RCN sports history: April

RCN sports history: Stadacona hosts volleyball nationals

By Ryan Melanson, Trident Staff

For the second year in a row, Stadacona was the scene of the 1984 CAF National Volleyball Championship, held from April 16-18. The men’s competition included regional championship teams from CFB Lahr, CFB Comox, CFB Winnipeg, CFB St-Jean, CFB Greenwood, and National Defence HQ, while the women’s side saw teams from CFB Cornwallis, CFB Baden, CFB Esquimalt, CFB Edmonton, CFB Trenton, and NDHQ. Capt(N) Leonard Cavan, Base Commander of CFB Halifax at the time, welcomed the teams and kicked things off with a ceremonial serve during the opening ceremonies.

The Atlantic teams fared well in both tournaments, with the women from CFB Cornwallis taking silver after falling in the championship match to CFB Trenton, while CFB Greenwood won gold, taking down CFB St-Jean in the final.

This month in RCN sports history:

1944 – An enthusiastic crowd turned out for an inter-service boxing meet, the second of its kind at HMCS Shelburne. Victors included Lafort (Liverpool Navy) against Wilson (Shelburne Navy), Dupont (Shelburne Navy) against Collins (Yarmouth Army), and West (Liverpool Navy) against Golden (Shelburne Army). The last bout of the evening switched things up, with Socker Rockett from the Toronto Navy taking the win against Gerry Hillis of the Shelburne Navy in a professional wrestling match.

1959 – For the first time in the event’s 26-year history, a Royal Canadian Navy team entered the annual Bermuda Rugby Week competitions. While the RCN team took a number of wins through the week, including a 3-0 shutout against Harvard University, they eventually fell in the finals 8-3 against the home team of Bermudians. Team members for the RCN included Lt David Moilliet, Lt M.D. Wilson and LS Ken Batchelor of HMCS Cornwallis, SLt Bill Wallace and SLt Steve Quale of Shearwater, and Midshipmen James Bell, John Newell and Ed Sparking of Stadacona.

1995 – LS Ian Ross won Nova Scotia’s Provincial Handball Championship for the second year in a row, beating Steve Brown 21-7, 14-21, 11-2 in the open singles final. He said he was happy to represent the Navy and the CAF against the province’s top civilian competitors. “It was a lot tougher this year than last year. People know my game now,” Ross added. The provincial win also qualified him for the Canadian Nationals, held in Edmonton later that year.

2002 – MS Ghislaine Arsenault won silver at the CAF National Squash Championship tournament, held April 5-11 at CFB Borden. It was MS Arsenault’s second year in a row attending nationals after winning gold at the regional level, and also her second year in a row winning the silver medal at nationals. MS Arsenault said she wasn’t upset at the second-place finish, and had a lot of respect for LCol Jo-Anne MacDonald of NDHQ, who won gold for the second year in a row.