This September, Briercrest welcomed seven new junior varsity (JV) teams to the Athletics program.

The JV initiative began several years ago when Briercrest introduced a women’s softball team. This year, the program is expanding to include men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, and volleyball teams, as well as the running club. This addition grows the Athletics program to 13 teams and provides a broader range of opportunities for students wanting to get involved in athletics.

“It’s an initiative that was started to give [more] athletes a chance to play competitive sports,” Carter Reimer, JV men’s volleyball coach explained. “It was a way to bring more students into the school by offering more through the Athletics program, but also giving students that are already here the chance to play competitive sports as well.”

“The options for the students to be active and involved in so many different levels of Athletics is very exciting for us to provide here at Briercrest,” Athletics Director Nigel Mullan added.

The JV program brought in about 60 new students and gives approximately 40 existing students the opportunity to get involved with Athletics at a competitive level.

“We are thrilled to be expanding this recruitment initiative this year,” Mullan said. “We believe wholeheartedly that we can help provide opportunity for students to be involved in areas they are passionate about outside the classroom—that they can come to Briercrest and further their skills and abilities both inside the classroom and out.”

The JV teams join the existing five varsity teams, who have, and are continuing to compete successfully in the ACAC (Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference).

“The big difference would be that the JV sports are mostly semester sports,” Reimer said. “But [they] still have the perks of what the varsity program goes through including the competition, the travelling, the team-building aspect, and the gear.”

The JV teams are competitors in the PAC (Prairie Athletic Conference), which is made up of teams from all over Saskatchewan and Alberta: Millar, Great Plains, Prairie Bible College, SIAST, SIAST Kelsey, and Prince Albert.

The expansion of the JV program provides greater support for the Athletics department as a whole.

“We have been able to use this initiative to help strengthen our department with great staff additions. From the new coaches of the JV teams that will assistant the varsity teams, to the addition of an athletic therapist—this has all be added because of the expansion of the JV initiative,” Mullan said.