Inaugural competition showing success in its early stages, engaging athletes
Gryphons Athletics introduced a new intramural competition this past September, involving everything but playing.
The Gryphon Cup is an immersive program for all types of varsity athletes to engage in healthy competition for a good cause: self-improvement and community-building. The Cup provides an opportunity for students to compete outside their sport, and help themselves and the community through segmented monthly standings for earning points through a set of three challenges:
- Academic Engagement
- Gryphons Supporting Gryphons
- Community Initiative
Academic Engagement points come from the amount of hours and meetings a student has worked on and attended for the Student Athlete Mentorship Program. Athletes earn points toward Gryphons Supporting Gryphons (GSG) when they attend another team’s game. The amount they earn is contingent on the importance of the game they choose to attend. The bulk of a team’s overall points generally come from their Community Initiative, where athletes engage with and provide services for the Guelph community.
Men’s rugby boasts 4,853 points for the month of November, out of which 4,500 points came from their Community Initiative. Men’s rugby raised over $12,000 for Movember, which allowed them to soar through the standings and place first. Gryphons swimming came in second place, with 3,000 fewer points.
“We wanted to document these things as a way to acknowledge their efforts and successes off the field and especially in the community,” said Ann-Carolyn Lang, Gryphons women’s soccer player and student lead for the Gryphon Cup, in an interview with The Ontarion. Lang noted that this friendly competition has had a significantly positive impact on Gryphons Athletics.
“The best thing about this competition has been the collaboration between athletes and the various team representatives who come up with new ideas to engage athletes…and free pizza [isn’t] such a bad thing either.”
That’s right. If there was any doubt that these are student athletes, each month’s winning team receives free pizza.
For GSG points, Lang’s own soccer team took the lead with 950 points. They attended a total of 25 games for other varsity teams. However, women’s hockey was the most academically engaged out of Gryphons Athletics, with half the team earning Academic All-Canadian status. According to the USports website, to receive this honour means to have achieved a yearly average of 80 per cent or higher while playing on a university varsity sports team. Lang said the Gryphon Cup provides an extra incentive to study, shedding light on the fact that Gryphons spent about 10,000 hours “studying, or procrastinating, [last] semester.”
So what’s next for the inaugural Gryphon Cup?
Lang said the first-ever Gryphon Cup Champions will be announced at this year’s Athletic Banquet, happening in March. Playoffs for winter sports loom, beginning in February, and could spark certain teams to try even harder in each of the three pillars of this competition.
Instagram: @gryphonCup
Featured Image courtesy of Alora Griffiths.