No strangers to sustained success
National bronze medallists going green with recycling program
The UBC Thunderbirds women’s volleyball team is good with going for gold and green now apparently, too.
The Thunderbirds, who have captured seven of the last 11 U Sports national championships, are front and centre with a sustainability/ recycling program for the school’s athletics teams with current volleyball squad members Siobhan Finan, Danae Shephard, Sarah Haysom and program alum Laura MacTaggart leading the way.
They’re collecting paired shoes, workout gear and other like items in bins at War Memorial Gymnasium. They’re also working on a survey of athletes to assess their environmental knowledge in hopes of coming up with ways to increase sustainability.
“It’s not something that comes up in your day-to-day conversation with your teammates or your classmates,” said MacTaggart, “but it just makes so much sense.
“A big part of the school’s overall identity is sustainability. You think about the impact from the athletics program and you’ve got how much travelling you do and the waste at games and the energy that’s needed for all the facilities.
“And there’s always the push to get new people out to watch games. Get students out, volunteering to sort bottles and cans. There are people working on research projects on sustainability. Have them come out to interview fans. You’re bringing out a new crowd to the game in no time.
“As well, there are a lot of high schools and junior highs in this area that look up to UBC and what we do here. We could easily be motivating kids to do something similar at their schools.”
MacTaggart, 22, a global resource systems major, went to San Antonio, Texas, in October to take in an Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) conference.
It could be the longest name for any organization anywhere, which is a tad odd considering it’s preaching efficiency. They do bring together people striving for green ideals and MacTaggart became well versed there in an Ohio State athletics program.
Ohio State’s group started working on sustainability initiatives in 2011 and this year they won the Big 10 Conference title in the Game Day Recycling Challenge. They did that by achieving a 94.2 per cent diversion rate — defined as keeping disposed materials away from the landfill by recycling, repurposing and
composting — for their Oct. 7 home game against Maryland.
A crowd of 107,180 took in the contest at Ohio Stadium.
“Once you’ve tackled football, anything is possible,” MacTaggart said.
She returned from the AASHE conference, put the word out about the possibilities and Finan, 20, Shephard, 21, and Haysom, 20, quickly joined forces. They’re focused on the volleyball and basketball programs for now, but hope to branch out.
The group is partnered with the UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program, AMS Sustainability and Trans-Con-
tinental Textile Recycling in Surrey.
“We didn’t want to take on anything too enormous. We wanted to see if it would work,” said Finan.
Considering the volleyball program’s history with Doug Reimer as coach, it’s not overly surprising. Reimer has long recruited players with diverse interests.
Alessandra Gentile, who just completed her fifth and final season of eligibility, is another example. During her time at UBC, the biology major had an extended stint in Bamfield, a tiny community on the south coast of Vancouver Island. It’s home
to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, which has ties to UVic, SFU, Calgary and Alberta as well as UBC and boasts of “unparalleled access to a wide array of environments — including unique coastal, freshwater, marine, and rainforest habitats and exceptional species diversity.”
“Our coach does a good job of showing that he values what you think as a person and of showing that he values what you want to pursue outside of athletics,” said Finan. “For example, he’ll change flight times for an athlete for a road trip so that you can attend as many
classes as absolutely possible.
“He likes to know what you’re doing volunteer wise and what you’re doing work wise and how we can make it all work.”
Shephard added: “It’s the way Doug recruits. He recruits the person and that really shows on the team because everyone has a huge amount of work ethic and passion in everything they do — not just in volleyball and school.”
UBC, which was the reigning champion, finished third at nationals last month.