It’s a year’s worth of work and planning thrown out the window.
That’s how Lake City Falcons girls rugby coach Morley Wilson described his disappointment after he was forced to cancel the 2016 Girls High School Rugby Provincial Championships, originally scheduled to be held in Williams Lake in May.
Roughly 700 athletes from around the province were slated to compete in Tier 2, AA and AAA divisions at the tournament.
Last summer, Wilson and other tournament organizers visited multiple hotels in the city to confirm room capacity for visiting athletes. Wilson said they were told it would not be a problem.
Unbeknownst to Wilson, however, another large, national gathering — the 2016 Shriners Spring Ceremonial — falls on the same dates, May 26-28, and expects to attract another 400 to 500 guests to the city.
Recently, Wilson was told the rooms were no longer available.
Due to the lack of capacity among city hotels for both events to take place, Wilson made the decision to call off the provincial championships in Williams Lake.
Kamloops will now be the preliminary destination for the provincial event.
“I’m very disappointed,” Wilson said. “A lot of work went in from myself, and the kids and the parents had been planning on it. The kids, the parents and the rugby club were all helping. It’s 250 hotel rooms, times three, or four for the number of days, and that money’s not coming into the town, so it’s unfortunate.”
The idea to billet players was floated around, however, to attain billet families for roughly 700 players wouldn’t be feasible, Wilson said.
“Some businesses and people have approached me to help out and it’s greatly appreciated,” he said.
It’s not all bad news, however, as the Falcons are a likely candidate to host the girls’ rugby provincials in 2017.
“We’re really hoping for that, so fingers crossed for next year.”
As for the team’s upcoming spring season Wilson said the team is booked for the Las Vegas Sevens in March, and will travel to the seven-a-side provincials in Cowichan in April to defend the team’s bronze medal from last year.
From there, in May, they’ll head to the 15-a-side provincials in Kamloops to defend their second bronze medal from last season.
Three of the team’s key players — Emma Feldinger, Emma Pfleiderer and Laura Pfleiderer — also took part during this past weekend’s Canadian Women’s U18 regional camp, Jan. 16-17, in Burnaby after they were selected among the top players in the country in their age group.
From additional camps in Toronto, Red Deer and Halifax, a team will be selected to play for Canada during a tour to England in April.