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<\/p>\nA red bristol board at the main entrance of Redeemer University College reads \u2018This Week in Ancaster\u2019 in large hand-written bubble letters. Underneath that was blank space on the red bristol board. To the right of the sign, a hand-made display saying \u2018What to do at Redeemer\u2019 with cute laminated pictures and typed out descriptions suggests relaxing at the waterfront in Hamilton, hiking to the waterfall in Hamilton and savoring a great cup of coffee at one of Hamilton\u2019s many local coffee shops. The school also suggests exploring on your own.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about 4:30 p.m. on the Friday before reading week for the majority of Ontario colleges and universities. The halls of Redeemer echo hollow chatter of trips to visit grandparents, friends and relatives in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. While many are planning a week of detox from school-life, there\u2019s still many kids who are sticking in the area for that week.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the last regular season game for Redeemers Royals men and womens\u2019 basketball teams. Both of them already securing a position in the OCAA\u2019s basketball playoffs; women for the first time. While the stands are half-filled by half-time during the women\u2019s game, there\u2019s a certain level of tension in the air between Redeemer women\u2019s team and Mohawk\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Most college campuses would likely be completely cleared by the time evening comes around but Redeemer went from a post-secondary education institution to a community hub by 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s due to the community setting. The town is smal<\/span>l; it\u2019s population is a little over 40,000. The school was about a 15-20 minutes. Uber drive from the Hamilton GO station. On the drive down Garner Rd. E. There are a few houses spread out across the dimly lit road, a golf course, a gas station but not really much else.<\/p>\n It has a boarding school-esque vibe to it where students must live on campus for the first year if they are 21 and under.<\/p>\n For many the small-town community has its appeal. It\u2019s how women\u2019s basketball coach, Robert Hooper, recruited their star player, Jesseca Brown, to the Royals.<\/p>\n \u201c[The selling point to go to Redeemer was] the size, it\u2019s really small and I\u2019m used to the small community because I come from an island of 2,400 people,\u201d says Brown.<\/p>\n This past January, Brown topped the OCAA\u2019s Record Book as the leagues all-time career points leader. A bar that was set a year prior from a women\u2019s volleyball player from Redeemer, as well.<\/p>\n During the game against Mohawk College, she was either being guarded by two players at once or she was guarding two players at a time.<\/p>\n She\u2019s had a major impact on Redeemer\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team. From a tiny island off of the east coast, she\u2019s managed to bring a team with an 87-game losing streak to now, a team in the OCAA basketball playoffs.<\/p>\n It was through another small community that Hooper scoped out the east coast talent. Both Hooper and Brown are originally from Grand Manan, N.B., a very small island in the Bay of Fundy. He\u2019s from the part of the island where she\u2019d take a ferry to her high school.<\/p>\n He first arrived to Redeemer five years ago, a year before Brown. The women\u2019s team at the time was not what it was today. According to students as well as other members of athletics department, there was no support for the women\u2019s team until recently.<\/p>\n He was faced with adversity while trying to recruit in Ontario. The school is relatively unknown, the team wasn\u2019t the strongest and it\u2019s in the middle of nowhere. It was a difficult pitch to players within Ontario especially when recruiters from stronger teams had more to offer.<\/p>\n His history as a basketball player in Grand Manan led him to connections with many of the coaches on the island. While looking for prospects, he was informed of a star player hidden in the Bay of Fundy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a bit of an odd bond. People actually think she\u2019s my child. She\u2019s not my child.\u201d Hooper says while breaking out into a joking smile. \u201cWe\u2019ve just become very close. She\u2019s from where I\u2019m from and we sort of get it.\u201d<\/p>\n The population of their hometown is about .4 per cent of Brampton, Ont. and about three times the size of Redeemer College\u2019s populace. Nonetheless, the small community on campus was familiar enough for her to turn down her offer to be closer to home at Memorial University and pursue basketball at Redeemer.<\/p>\n The population of the college is roughly 800 and the actual school itself looks like a public elementary school in the suburbs. So yeah, it\u2019s small.<\/p>\n \u201c[On Fridays] you\u2019re either leaving the campus or if you\u2019re here, sports are pretty much your thing,\u201d Hooper says.<\/p>\n \u201cLots of the rookie players live with non-athletes. their dorm mates will get on board and come with big cardboard signs.\u201d Hooper says, \u201cEven if the girl they live with isn\u2019t a starter, they still come with their number on a board and a picture.\u201d<\/p>\n The players for the Royals are like local celebrities of sorts in that way. Coach Hooper even says the school\u2019s community is so tight-knit that everyone knows each other or knows of each other through a mutual friend.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Jess went downtown Hamilton or Square One [in Mississauga], any of the 799 students would see her at the mall they would go talk to her. And they\u2019d know each others name,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s small gestures as recognizing each other that show the support the school gives its sports teams.<\/p>\n Even with half-filled stands at the game, you could hear the crowd chanting \u2018Jess\u2019 when she had the ball. Hooper says she\u2019s used to it though. Growing up in Grand Manan draws parallels for Brown although she has witnessed the fandom get over the top.<\/p>\n She says during last years\u2019 men\u2019s basketball playoff game, Royal fans filled the stands, singing an interpolation of \u2018When the Saints come marching in\u2019, banging large drums and even bringing out the school mascot.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the only fanbase I\u2019ve ever seen that breaks out in song, \u2018When the Saints Come Marching in.\u2019\u201d <\/span>Jerome De Schiffert says. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard that in any other gym\u201d<\/p>\n The school spirit runs so high that the excitement surrounding the basketball games at Redeemer brings back alumnus parents to the gym. Jerome De Schiffert\u2019s kids have already graduated from Redeemer. His three sons all played with the Royals for the basketball or soccer team.<\/p>\n \u201cThe games here are just so exciting that now even though our son doesn\u2019t play we still try to catch as many as we can. It\u2019s electric in here every time.\u201d says De Schiffert. His investment in the game showed when the women\u2019s team were struggling in their last quarter and his face grew with intensity as he rubbed his face in stress.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a tight knit community. I mean, I\u2019m a high school guidance counsellor, I get to see a lot of campus\u2019 and stuff but I\u2019ve never seen the kind of cohesiveness that you see here.\u201d<\/p>\n While the school\u2019s spirit is definitely much higher than most even this kind of fandom is only brought out for special occasions. Colin Wouda, third year environmental studies and media communications student at Redeemer, says the fandom has changed since he first enrolled into Redeemer. The face-painting and fan merch at games have died down since his first year.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in your first year at Redeemer, the games are the \u2018it\u2019 spot, according to Wouda.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in my first year, if you were on campus and you didn\u2019t show up to the games, that wasn\u2019t the \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do,\u201d Wouda says outside of the gym after the men\u2019s game.<\/p>\n More so than fitting in he says it\u2019s really boils down to becoming a support system for the their teammates and friends on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a smaller school, you get to know a lot of people on the team, which makes it all that more exciting when you get to see them make some big plays,\u201d Wouda says.<\/p>\n Today the support is more an emotional investment of each person in the stands. The chanting, the clapping, the screaming, the sighs and the overall energy from the crowd bounces off the walls.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows everyone and everyone\u2019s friends with everyone here so they\u2019ll come to the games to support,\u201d says Brown.<\/p>\n Being a Christian Reform school is another factor that makes Redeemer unique. Although the school is not exclusively Christian, walking through there\u2019s a lot of religious figures such as a life-size bronze replica of Jesus on the cross.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been argued by some writers that the etymology of the world \u2018religion\u2019 is derived from the Latin word religare<\/i>, which means \u2018to bind.\u2019 So to bring it full circle, the argued definition itself parallels the way sports brings Redeemer\u2019s community together as much as their faith.<\/p>\n On the Royals website, it says they hope their athletes play by a tagline, \u201cWhatever you do\u201d derived from Colossisans 3:23. Whatever you do, work at it with your whole heart, as working for the Lord<\/i>.<\/p>\n For Brown and the women\u2019s basketball team, they have a group prayer in the locker room prior to games.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a Christian University, playing for God is the number one thing that we do,\u201d says Shawn Brus, a fourth year math major and volleyball player for the Royals. But aside from bringing God with them every time they play, it boils down to the community formed at the school.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, it\u2019s a sweet opportunity [playing for] a really small school [with] a tight knit community. You get to know all the players on all the teams. You\u2019re watching your friends play.\u201d says Brus.<\/p>\n Despite where they rank and where they <\/span>may lack in size compared to other schools in the province, they compensate in the attitude and compassion.<\/p>\n Even Hooper realized this after he first started as coach at Redeemer five years a go. His history includes coaching shooting at the University of Guelph and Brock University. Both schools with much larger populations and much more athletic resources available.<\/p>\n \u201cMy version is what you miss in sort of bricks-and-mortar is made up [by] people will go the extra mile, people who work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A red bristol board at the main entrance of Redeemer University College reads \u2018This Week in Ancaster\u2019 in large hand-written bubble letters. Underneath that was blank space on the red bristol board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[37,19,62,52,6,148],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478.jpg",1155,770,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"medium":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-640x427.jpg",640,427,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-768x512.jpg",696,464,true],"large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478.jpg",696,464,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478.jpg",1155,770,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478.jpg",1155,770,false],"td_150x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-150x100.jpg",150,100,true],"td_218x150":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-218x150.jpg",218,150,true],"td_300x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"td_324x400":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-324x400.jpg",324,400,true],"td_485x360":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-485x360.jpg",485,360,true],"td_696x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-696x464.jpg",696,464,true],"td_1068x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478-1068x712.jpg",1068,712,true],"td_1920x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/04\/DSC_0478.jpg",1155,770,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"sweatmag","author_link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/author\/sweatmag\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A red bristol board at the main entrance of Redeemer University College reads \u2018This Week in Ancaster\u2019 in large hand-written bubble letters. Underneath that was blank space on the red bristol board.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions\/2405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/sweatspring2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/04\/DSC_0674-1024x683.jpg\")
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a relationship with the team itself; getting to know the teams and be able to cheer for your friends and your acquaintances.\u201d says Wouda.<\/p>\n