It would lead Sibbald to five national championship games, three national titles, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Sibbald was on hand with fellow former Vikes players Luanne Krawetz (nee Hebb), Lindsay Brooke, Janine Prince and Kim Oslund as UVic is leaning heavily on its accomplished women’s hoops alumni as it began the process Wednesday of building to hosting the U Sports national championship tournament March 9-12 on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in CARSA Gym.
Tournament passes go on sale today at govikesgo.com/nationals and range from $25 for children, $35 for seniors/students/alumni and levels of $45, $55 and $75 for adults. Individual game tickets, priced between $4 to $7 for adults, go on sale in March. There are also family packages.
“We made price to be no barrier,” said UVic athletic director Clint Hamilton.
“When we built CARSA, we always envisioned it hosting national championships.”
Hamilton wanted this year’s national tournament to bridge with UVic’s past success in basketball, which included nine women’s national titles and eight in men’s while producing several Olympians.
Brooke remembered being in Grade 10 at Spectrum and wide-eyed when watching the 1993 national championships at McKinnon Gym, which was the last time UVic hosted the tournament.
“I eventually got to put on a UVic jersey in 1996 and it really meant something,” said Brooke, who went on to play in five national championship tournaments in that Vikes jersey.
Krawetz came down from Prince Rupert and won three national championships with UVic.
“I remember telling my dad: ‘If I don’t make the UVic team, I’m not staying,’” she recalled.
Krawetz didn’t have to worry much about that.
“It allowed me to get a degree and go forward in life as a teacher,” she said. “What I owe UVic I can’t explain. Everything I did on that McKinnon Gym court led to what I became. We had a sense of commitment and togetherness and we all went on to diverse careers as adults contributing to society. It all comes back to that court.”
The fire still burns fiercely.
“Even now our organizing committee meetings [for the 2017 national tournament] are competitive . . . it still comes through,” said Krawetz.
Soaking in all this inspiration during Wednesday’s news conference were players on the current Vikes team, who will be writing their own national championship tournament stories next month as hosts. The Vikes are 11-5 in Canada West heading into games Friday and Saturday in Abbotsford against the Fraser Valley Cascades.
