Photo by Photo Submitted
FAB FOUR – The winning St. Francis volleyball teams pose for a pic after the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament (DIVT) Oct. 29 at Robert Service High School in Dawson City. St.Francis swept F.H. Collins in all four finals of the tourney.
Photo by Photo Submitted
RED BEARS – The Watson Lake junior girls team poses for a pic at the 2022 DIVT in Dawson City.
Photo by Photo Submitted
THE JUNCTION GIRLS – The Haines Junction junior girls team poses for a pic at the 2022 DIVT in Dawson City.
Whitehorse's St. Francis of Assisi school swept all four division finals of the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament (DIVT).
Whitehorse's St. Francis of Assisi school swept all four division finals of the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament (DIVT).
The tournament took place at Robert Service School in Dawson Oct. 27-29.
18 teams competed in four divisions consisting of Grades 9-10 and Grades 11-12, each with boys and girls divisions.
Dave Rawlings, a phys-ed and science teacher at Robert Service, was the tourney's organizer.
"The tournament went really well," he recalled. "It was really nice to see a lot of the communities come join us again for our 43rd DIVT, and it was nice to have Whitehorse back again this year … just to have those extra (teams) on the court."
"We had rural representation from Watson Lake, Haines Junction, and Faro. Our rural representation was down this year but we had much higher Whitehorse representation versus last year."
Porter Creek Secondary School and CSSC Mercier also took part in the tourney.
According to Rawlings, conflicting scheduling played a part in the drop in the number of rural teams.
The tourney finals turned out to be a two-horse race.
"St. Francis swept the tournament with first place in all divisions and F.H. Collins was the runner up in all (the divisions)," related Rawlings.
He added "It's an amazing tournament and it takes weeks of planning, then it's over so shortly, but we do it because it's fun."
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Comments (3)
Up 26 Down 1
Jen on Nov 11, 2022 at 3:16 pm
Hi! St. Francis does not have a very big First Nations population! St. Francis has a big Filipino population and take pride in the diversity that population brings. They have open tryouts of which anyone is welcomed to tryout, the team is picked by who has the best skills (like the tryout process for literally every sport ever). Personally I played for St. Francis for four years and am indigenous, I didn’t know of any First Nations students that expressed interest in playing. And though St. Francis does not have a big FN population, I learned more about FN history and culture than probably any other high school. I respect your concern, I think you had the right idea, however you are lacking facts.
Up 21 Down 1
No name on Nov 10, 2022 at 9:18 pm
To the person who thinks we need "Diversity" in our team and that we aren't fair, you're completely wrong. We actually do in fact have diversity in our team where fortunately, we just have more talented players compared to others. We work harder, we play smarter and we are just BETTER. So if you're mad about St. Francis completely sweeping all the teams faced against them, it won't stop us from continuing that...
Up 3 Down 51
Diversity lacking on Nov 8, 2022 at 11:14 pm
Wow, St Francis needs some diversity that includes FN players. The other schools all have some FN students on teams, and I guess we're supposed to give three cheers for the Catholic elite trumping everybody at volleyball. Maybe if you represented all socio economic backgrounds, and had some First Nations players we could. And keep in mind that the communities don't stand a chance against your elitist teams. Try doing an A and B system and playing your 'elite' players against other elite players only. And bring your B teams to play other B teams. And also try a system of play where all of your players (even the developing ones) are played. Winning while others bench warm isn't the greatest and shows a lack of sportsmanship from adults intent on winning.