A day in the life of a buzzing Bisons sports campus By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 6:00 AM CST Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 Last Modified: 10:49 AM CST Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 Updates

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The first sign of activity on the University of Manitoba campus comes outside of the Max Bell Centre a little after 6 a.m. on Saturday.

The sun won’t rise for another hour, but one of the 75 staff members who will work on this day unlocks the door and lights up the Wayne Fleming Arena, clearing the way for a recreational group skate at 6:30 a.m.

It’s the first in a laundry list of activities and events that takes place on the Fort Garry campus each weekend. Everything from community pickleball to wall climbing, to badminton, to dance class will run before the day ends.

The James Daly Fieldhouse will host one of its biggest track meets of the year, a hockey game will be staged at the rink and the Investors Group Athletic Centre (IGAC) will feature two rivalries on the hardwood as the Bisons prepare for a jam-packed day of sports.

As former Bisons basketball star Justus Alleyn recalls, “Days like (Saturday) are what it’s all about.”

 

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The big building next door, the home of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, gets the glory on campus, but the U of M’s indoor sports and recreation facilities comprise one of the city’s sports hubs in the truest sense.

And on the first Saturday in February, it’s buzzing.

“I would imagine this was the original vision, was to have a place of gathering,” says Gene Muller, the U of M athletic director. “We want people to come to campus and we want to give people a reason to come to campus, so knowing that we’re contributing to the vibrancy and the diversity of the university and having both the spaces and the events that bring people on campus is great.

“If I closed my eyes and imagined what our building is for, it would be a day like Saturday.”

At 9:55 a.m., minutes before the second day of the Jim Daly Bison Classic begins inside the fieldhouse, the stands are quiet as supporters slowly file in, but it’s lively on the floor where a couple of hundred athletes go through extensive warm-ups.

The meet is one of the main events of the day.

The intensity is heightened at the crack of the first starter pistol and stays that way for the next six hours as Bison athletes cheer on their teammates to 10 first-place and nine top-four finishes.

Nothing like defending on home turf, says student-athlete Zoe Nonato, a 60-metre and 300m specialist who also runs on the 4x200m team.

Nonato and fellow second-year Annessa Stasiuk have raced at the fieldhouse dating back to their high-school days. Their nerves swirled the first time they ran on the banked track, but it quickly became a home away from home.

“This is just everyone’s second home so everyone is just that much more connected, seeing each other every day, connecting together every day, and we know that when we come here we’ll be together,” says Stasiuk, a 60m hurdle and 60m sprint specialist.

A long day of competition is only just beginning and the eyes of fewer than 100 spectators are focused on the proceedings. While the crowd grows slightly over the day, it’ll be nothing in comparison to the scene at the U Sports national track and field championships here March 7-9. This place will be packed. With athletes and supporters from across the nation.

The logistics of advanced scheduling can be daunting.

Jennifer Everard is used to the juggling act, as she’s been co-ordinating Bison sporting events since 2005. She plans games for the football and women’s soccer teams in April for the fall seasons, and then hammers out the rest of the teams’ sports schedules in June.

While there’s room to accommodate for last-minute adjustments such as travel delays, Everard has learned it’s best to have every team’s schedule locked in by September — when the chaos begins.

“We’re used to it. We do it basically every weekend,” Everard says, referring to days when four teams might be in action on campus. “My world, it’s all about preparing in advance and we really have no excuse. We can see this coming on our schedule for months and months so we just get our ducks in a row in terms of the staffing and working with our facilities team and having everything ready to go.”

The IGAC was built 25 years ago for the 1999 Pan American Games. On this day, it’s the site of cross-town rivalries on the hardwood as the Wesmen visit the Bisons — beginning with the women’s contest at 2 p.m.

Anna Kernaghan, a senior guard on the Wesmen, has been in the thick of this rivalry for more than five years. While she would prefer to play under the bright lights of the Duckworth Centre on her home campus, the battles with Manitoba are just as special at IGAC.

“It’s cool because in high school this is where provincial finals were so I played against (Bisons guard) Lauren Bartlette and (Bisons forward) Emily Johnson here not that long ago too, so to come back and be able to play them in university now is kind of a really cool experience and it’s great to get a big crowd out, as well,” says Kernaghan, whose squad dropped a 98-82 decision in front of about 550 spectators, many donning Bison brown and gold.

“Obviously, everyone comes and plays their heart out because everyone wants to be the best team in Winnipeg. But it’s nothing but respect between these two teams. I know in the past, it’s been really chippy — and it still is — but we’ll be quick to help each other up and no one is looking to hurt each other, it’s all respect.”

The gathering of student supporters swelled to more than 1,200 as the men’s basketball contest against visiting U of W tipped off at 4 p.m.  Some fans bounced between the hoops game — which ended in an 86-79 triumph for the Wesmen — and the fieldhouse, while others stopped to take in a 4-3 shootout victory for the Bisons men’s hockey team over MacEwan University (Edmonton) Griffins.

The official attendance was marked as 200 for Manitoba’s entertaining clash with the visitors from Edmonton. It was a vocal bunch, too, despite occupying only a portion of the arena’s 1,400 capacity.

But they added to the university’s weekend population boom.

As former men’s volleyball standout Adam DeJonckheere remembers, it’s all a part of the experience, in what was another Saturday for the books on the Fort Garry campus.

“It was just such an intertwined experience for me and a lot of my best friendships that I built were built in those buildings. Bison athletes, you spend so much time together and Bison Sports did such a great job facilitating those relationships,” DeJonckheere says.

“(IGAC) was a very prestigious place to play and really an honour to be a part of an organization that played out of that gym.”

Justus Alleyn knows his way around IGAC. He spent five years (2013-18) cutting his teeth before going pro in Czechia and Slovakia leagues, where he played from 2018-2021.

“Memories, man. For five years, that’s pretty much where I spent most of my time between practicing, training, games, whatever, so it definitely brings back a lot of great memories,” says Alleyn, who returned to Canada permanently after the 2021 season and was signed by the Winnipeg Sea Bears for the club’s inaugural season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League last summer.

“The first time I stepped out there, it was really cool. There’s excitement. I remember in high school you go watch games and you think one day, ‘I want to play here.’ Fast forward to my first time playing there, you don’t really know what’s in store and by the end of it, when I’m walking off (for the last time)… I definitely remember it being emotional and kind of thinking, ’This time has come to an end.’

“But at the same time, it was a positive thing because at that point I was on to the next thing but also just cherishing those memories and those times.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

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