UNB Teams Shooting for Big Dollars

It's girls' day out at Park Street School today.

The 122 girls in grades 3-5 at the northside elementary school are off to the UNB campus on a field - and court and pool - trip beginning at 8:30 this morning.

Jonathan Crossland, a second-year phys-ed teacher at the school and an assistant coach with the UNB men's soccer team, put the trip together with the co-operation of District 18 and coaches at UNB.

The girls will be broken in to three groups of 40 and spend 45 minutes working with the coaches and athletes of the women's soccer, basketball and volleyball teams. There will also be a 45-minute session in the Sir Max Aitken Pool.

Crossland said he made contact with women's basketball coach Jeff Speedy, whose two children attend Park Street, and got the ball rolling, as it were.

"Jeff has a real interest in getting girls involved in sport and developing the culture for girls to be involved in sport," said Crossland. "We met before Christmas and then, over the last month and a half or so, we put it all together.

"We're just looking to give girls a positive experience in sport and give them exposure to role models. A lot of times guys associate with athletes as people to look up to. We want girls to have that same experience."

He said female soccer players Emily Cowperthwaite and Shubie Singh visited the school earlier this year and spoke to the Grade 5 girls at an assembly as part of the "Heads Up With The Reds" program.

"The girls were really interested in what they had to say," Crossland said. "Both are successful students, one in science, one in engineering, and they're both carrying 4.0 grade point averages.

"When I saw the positive experience the girls had with them, it made me really want to make this happen."

Varsity Reds coaching staffs and athletes from the programs will be on hand to provide instruction: Speedy and Dan Goggin for women's basketball; John Richard and James Cress for volleyball; and Erin Holowaychuk from the women's soccer team - that will take place in the Dome.

Crossland said the initiative was geared toward this week and UNB's participation in the third annual "Shoot for the Cure" initiative, with proceeds to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Speedy is the chairperson for the national initiative, in which each school within Canadian Interuniversity Sport participates.

This is UNB's weekend to do so, with the men's and women's basketball and volleyball programs at home this weekend. UNB athletics will donate half the gate receipts from each home game to the cause.

The men's and women's basketball teams are home to the Cape Breton University Capers on Friday and Saturday; the men's volleyball team is home to Dal on Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and the women's volleyball squad hosts Dal at 8 p.m. Saturday and Saint Mary's Huskies at 3 p.m. Sunday.

In addition, the coaches of the four programs - Speedy and Brent Baker of the men's basketball team; John Richard and Dan McMorran of the women's and men's volleyball teams - have agreed they'll pool resources and contribute $10 for each successful service ace and three-point shot by a UNB player over the weekend.

Individuals and businesses are invited to make a similar pledge. You may do so by calling 447-3082 to participate.

"That has the potential to be a really big idea if people get on board," said Speedy. "Every $20 or every $50 helps."

Fans may also buy tickets on several donated items, including a pink vacuum cleaner, 20 pounds of cooked Atlantic lobster, a giant "pink basket" filled with pink items, and other items around the theme of "Think Pink."

Speedy said the goal this weekend, in the third year of the initiative on campus, is $4,000.

Crossland said Park Street School is contributing to the cause.

"We encouraged each girl to contribute a toonie, and we're going to make a donation to Shoot for the Cure on behalf of the girls from Park Street," he said.

"We're going to encourage them all to wear pink (today) as well."

"It's nice to have the volleyball teams on board this weekend and do a whole weekend instead of just a game," said Speedy, who latched on to the initiative, first pitched by Rod Gilpin of Bishops University as head of the National Women's Coaching Association, three years ago.

"A few schools were doing something on their own anyway," recalled Speedy. "It was kind of his baby and I took the ball and ran with it. It wasn't my idea, but it was something I was blown away with. I thought it was an amazing idea."

In the first year, the program raised $50,000 nationally and nearly doubled that amount, to $92,000 last year. UNB raised $2,000 in the first year of the program, and nearly $2,500 last year.

In AUS women's basketball action last night in Halifax, the Dalhousie Tigers downed Acadia 72-64.

Laurie Girdwood led the way with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Cailin Crosby had 13 points and 11 boards. Alex Legge added 10 points and seven assists.

Alise Brown drained a game-high 30 points for Acadia. Jasmine Parent chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Dal improves to 8-8 for 20 points, six ahead of UNB. Acadia remains two points back of the V-Reds with a 3-11 record.