The two colleges at the beginning of the fourth St. John's-Green College Wreck-Tower Cup Challenge on October 17, 2015. Photo by Madeline Couse.
On Saturday, February 27, Greenies will be out in full spirited force to defend the coveted Wreck-Tower Cup.
The event marks the fifth St. John's-Green College Wreck-Tower Cup Challenge, a semi-annual competition where UBC's two graduate colleges battle to be the best in both athletic and artistic games. Even though there's a clear rivalry, the Challenge still brings the two Colleges together to mingle and bond over grad student life.
In October 2015, Green College finally took back the cup after losing two Challenges in a row to St. John's College. It was a major victory—the first triumph for Green since winning the inaugural Challenge in March 2014.
Now the question on every Greenie's mind is: how are we going to defend the cup?
In between planning ping pong and pirate soccer, David Gill, Resident Member and co-chair of the Intercollegiate Affairs Committee, took the time to answer some key questions for Greenies.
Greenies are keen to defend the cup after winning the trophy back last fall. Photo by Madeline Couse.
Last Wreck-Tower Cup Challenge, Green College finally won the trophy back after a neck-to-neck battle with St. John's. What was your winning strategy going into the competition?
David Gill: Our strategy for success is twofold. First, we trust our captains: for every event, one or two Green College residents step up to take the lead on making sure we have a team ready for each event. The captains make sure Greenies have practiced—or, at the very least, make sure Greenies know the rules. This brings us to the second key element to our strategy: not taking ourselves too seriously.
At the end of the day, we realize the stakes are essentially a faux-metal cup on a ridiculously oversized faux-wood stand. And bragging rights. It's not that these don't matter—on the contrary, they allow the more competitive members of each college to push themselves and their peers toward excellent performance (whether physical or theatrical).
At the same time, there is a certain levity that allows for both a spirit of inclusiveness to each event, and the genuine enjoyment of their participants. Even if you are not a semi-professional ping pong player, if you display an eagerness to test your mettle in a competitive, we would love to have you!
There are some new rules this round. How will these play out and what can we expect to see this Challenge?
To be perfectly honest, we really don't know how the new rules will play out. That's part of the fun!
The idea of a "Bizarro" Wreck-Tower Cup Challenge was proposed by our St John's counterparts: for all the classic events (ping pong, soccer, foosball, volleyball), why don't we throw a wrench into the rules? The idea is to make it both different and more entertaining. Amalie [Lambert, co-chair of the Intercollegiate Affairs Committee] and I loved it.
Imagine soccer in three mini-games. The first has the two nets in the middle of the net, facing out. The second is pirate soccer, where every player wears an eye patch and loses both peripheral vision and depth perception. The third has players playing with an American football, rather than a soccer ball. The college that wins two out of the three mini-games wins the point for soccer. That is Bizarro soccer.
We also quickly realized that we needed residents' and captains' input in order to make the "bizarro" aspect work. We want the changes to add a performative element, but we do not want to take away from the existing skill levels of players. For that reason, we have readjusted the new rules based on what our captains tell us is viable and entertaining.
Finally, there is also a mystery event, which will only be revealed the day of the championship!
There's no shortage of spirit from Greenies. Photo by Madeline Couse.
What will it take to defend the cup this time?
It will take a good turnout! The more people we have participating in each event, and the more people we have cheering our fellow residents on, the greater our chances for success.
Finally, any advice for Greenies as they prepare for February 27th?
This event is as much about collaboration and companionship as it is about winning a trophy. We definitely want to keep the cup in the Great Hall, but let's remember to be gracious in victory and considerate of what it takes to make an event a success.
If you see something you see you can contribute to, whether it's making a salad, encouraging a fellow resident to participate, or cleaning up the day after, go for it!
We could not have pulled off any of the Wreck-Tower challenges without the unplanned for engagement of both colleges. Cecil and Ida Green set the bar high when it comes to hospitality—let's see if we can top it!
The fifth St. John's-Green College Challenge for the Wreck-Tower Cup will take place on February 27 at 2 p.m. at Green College. For more information, contact David Gill or Amalie Lambert.
For more on the history of how the Wreck-Tower Cup Challenge all started, click here.