Three.
Two.
One.
The clock winds down and 400 ecstatic Tigers fans, decked out in black and gold, storm the court to celebrate Dal’s Atlantic University Sport Championship in men’s basketball.
On March 1, the Tigers defeated their crosstown rival, the St. Mary’s Huskies, 88-78 in overtime to complete their unlikely run to only the fourth AUS title in the program’s history.
“I played here 20 years ago and I had not seen that type of pride demonstrated before. We have lots to be proud of at Dalhousie,” says athletic director Tim Maloney.
“I think we’re sometimes shy about showing it, but we owe it to ourselves to have that kind of pride here.”
Bigger student turnout a priority
Dalhousie has 18,500 students. Last year our men’s hockey team’s season high for attendance, discounting games against the Huskies who share the Halifax Forum as their home rink, was 207, against St Francis Xavier University.
If just 10 per cent of the student body were to attend Tigers home games, attendance would be 1,850.
In comparison, the aforementioned AUS Champion men’s basketball Tigers team’s season high in home attendance was 403, against the crosstown Huskies on Nov. 21.
The AUS Champion women’s volleyball Tigers saw their biggest home crowd listed at 100 on Nov. 16 against Cape Breton University, while the AUS Champion Men’s Volleyball Tigers had 150 people in the seats against Memorial University on Nov. 15.
Getting a bigger student turnout to home games is a priority for Maloney.
“I would love to see more students […] want to come and we need to create an environment where they want to come,” says Maloney.
“More importantly, that when they’re there they have a great experience, that they have fun. Going to university should be fun.”
Dan Ota, the head coach of the AUS Champion and fourth in the CIS men’s volleyball Tigers, adds that the home attendance at volleyball games is good when compared to national averages in men’s volleyball. He also believes more can be done to engage students.
“It’s not just one thing,” says Ota. “Obviously, people need to like the product and they have to feel like they have a real affinity with what our programs on campus have.”
Rick Scott, two-time AUS Coach of the Year and the head coach of the current AUS Champion women’s volleyball Tigers, coached high school for 15 years before becoming a coach at Dal.
He feels there’s much to learn from the turnout at high school sports events.
“When [high school] teams would make the playoffs the whole student body would get behind them,” says Scott.
“It became a part of your community, a part of your school, that pride in your school. You know, there’s tunes going, there’s some action, you can have a good time with your friends for two hours and then carry that on afterward.”
Maloney feels there are things to be learned from some top U.S. schools such as Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford as well.
“They have very strong academic programs with very successful athletics,” says Maloney.
“The engagement and the pride with those athletic programs, the Cameron Crazies [Duke] or the student section at a Notre Dame football game, you can see the importance and the value that those have in the campus culture. I think we have a lot of room to grow here.”
The benefits of having fans
Another benefit of getting more students to come to games is generating extra revenue.
“I don’t know if all of our students know this but they get into our games for free,” says Maloney.
“If we have more students there, it creates a fun environment where the general public wants to come too and they do have to pay. Then you may have a more attractive environment for corporate sponsorship and event sponsorship where we can start to fund the programs with other streams of revenue.”
In addition to free entrance for students, alcohol is for sale at all Tigers games at the Dalplex to students 19 and older.
“I didn’t know you got in for free and could drink,” says Leah MacDonald, a first-year arts student.
“I’m not really into athletics but I would totally go have a good time and party if that’s the case.”
Maloney believes that sports events, along with concerts and other events, are platforms to bring people together.
“If you bring enough people together you’re bound to have a good time,” says Maloney. “That is my vision for our programs.”
Tigers succeeding outside of sports, too
Maloney describes the priorities of Dalhousie Athletics as being an uncommon combination of excellence in academics, athletics and the community.
The academic goal is being met: this year, 88 Tigers were Academic All-Canadians, meaning they had a GPA of at least 3.43 while competing in varsity athletics.
“That is almost 40 per cent of our student athlete body, which on a per-capita basis is the fifth best in Canada and the tops for any U-15 school,” says Maloney.
“That is exceptional, and then you look at what our student athletes do in the community and it’s something to be proud of.”
The programs are achieving athletically as well.
“Winning championships is certainly […] something we strive for,” says Maloney.
“This year we won eight Conference [AUS] Championships which is the most we’ve won in 10 years and the second most in 25 years. I think success and winning can be infectious and help create the culture we want to have here and hopefully generate some excitement around the programs.”
Tigers athletes are also winning in the community, as they contributed over 2,000 hours of community service this year.
The varsity athletics programs at Dal have the ability to touch a large amount of students on campus, explains Ota.
“There are moments when you really see that connection,” says Ota, referring to the atmosphere at the Scotiaank Centre from Feb. 27 to March 1.
“We were seeing hundreds of Dal fans in black and gold storming the court three straight games and they really got caught up in this magical ride that the men’s basketball team went on. I’m sure that for every one of the Dal fans that were in attendance, it’s something that they’ll never forget.”
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