a microphone.

Along with co-captain Jahmal Jones, it was Michaelsens duty to welcome the fans, give an opening speech and greet NBA legend Bill Walton, who was there to throw the ceremonial jump ball.

That was my nightmare, Mi-chaelsen says, winc-ing as he recalls his

Speaking in front of that many people is a lot different than playing a game of basketball.

It doesnt seem all too im-posing, but Michaelsen, 25, cant imagine doing anything like it four years earlier, when he could hardly speak English and his career was just getting started.

Michaelsen was born with a slight hearing impairment, a condition that affected his ability to communicate as a child. His parents, both bilingual, chose one language to teach him, with French being the obvious choice in their predomi-nantly francophone community.

For years, Michaelsen struggled to share his thoughts, in French or English, writ-ten or verbal, a dilemma that caused him incredible stress.

Not being able to express myself made me angry, Michaelsen says. I couldnt express myself, so I couldnt communicate what I wanted to say to anybody.

Each day in high school, Michaelsen made the 35-minute commute from Ot-terburn Park to cole Secondaire Saint-Jo-

says.He got a lot of attention soon after, playing for the Saint-

Bruno Cougars club team alongside future Har-

vard standout Lau-rent Rivard and

McGill guard Si-mon Bibeau,

two of the t o p

players in the country. With the duo fl anking him, Mi-

chaelsens game started to speak in ways he still had trouble doing, only two years after picking up the sport in a fl uke accident, albeit one he caused.

I was going to school, roller-blading downhill and they were doing construction and I didnt really understand the construction signs. I saw that there was a gap, just with small rocks and instead of stopping, I decided to try and jump over it, Michaelsen remem-bers. I really regretted that deci-sion.

Just a few weeks before a hock-ey tryout, his hand was broken with no chance to recover in time.

Then, he found his calling in the post: his niche, his home, his place of work. Basketball made sense to him and that injury, Michaelsen says, was the force that led him there.

Since then, Michaelsen has bro-ken his hand fi ve more times. I cant even tell you which one, he says, staring at his palms.

On the fi rst possession of his fi rst game at Ryerson, Mi-

chaelsen jumped for a re-bound and collided with

veteran teammate Ryan McNeilly. His head

met Michaelsens mouth, and the rookies teeth were knocked inward, forcing him out of the lineup for sev-eral weeks.

In the fi nal reg-ular season home game of his career, Michaelsen rose up for a rebound and fell hard on his shoulder, quickly leaving to the locker

room.All I could say

was, Please, not something serious,

teammate Adika Peter-McNeilly said before Mi-

chaelsen returned to the bench.

I am so impressed with his resilience, Ryerson head coach Roy Rana says as he counts through Mi-chaelsens injuries. There were times when I thought he would say, Enough, Ive been injured enough, but he kept going for his team-mates.

Injuries have shaped his career, but all of the bumps and bruises have contributed to Michaelsens irrepress-ible spirit both on and off the court. As an engineering student, Michaelsen was re-quired to write an English profi ciency test, needing at least a B to pass. He failed three times, but in

the summer of 2014, he improved drastically.

Not only did I pass the fourth time, I got an A, he says with a grin. It hurt my pride a little bit to be successful at [basketball] but not English. It was defi nitely spe-cial to get that grade.

As much as he loves basketball, Michaelsen is still a self-professed nerd.

He keeps The Settlers of Catan, a strategy board game, in his lock-er, has considered creating an al-gorithm to calculate optimum arc and velocity on his shot and is a three-time Academic All-Canadi-an. He voraciously reads books by Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson and other astrophysicists.

I love the science of the un-known. The kind of stuff that hap-pens every day, everywhere, but you dont see, Michaelsen says. People take it for granted, but I want to know how it all works.

His favourite book is Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time. He fi nds it fascinating and engrossing.

Hawking, like Michaelsen, ex-perienced diffi culty communicat-ing the thoughts in his head to those around him, but the British physicist overcame the odds to be-come one of the greatest minds of modern history.

Michaelsen is not Stephen Hawking; he would never dream of comparing himself to him, but Michaelsen just co-authored his fi rst research paper based on his lab work on particle behaviour.

After all of his years struggling to write or speak in English or French, Michaelsens paper will likely be published in the coming months.

The basketball-playing, phys-ics-obsessed nerd has come a long way since he arrived at Ryerson.

Michaelsen stood at centre court on opening night.

He spoke.

PHOTO: SIERRA BEINPHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

8 Wednesday, March 25, 2015The Sports ISSUE

Jahmal Jones looked at the CIS bronze medal around his neck, earned on home court at the Mat-tamy Athletic Centre. Its the fi rst in team history, but the wrong colour.

[Coming into this game] it wasnt a big rah-rah, and you wouldnt expect it because I think then it would be manufactured, said head coach Roy Rana after the game. But I think to some de-gree were a refl ection of Jahmal. [With] his intense competitiveness, theres no way hes going to step on the fl oor and not compete. That just never happens with him.

Jones would be named player-of-the-game after racking up 25 points in the 82-68 win over the Victoria Vikes, but the gold would be played for by the Rams fi ercest rivals: the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens. Jones was held to just two points against Ottawa the day prior in one of the worst games of his career. At the end of his fi nal season, hell never get the chance to get even.

I dont have any feelings right now. Usually at the end of each year youre getting ready for the next season, says Jones. I havent really thought of not playing.

Since 2010, Jones has served as the cornerstone of Ryersons re-vamped basketball program under Rana. Jones received several offers from both CIS and NCAA schools after a dominant senior season at Mississauga Secondary School playing with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Rana and Ryerson Athletics as-sisted Jones with getting the neces-sary MRI and surgery on his knee, which told Jones that he could trust them to take care of him dur-ing his university career. Declining offers from both Ottawa schools, Jones chose Ryerson in the hopes of creating a new legacy in the GTA, alongside Bjrn Michaelsen a top forward prospect from an elite Quebec program and Jordon Gauthier, a three-point specialist from Windsor. Jones had played alongside Gauthier earlier that year on an Ontario select team that travelled to Italy, coached by then-Roy Rana assis-tant Ajay Sharma, with the trip overseen by Rana himself.

Were both the kind of people that tend to stay in our own lanes, so at fi rst we didnt really talk until we knew the other could hoop, Gauthier says of his fi rst encoun-ter with Jones.

Yet Jones is the fi rst to admit that hes not the most approach-able person.

People have to warm up to

me, he says. Im not going to approach you with smiles and hugs and all that. Thats not me. But after I get to trust you a little more, you get to see my fun side.

If you havent seen him around campus, thats on purpose. Al-though he attends the majority of his classes, Jones always sits at the back much like in team fi lm ses-sions where he can observe ev-erything. Although the star on the team, he prefers to keep a low pro-fi le, never wearing his Rams gear outside of team functions.

I dont want that [attention,] I dont need that, he says. Be-cause when it comes to athletes, people have this perception about you without knowing you and sometimes its not always positive. So Id rather be able to just blend in as a regular student. Me per-sonally, I dont care what people think, but when your face is ev-erywhere, youve got to conduct yourself in a certain way.

Traditionally, Jones has led by example. Described by teammates and coaches as the fi rst guy in, last guy out, Jones spends an incredible amount of time in the gym a trait emulated by his teammates. If Jones isnt fi nished a workout, neither are they; they keep going. The post-surgery pe-riod taught Jones the value of tak-ing care of his body. Ever since, hes iced his body after every game and practice, and spends an hour every day in physiotherapy.

We practice harder than we play at real games sometimes. Youve got to ice your body, says Jones, who encourages teammates to utilize the extra time with team trainers. You realize that next day in the weight room that your body is still sore.

Jones says he didnt see the point of beating guys in practice until his experience playing for the Canadian national team in the summer of 2011 at the Pan Am Games in Mexico and at the Uni-versity Games in China, alongside the top players in the CIS. While he made a few contacts, he says he prefers to limit friendships to players on his team to maintain an edge on the court.

Theres no relationship with anyone not at Ryerson. There are no handshakes or friends. If I know you, I know you, but I dont talk to you, says Jones. We dont follow each other on Insta-gram or anything like that.

Fred Grannum, one of his high school coaches, attributes Jones dogged approach to having had a chip on his shoulder from an ear-ly age. At just six foot and 150 pounds soaking wet, he always

had something to prove. Once criticized for demonstrat-

ing poor body language, Jones could be seen dancing in pre-game introductions the past two seasons something assistant coach Pat-rick Tatham says sent a message to his teammates that their leader was ready to go. Able to bring out his voice on the court, Jones now even helps rookie Filip Vuja-dinovic with improving his own court conduct.

Since day one hes been help-ing me with the transition, says Vujadinovic. In games hes been teaching me how to play defense, how to play offense. Hes basically been an older brother to me on and off the court.

Over the years Jones has roomed with younger teammates, cur-rently living in a townhouse with third-year forward Juwon Gran-num and second-year forward Jean-Victor JV Mukama.

Jones older sibling persona comes naturally, as he has a younger brother: Jaren, 15. Ryer-sons close proximity to home al-lows for Jaren to watch his broth-ers games in person and hang out with the team. In the summer, he spends weeks at a time living with Jones and his roommates, while participating in Ryersons basket-ball camps. Though he is a tal-ented point guard himself taller and more athletic, according to his older brother Jones says he never puts pressure on his brother to follow his footsteps.

We dont talk about that. We just talk about getting better, says Jones. People put pressure on themselves. Hes his own person, Im my own person. If he wants to play [for Ryerson] hell play.

While a guaranteed presence, the Jones family never sits togeth-er at games. Jaren will fi nd a spot and split time between the game and his phone. Their mother, Ve-rona, sits in the student section, where she is sometimes the loud-est voice in the crowd.

She likes being a part of every-thing shes our number one fan, but sometimes takes it to another level, says Jones. Thats why she sits by herself she gets so agi-tated.

Seeing Jones father Devon is like a game of Wheres Waldo? Much like his son, Devon likes to be able to observe everything moving throughout the bleach-ers, sometimes settling for a spot amongst the other teams fans. He likes to hear how other people talk about Jahmal.

Ill just be sitting there laughing and smiling and they dont know why, says Devon. I was at a game at Kerr Hall. [Another players] fa-ther, he was one seat above me. He was like pass him the fucking ball! I was like, whats wrong with this guy? They were winning the game and Jahmal was just running out the clock. The game fi nishes and he said to my wife, wheres your husband, why havent I seen him? And I was right there beside him. The fl oor couldve opened and taken him in when he was going on and carrying on like that. Guy didnt know who I was.

Since before arriving to Ryer-son, Jones and his father have always discussed carrying out the plan. While Jones worked at the AMC theatre, his parents have always helped him bringing supplies and home-cooked meals every Sunday for the past four years.

I said, when you get to university, whatever you do, stay out of trou-ble. Youve already got a plan. Try not to de-rail the train, Devon says. Im going to stick with you no matter what you decide because Ive given you everything Ive got. Im going to try to give you what my fa-ther didnt give me anything you want,

you just make a phone call.With the plan almost complete,

the Rams now have to prepare for life after Jones, the only player in team history to be named an OUA All-Star in fi ve consecutive seasons.

The business technology man-agement major hopes to eventu-ally combine his love of sports and statistics by working in the growing industry of fantasy sports, but according to Devon, he has received several emails and phone calls regarding a future as a professional. But Jones has yet to respond, saying he just wants to focus on graduating in June.

He says he now feels less moti-vated to do well academically, as he has always maintained good grades to stay on the court.

People always say, if you didnt have sports, school would be so much easier. But some peo-ple are in school for sports. They have to get good grades to be on teams because its a privilege.

By Charles Vanegas

Jahmal Jones

husband, why havent I seen him? And I was right there beside him. The fl oor couldve opened and taken him in when he was going on and carrying on like that. Guy didnt know who I was.

Since before arriving to Ryer-son, Jones and his father have always discussed carrying out the plan. While Jones worked at the AMC theatre, his parents have always helped him bringing supplies and home-cooked meals every Sunday for the past

I said, when you get to university, whatever you do, stay out of trou-

says. Im going to stick with you no matter what you decide because Ive given you everything Ive got. Im going to try to give you what my fa-

teams because its a privilege.

PHOTOS: CHARLES VANEGAS

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 9The Sports ISSUE

After a year and a half, Mariah Nunes just couldnt take it any-more. She walked away from her NCAA Division I basketball schol-arship at Fairleigh Dickinson Uni-versity (FDU), got into a car and drove home. With her hands on the steering wheel, Nunes drove nine hours from New Jersey back to Ajax, Ont., in the middle of a snowstorm. I felt such relief. Just to call it quits, go home and not come back.

On the hardwood she was a starter and playing her best bas-ketball during the 2012 season. Thats why she says that everyone was surprised when she left. I was doing well on the court, but no one saw behind closed doors.

She says that it got to the point where head coach Peter Cinella and the FDU coaching staff would let the girls on her team do what-ever they wanted to me. The last straw for Nunes was at a FDU practice in Teaneck, New Jersey.

With the ball in her hands, she was punched square in the face with a closed fi st by one of her teammates. Her nose felt broken and was gushing blood. Then her coach came up to her and said, You got a scratch? Whats up?

He joked about it and made it seem like nothing, when re-ally I actually had a concussion, Nunes says. Her nose didnt break, but it was so swollen and

I had to sit out games from the concussion.

The staff at FDU didnt take her to a hospital to get it checked out. Instead, the trainers just assessed me,

she says. Nunes says that type of violent

went to FDU during her Grade 11 year for a recruiting visit. She says that the school was hounding her 24/7 trying to get her to commit. Her trip was a good experience and her parents were especially impressed.

[My parents] loved the treat-ment. They would take you out to fancy restaurants, put you in a nice hotel, they treat you well, wine and dine you so that youll go to the school. But, I wasnt sure. I wasnt sold on it.

With two years to go before Nunes even graduated high school, the FDU basketball pro-gram told her that someone else wanted what could be her spot. They said that they wanted her, so she was given the ultimatum of having to decide her future in less than two weeks. She had to either take the full scholarship now, or nothing.

She felt the pressure. At the time, none of her other siblings had ever gone to college or uni-versity. Her cousins, aunts, uncles and entire family were so excited about her chance to go away and play basketball. They were proud to see someone who they loved earn a full-ride scholarship in the United States. Even when she de-cided to come back home, she felt a lot of pressure from her family to stay. I felt like everyone was like, Oh, this is a great opportunity, you should stick this out. But, I had to come to the realization that my happiness came fi rst. So, I just left.

Nunes felt relief knowing that she was leaving behind an envi-ronment where she was constant-ly getting injured, having to play through sickness and where they werent considerate of her well-

being. I thought that it wasnt fair,

that I was giving so much just to play basketball. It became a job, it wasnt fun anymore. When she thinks about it and looks back now at the training that FDU put her through, she says, It was ridiculously hardcore. Like, I thought I was going to die, with all the lifting and running.

One of Nunes high school coaches told her about Carly Clarke, the head coach of the Ryer-son womens basketball team. De-spite the struggle and the negative basketball experience that she went through, she was drawn back to the game. She wanted to be somewhere that cared about her well-being, a place that valued her character as a basketball player, but more impor-tantly, as a person.

She didnt want to feel how she did in the NCAA as, just a machine, you know? Basketball, basketball, bas-ketball. Nunes knew that she needed a coach who was considerate of their players a teacher with passion, willing to guide rather than just push. I wanted to come to a school with a fresh start and try to work my way up.

At the time, she was joining a Ry-erson Rams team that lost more games than they won. Fast forward two years later into 2015, and Nunes is now an Ontario Univer-sity Athletics (OUA) sec-ond-team all-star guard, solidifying her-self as a top 20 player in the province. Shes become the teams most ef-fi cient three-point shooter, and is an inte-gral member of what she calls the Ra-

By Luke Galati

basketball player, but more impor-tantly, as a person.

She didnt want to feel how she did in the NCAA as, just a machine, you know? Basketball, basketball, bas-ketball. Nunes knew that she needed a coach who was considerate of their players a teacher with passion, willing to guide rather than just push. I wanted to come to a school with a fresh start and try to work my way up.

At the time, she was joining a Ry-erson Rams team that lost more games than they won. Fast forward two years later into 2015, and Nunes is now an Ontario Univer-sity Athletics (OUA) sec-ond-team all-star guard, solidifying her-self as a top 20 player in the province. Shes become the teams most ef-fi cient three-point shooter, and is an inte-gral member of what she calls the Ra-mily, who f i n i s h e d the season with a

16-3 record. Nunes and the Rams even made history this season, winning a program-fi rst OUA sil-ver medal and appearing in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8.

This is the best team that Ive ever been on, she says. I liter-ally love all my teammates, those are my girls and I feel so fortu-nate to be a part of this team.

Nunes, now 21, will be return-ing to Ryerson next year to fi nish up her criminology degree. She says that despite the setbacks, the grief and the moments of pain that basketball has weaved her through, she hasnt lost her love for the game.

It made me grow as a person to see my true value and my worth. Basketball, its important to me but its not everything.

conduct allowed by the staff at FDU was just really dirty and my coaches just accepted it and allowed it. She says they ratio-nalized it by saying that it would make her tougher.

During a previous practice they were training and had to run timed laps as a team. In groups of six, three had to make the time, or the group kept running. Nunes says that she remembers it was a 5 a.m. practice, so she didnt have an appetite and only ate a granola bar that morning.

I was the only person making it, so I kept going in the group to sprint.

Before the last lap, she remem-bers fainting and blacking out. I pushed myself so hard and as I got up my coach asked if I was OK. I got up and said, I think so, and he said, Well OK, fi nish up.

I fainted, everything and my coach was like, OK, fi nish up your set. So, she ran the next set.

Nunes says that eventually she became conscious and real-ized that the way she was being treated wasnt worth it, even for the sport that she loved. Regard-ing her old coach Cinella, she says that, he saw potential in me, he tried to push me. But, he pushed me so hard that he pushed me away.

Nunes makes it clear that she doesnt feel she was abused dur-ing her time playing in the NCAA at FDU. It wasnt like the coach-ing staff was literally hitting me or anything. But they would say things they would talk down to me. They would say that about my character, I was ungrateful, she says. They bullied me.

For Nunes, it didnt feel right from the very beginning. She fi rst

was surprised when she left. I was doing well on the court, but no one saw behind closed doors.

She says that it got to the point where head coach Peter Cinella and the FDU coaching staff would let the girls on her team do what-ever they wanted to me. The last straw for Nunes was at a FDU practice in Teaneck, New Jersey.

With the ball in her hands, she was punched square in the face with a closed fi st by one of her teammates. Her nose felt broken and was gushing blood. Then her coach came up to her and said, You got a scratch? Whats up?

He joked about it and made it seem like nothing, when re-ally I actually had a concussion, Nunes says. Her nose didnt break, but it was so swollen and

she says. Nunes says that type of violent

Mariah Nunes

PHOTOS: STEPHEN ARMSTRONG

Mitch

The clich of athletes feeling lost once their careers are over is thrown around quite often in the sporting world. But Mitch Gallant pauses to think of an answer to whats next?

At six foot and 195 pounds, the Ryerson Rams right winger is intimidating to say the least that is until he fl ashes a smile and cracks a joke. He apologizes for being late for the interview even though hes on time and asks me how I am, genuine curiosity ap-parent in his voice.

Hes a guy you can always count on, the kind of person that you can talk to about anything, whether or not its about hockey, said fellow teammate and captain Michael Fine. Hes a charac-ter guy and character player, you know hes got your back on and off the ice. Anything for the team type of person.

Gallant, 25, has been around

Gallant

10 THE SPORTS ISSUE Wednesday, March 25, 2015

hockey his entire life. As he shares the story of his dad building a rink in their backyard, he looks off into the distance, a smile forming as he remembers his childhood.

[At] four years old, I used to be out there at fi ve in the morning shooting pucks. My dad thought I was crazy, he says.

Itll defi nitely be an adjust-ment when he stops playing, its hard for every player, says his fa-ther Donnie Gallant. Coaching is the closest thing, when youre not a player, to being involved with the game. But when you get into the workforce you dont al-ways have time for the things you want to do, so well see what he wants to do.

There are fathers who enrol their sons in sports and then stand back and let the coaches take over. Then there are the fathers who enrol their sons in sports and end up coaching them. Don-

nie was the latter, helping coach his son throughout minor hockey. While he never gave his son any slack or preferential treatment throughout his father-son coach-ing tenure, Donnie believes his son always had what it took to make a career out of playing, whether he coached him or not.

Mitch is a pretty straight-for-ward, what you see is what you get, nothing fancy player. He can score, but he fi nishes his checks and plays clean and he plays hard, Donnie says. Hes always been a good player on any team that hes on. Ive always told him to be respect-ful of the game and just play to his style.

Fielding offers from the Univer-sity of Ottawa and the University of Prince Edward Island, Gallant ultimately chose to attend Ryer-

son in the spring of 2011 and play for the Rams because, you cant pass up a chance to play in [the Maple Leaf Gardens].

Gallant accumulated only 19 points in his fi rst three seasons with the Rams, but 14 of those came during the 2013-2014 season. That was why head coach Graham Wise decided to promote him to the fi rst line this season; playing with of-fensive powerhouses Domenic Al-berga and Fine. Gallant doubled his points from the previous season and put up 28 points in 25 games something Wise attests to his off-season training and playing with high-calibre players.

Mitch has gotten better over the years, he contributes on of-fense and hes an all-around,

hardworking guy who weve come to expect a lot from, says Wise. His off-season training, get-ting himself where he

needs to be physically, as well as playing with Fine and Alberga has paid off.

While Gallant will be with the Rams for one more season, his future in hockey after school is clouded for now. But whatever he decides to do, one thing is certain: hes perfectly fi ne accepting any clich thats associated with hock-ey, as along as it means he can be around the sport thats defi ned his life.

Its hard to see my life without hockey after being involved with

it for 20 years, so if I wasnt playing, Id hopefully be working somewhere in hockey, says Gallant. Id

like to own my own busi-ness, maybe open up a res-taurant. Id like to work for myself, have something that I created. I dont like working

for other people.

TroyPassingham

If you see Troy Passingham around campus, hell look like an average fourth-year Ryerson student. He sports a midterm beard, a baseball cap and jeans. If you ask him his favourite beer, hell say Budweiser. He likes to play video games and doesnt like commuting from Mis-sissauga.

But Passingham is anything but average. This past season, the six-foot-fi ve goalie played in all 27 games for the Ryerson mens hockey team while working to-ward his degree in geographic

analysis.We got into a situation where

we needed to win every game down the stretch, he says. It turned out I needed to be in there every game, so I just kept going out there when [head coach Gra-ham Wise] told me to.

And starting each game didnt phase the self-described calm and confi dent goaltender. He led the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with 889 total saves 94 more than the next best goalie.

His .904 save percentage was the 13th best and he was ranked fourth in wins with 14.

It was a good thing, Passing-ham says. As a goalie you want to play every game, so I take it as a sign I deserve to be out there.

Wise says he didnt plan for Passingham to play every game prior to the start of the season. But since the two backup goalies were rookies, it became a matter of experience.

Its a big challenge for him to play that number of games and we

asked a lot, but he was able to do it for us, Wise says.

Ultimately, the Rams lost in two straight games in the fi rst round of the playoffs and were eliminated by the University of Toronto Var-sity Blues.

The playoffs are where you want to have the most success so losing is always tough, especially when its U of T, its our cross-town rival, says Passingham. We fi n-ished higher in the standings so we thought we had a good chance but it was two close games.

When Passingham started playing, he wasnt necessarily a

goalie. I started playing hockey when I was seven, he says. I wasnt very good as a [skater]. When I got my chance at goalie I thought, wow this is awesome, and from there on I was a goal-ie.

My familys pretty support-ive in general, Passingham says. My dads always been that driv-ing force to go to all the practices, yelling at me when I do bad stuff.

After living by himself for a few years to play junior hockey, being able to live at home with his family was one of the main reasons Pass-ingham chose to come to Ryerson.

hard for every player, says his fa-ther Donnie Gallant. Coaching is the closest thing, when youre not a player, to being involved with the game. But when you get into the workforce you dont al-ways have time for the things you want to do, so well see what he

There are fathers who enrol their sons in sports and then stand back and let the coaches take over. Then there are the fathers who enrol their sons in sports and end up coaching them. Don-

of Prince Edward Island, Gallant ultimately chose to attend Ryer-

hardworking guy who weve come to expect a lot from, says Wise. His off-season training, get-ting himself where he

clich thats associated with hock-ey, as along as it means he can be around the sport thats defi ned his life.

Its hard to see my life without hockey after being involved with

it for 20 years, so if I wasnt playing, Id hopefully be working somewhere in hockey, says Gallant. Id

like to own my own busi-ness, maybe open up a res-taurant. Id like to work for myself, have something that I created. I dont like working

for other people.

PassinghamWe got into a situation where

we needed to win every game down the stretch, he says. It turned out I needed to be in there every game, so I just kept going out there when [head coach Gra-

And starting each game didnt phase the self-described calm and confi dent goaltender. He led the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with 889 total saves 94 asked a lot, but he was able to goalie. I started playing hockey

Having my family right there, having that support system behind me has probably been a big help, he says. I could have easily lived on my own but its kind of nice to be at home and be able to come to school.

While he admits splitting time between school, hockey and com-muting can be a time crunch, he says hes been able to succeed. You just get used to it after a while. Its a lot harder to play hockey and do school but Ive been here for four years now and Ive kind of gotten used to a rou-tine and balance my schedule.

His personal goal for next year is to, again, start every game. If they bring competition in Im go-ing to be ready for it and prove that Im ready to be that number one guy next year again.

In terms of the future, Passing-ham says, Im just trying to get through university right now and see what happens from there. I just try and continually get better so I can maybe go places with gradu-ate school or hockey.

Wise says Passinghams size is one of his assets as a goalie. Hes a big body, he covers a lot of net.

But thats not all Wise says about Passinghams skill as a goalie.

He was a solid goaltender for us throughout the year he was an iron man playing all the min-utes that he did.

By Sarah Cunningham-Scharf

By Devin JonesPHOTOS: ANNIE ARNONE

PHOTOS: ANNIE ARNONE

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 The SporTS ISSue 11

EmilyNicholishen

By Brandon Buechler

A girl sits at a desk, pencil in hand, furiously sketching the portrait of an anime character while Lady Gaga blares on repeat from speak-ers behind her.

She brushes away her short-cropped blonde hair, rolls down the sleeves of her sweater, inserts her thumbs back into its worn holes, marveling at her work.

An email notification pings: the results from last weeks volleyball tryout. The subject reads, Come back as a libero.

A 16-year-old Emily Nicholish-en knows the reason shes too short to be a hitter.

Typecast as a libero, a defensive position where shorter players thrive, she has been here before.

Five years later Nicholishen at

five feet seven inches tall is a key piece on a nationally-ranked Ryer-son womens volleyball program. As a hitter.

Ive never been your typical volleyball player, Nicholishen laughs, just weeks after complet-ing her fourth season and third playoff appearance at Ryerson.

But its never stopped her in fact, its pushed her.

[Being different] used to light a fire under my butt, says Nichol-ishen, now 21.

Head coach Dustin Reid says that was part of why his club re-cruited the promising young star from Sinclair Secondary School in Whitby, Ont.

She could do anything she wants if she puts her mind to it, he says. And we were looking to bring that type of culture to Ryerson.

The team improved to 6-13 in the 2011-2012 season before breaking out the following season, going 14-4 and winning bronze in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs.

And Nicholishen was a mainstay all the way, averaging 55 appear-ances and 164 points each season.

Nicholishen admits that she was a little bit different from the rest of her teammates coming up through the high school and club volleyball systems.

I was an awkward kid. I nev-er fit the stereotypical volleyball player: Lululemon pants, Hollister shirts, that kind of thing, Nichol-ishen says. I had the sweaters with the thumb holes, short hair the emo cut, with the eyeliner.

But coming to Ryerson allowed her to grow both her hair and her character.

Coming here, I really found myself, who I am as a person, she says, her straight blonde hair now reaching far past her shoulders.

Emily loves the city, Mary Ellen Nicholishen, Emilys mom says. [Toronto] is contemporary and immediate, and she wants to be a part of that.

Mary Ellen describes her daugh-ter as somebody who is energetic, fun and excitable, yet quiet, stu-dious and thoughtful at the same time.

Emily had plenty of friends [as a kid], she says. But then she was always in her room, do-ing her homework or drawing something. She was very good at science.

Nicholishen spent her first year at Ryerson in the new media pro-gram, believing it would be the ideal outlet for her artistic talent.

It ended up being complete the opposite kind of art that I was into, she says. Its that Nuit Blanche kind of stuff that you have to wrap your head around and I wasnt into that.

After her first year, she decided

to change her direction, enrolling in biology. But ask her what she plans to do with that degree and youll get wide eyes and an open mouth in response.

Im still trying to figure that out, she says. We dont have a kinesiology program here, which really sucks. Id like to maybe stay involved in volleyball as a person-al trainer.

Whatever Emily decides, her mother knows her competitive na-ture will push her forward.

Shes always been super com-petitive ... and I think thats a good thing, Mary Ellen says.

LucasColeman

By Daniel Rocchi

Lucas Coleman has played his way across Canada, the United States and the world. But theres no place like home for one of the top volleyball players in the On-tario University Athletics (OUA). And that means theres no place like Ryerson.

I knew Ryerson was home for me, says Coleman from his seat overlooking the Coca-Cola Court at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, killing time before the daily weight-room ritual in what he calls his most important off-season. It had a much better feel than I found at any other school.

Coleman joined the Rams in January 2014, leaving behind a volleyball scholarship at Utahs Brigham Young University, home to one of the top athletics pro-grams in the United States.

They have a fantastic volley-ball program, probably the best in the NCAA, says the profes-sional communications student of his first post-secondary stop. But I couldnt see myself living there for four years. I wanted to be close to home and Utah was just a little too far.

Coleman seemed to click well with his new team as soon as he arrived. He was second on the team with just over three points per game in his 23 sets as a first-year player.

But he confesses that it wasnt until Ryersons first-round play-off game against the York Lions that he finally felt comfortable as a Ram.

That was probably the most [high-] pressure game Ive played at Ryerson, recalls Coleman. I was able to come off the bench and immediately step in and I knew I wanted to be the leader of

this team and take this team as far as we can go.

Coleman had 17 kills, second amongst all Rams, in a tight 3-2 road win over the Lions.

Joining the team halfway through last season meant missing summer training camp and team-building excercises. Although he was playing with former col-leagues, Coleman did feel some-what out of place.

But when this years campaign began, it was obvious that Cole-man felt right at home.

The Rams were dominant all season long, jockeying for a po-sition near the top of the league en route to a 15-5 record and a second-place regular season fin-ish. In his first full season in a Ryerson uniform, Coleman led the way offensively for the Rams.

He tied for third place among all OUA players in kills and kills per set, claimed third in the con-ference in points and points per set and finished in the top ten for total service aces and aces per set.

Those numbers were good enough to earn Coleman a spot on the OUA First All-Star team as Ry-ersons only representative. Cole-man also became the second mens volleyball player in Rams history to earn All-Canadian status when he was named to the Canadian In-teruniversity Sport (CIS) Second All-Canadian team.

He was so impressive this

year, says head coach Mirek Po-rosa. He exceeded, I think, his own expectations and those of the coaching staff. He was so consis-tent and efficient.

Coleman still has high hopes for his future with the Rams, especial-ly after two quick playoff exits.

The quarter-final win against York in 2014 was followed by a defeat at the hands of the Mc-Master Marauders in Ryersons first Final Four appearance since 2008. This season ended in dis-appointment after the Windsor Lancers upset the nationally-ranked Rams in the quarter-fi-nals.

Coleman believes his team is

better than those results and that Ryerson can be a perennial chal-lenger for both the provincial and national titles. He intends to prove it before he graduates.

We just need to get a little more consistent, but all of the pieces are there, says Coleman. Its tough to create a dynasty if it was easy everyone would be doing it. But I would definitely like to start some-thing.

Down on the court below, a few of Colemans teammates are playing basketball, a frequent pass-time for the team. Rising from his seat, Coleman calls out a greeting to them and departs to join the game.

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

12 THE SporTS ISSUE Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Kayla Karbonik

The secret behind the success of the Ryerson womens hockey team this season might have a lot to do with grapes.

Rookie Kayla Karbonik says she wont play a game without first eat-ing a bunch of the bite-sized fruits.

When she talks about the dou-ble-overtime loss that eliminated the Rams from the playoffs last month, the right-winger unmistak-ably grins.

Its hard to be upset because we did so well as a team, she says.

Ryersons hopes of managing more than a quarter-final appear-ance may have vanished early on, but for the 18-year-old first-line forward, the finale was just the start of her Ontario University Ath-letics (OUA) career.

Were excited to have her here [at Ryerson], says head coach Lisa Haley. Kayla is very tenacious, she loves to score goals and she puts herself in a position to do so.

Pronounced with the ease of al-literation over the PA system, Kar-boniks name was not only men-tioned, but mastered by announcers this season. Her stats hovered around the top of the Rams charts throughout the year. She finished the regular season with 17 points, including eight goals.

Defenceman and team captain Jessica Hartwick praised the hard work and smooth integration of all the new recruits this season.

Our first-year players came in with a lot of talent, she says. The coachability of our team has never been better when [Haley] shows us a play, we pick it up right away.

Before this season, the Rams were never in playoff contention, and even Hartwick smirks at the thought of the teams past records.

The posters at the [Mattamy Athletic Centre] never used to be for womens hockey, Hartwick says. They arent going to pro-mote a losing team.

By the second half of the season, Karbonik was placed on the first

line alongside veteran forward Melissa Wronzberg and former- NCAA player Emma Rutherford to form the best offensive line the Rams have seen in its four-year history.

Typically the same three players do not play together all the time, but they certainly led the way as our first offensive line, says Haley. Well continue to switch up the lines come next season.

Whenever faced with a shoot-out situation in the regular season, Haley would point to Karbonik to do her move. With a left deke too quick for most, she easily puts the puck past the goaltender on the open right side.

I keep telling her that any good coach is going to tell their goalie what Kaylas going to do, says her dad, Ross, who watched all of the Rams games through video stream. But it really does work often.

Late last August, the Karboniks drove 22 hours from their small town of St. Andrews, Man., to Ryersons downtown campus. She longed for the diverse and fast-paced environment that Toronto promised, along with an Olympic coach behind the bench.

Its tough not having her around the house, says Ross. But as a team thats still building, we thought it was the best opportu-

By Krista Robinson

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

PHOTO: SIERRA BEIN

nity for her in Canada. Maybe she could build and learn with them.

Despite her impressive stats, Karbonik has faced some diffi-culties off the ice. First years no-toriously suffer academically in their transition to post-second-ary school and for her its meant switching majors. Moving from accounting to economics next year could mean a fifth year for Kar-bonik, something the team cer-tainly wouldnt mind.

As a new face in the dressing room, Karbonik also admits that its been difficult integrating so-cially with some of the older play-ers. Many of them have played together since the teams forma-tion and the newcomer describes herself as pretty shy.

Im always quiet coming into a new team and I havent exactly opened up to everyone yet, she says. But I get along with every-one and Im looking forward to next season, for sure.

With training for next year al-ready underway, Karbonik, Haley and the rest of the Rams now set their sights on improving on the teams first playoff appearance.

We took a significant step this year and Karbonik was certainly a big part of that, said Haley. Hopefully we make another jump next year.

CONTINUINGSTUDIES

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 THE SPORTS ISSUE 13

The Ryerson Rams baseball pro-gram led the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league with 41.1 innings played last season and if ace pitcher Bryan Vardzel had it his way, he would have thrown in all of them.

We were playing Western in a doubleheader and Vardzy had started the fi rst game, catcher Keith Capstick* recalls. And in the seventh inning of the second game, we fought back and it was a huge deal for us because West-ern is one of the better teams. [So] Vardzy just went to the bullpen and started warming up, he had already thrown 130 pitches that morning.

Since the program started two years ago, Vardzel has served as the anchor of the Ryerson baseball team and has acted as a consistent force for a team that is still trying to fi nd its footing in the OUA.

Bryan has sound mechanics and a very repeatable delivery, head coach Ben Rich says. This results in him throwing a lot of strikes, as evidenced by his ex-tremely low walks per nine-in-nings.

Vardzel exudes confi dence in his own abilities, having been around the game since he was six years old. He started in the Wexford Baseball League in Scarborough, Ont., and exhibited great skill for the game at such an early age.

I was generally a little bit big-ger and stronger than other kids even at a really young age, Vard-zel says. I had good hand-eye motor skills so it came pretty natu-rally and easily to me.

Vardzel doesnt rely on his natu-ral talent, he takes every opportu-nity he can to learn more about the game and observe other pitch-ers. He studies their approaches to game situations as well as pitch sequences. He takes pride in his

sports IQ and hates the notion of the dumb athlete.

I think just having that knowl-edge of the game and being in tune with the game, I fi nd gives me a competitive advantage, he says. I take a lot of pride in making sure Im prepared to accomplish what I can, I have a pretty strong mental focus, Im pretty hard on myself at times and I expect a lot out of people.

Vardzels focus can often come off as intense both on the diamond and in the dugout. It can often take coaches a few minutes to convince him to leave the mound once its time for the closer to come in, and even then, hes not always happy about it. It can be said that Vardzel would rather play the whole game and be the reason why the team lost, than come out and watch the team lose for another reason. And according to Capstick, Vardzels not shy about his high expecta-tions for his teammates.

If youre being dumb, or not trying hard enough, Vardzy will let you know about it and it wont be pretty, the catcher says.

Vardzel also takes this calcu-lated approach to his studies. He had some scholarship offers from American universities, but wasnt satisfi ed with their academic qual-ity. He instead chose Trent Univer-sity where he spent two years studying environmental science before he realized he wanted a career where hed have more sta-bility and fi nancial wealth, so he switched to marketing at the Ted Rogers School of Management.

Vardzel has dreams of working on Bay Street, a world his parents know very well. His dad is a risk audit manager for Royal Bank of Canada while his mom is a senior vice president in charge of busi-ness process outsourcing at Cap-gemini, an IT company. They are two very busy people, but they al-ways made sure to make time for him.

Theyve always supported me with everything that Ive done through the sport, Vardzel says. They were willing to sacrifi ce a lot of time and money along the years to make sure I have the best equipment, drive me to all the away tournaments. It was pretty much every weekend in the sum-mer we were in a tournament somewhere.

Vardzels life as an athlete doesnt begin and end with baseball. His main sport as a kid was hockey, which he played at the AAA level up until his minor midget draft year, but was forced to stop when he had to undergo two knee sur-geries that were caused by injuring

himself play-ing volley-

b a l l in gym class. He was also a member of his high schools golf team and boasted a single digit handicap. His favourite golf course is TPC of Scotts-dale in Scotts-dale, Arizona.

Between his athletic and aca-demic sched-ule, it may seem like Vard-zel would h a v e time for no th ing else, his seri-ous persona taking over his entire life. But he prefers to think there are many different sides to him, sides that show all aspects of his personality.

I have a very relaxed side to me when Im hanging out with my friends, he says. I do have a seri-ous side when it comes to sports, but I can turn that switch off when I need to.

Even still, his coaches and team-mates report occasions where in the middle of being serious Vardzel will have a one liner or Pokmon reference that will leave everyone doubled over laughing.

Whatever side of Vardzel youre getting, it cant be denied that his contributions to the young base-ball program will be greatly missed when he graduates this year.

With us being such a young team, organizationally, its im-portant to have a guy like Vardzy around, Capstick says. Its all about consistency. It would be diffi cult for the rest of us to do [our] job without a guy who can consistently take the mound every Saturday or Sunday morning, and you know you can rely on seven innings, 120 pitches and a shot to win the game. Thats what Vardzy brings that sets him apart.

Bryan Vardzel By Matt Ouellet

*Note: Keith Capstick is also a news editor at The Eyeopener.

PHOTOS: ROB FOREMAN

sports IQ and hates the notion

I think just having that knowl-edge of the game and being in tune with the game, I fi nd gives me a competitive advantage, he

Im pretty hard on myself at times and I expect a lot out of people.

Vardzels focus can often come off as intense both on the diamond and in the dugout. It can often take coaches a few minutes to convince him to leave the mound once its time for the closer to come in, and even then, hes not always happy about it. It can be said that Vardzel would rather play the whole game and be the reason why the team lost, than come out and watch the team lose for another reason. And according to Capstick, Vardzels not shy about his high expecta-

If youre being dumb, or not trying hard enough, Vardzy will let you know about it and it wont

Vardzel also takes this calcu-lated approach to his studies. He had some scholarship offers from American universities, but wasnt satisfi ed with their academic qual-ity. He instead chose Trent Univer-sity where he spent two years

himself play-ing volley-

b a l l in gym class. He was also a member of his high schools golf team and boasted a single digit handicap. His favourite golf course is TPC of Scotts-dale in Scotts-dale, Arizona.

Between his athletic and aca-demic sched-ule, it may seem like Vard-zel would h a v e time for no th ing

Eyeopener Elections!

Speeches begin at 7pm, April 2nd in the bottle-service-only VIP section of the Ram In The Rye.

Voting is from 10am to 4:30pm on April 3rd. Vote in person at SCC207, via email or by phone. Email editor@theeyeopener.com for details.

All RSU members (full time undergrads and full and part-time grads) are eligible to vote on by-law changes, motions, & set direction!

For more info on your membership in the Students Union visit www.rsuonline.ca

ASL interpretation provided. If we need other accommodations to ensure your participation, please contact internal@rsuonline.ca as soon as possible.

5:00pm Registration5:30pm Start

SCC115Student Centre

Annual General Meeting of the Ryerson Students Union

RSU Spring General Meeting

AGM

Discuss student issues

Have your say on RSU campaigns & initiatives

Exercise your democratic right

YOUR UNIONYOUR VOICE

CALLING ALL MEMBERS

FREE DINNER

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1

14 Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 15

THANK YOU!

ATHLETIC CENTRE

woMens Soccer TIED RECORD FoR MOST WINS IN

A SEASON]

Womens HockeyFIRST PLAYOFF APPEARANCE in

ProgramHistory ]

Mens BasketballFirst CIs

National PodiumFinish : Bronze Medal]

Mens VolleyBallFINISHED 15-5, MOST WINS IN 8 YEARS[Womens Basketball

First national championshipAppearance & OUa Silver MedalistS [

Mens HockeyTHREE RAMS SIGN PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS[

Womens VolleyballNationally ranked for three weeks[

FOR AN AMAZING SEASON

Mens Soccer Makes

back-to-back appearance at Final Four championship ]

16 Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Receive a $10 FOOD COURT VOUCHERwhen you visit one of our 10 featured vendors.

Visit our website to learn how you could WIN* a $100 or $50 Gift Card!*Some conditions apply. Visit 10dundaseast.com for full details.

MARCH 16 27 (MONDAY TO FRIDAY)

HERES HOW:

1. Check out 10 Dundas Easts featured Food Court vendor daily at 10am on .

2. Show our vendor the featured post from your mobile device when you make a purchase.*

3. Score a $10 Food Court Voucher* for your next meal.

(MONDAY TO FRIDAY)

.

36645_March Promo Eyeopener Ad_10.1x13.5.indd 1 2015-03-09 9:45 AM