Below includes what to expect with middle school extra-curricular athletics.
PE Teacher & BEARS Athletics Director
Athletics Director (AD)
If you have any questions, please reach out via email.
Mark Graham: mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca
I have been teaching Gr. 6-8 PE at GSMS since fall 2013 and in my 18th year in education. I have taught K – 12 in New Brunswick and also taught in Nova Scotia and internationally (Beijing, China). I love the area of wellness and want the PE and athletics program to be about getting kids interested in taking care of their body and mind through both individual and team activities. I have three girls and can usually be found running the roads of the province taking them to their youth events.
Tryouts
All of our bears athletics teams, except for x-country, have tryouts as we can only select a certain number of players. Selection on a team the previous year does not guarantee a position on a team for future years. There is no sign-up process, you just show up for the tryout scheduled on the calendar. You can click on the event for further details. https://georgest.nbed.ca/i/athletics-calendar/
Athletics is an enrichment opportunity for the students and we try to benefit as many students as we can. We do face the physical challenges of space, time, and coaches availability when creating number of teams for each activity. Many factors go into selection, such as:
Athletic ability: Students performing the skills required within that sport, potentially at specific positions based on team dynamics. During tryouts, students would be put through a number of activities to assess current ability and future potential within that sport.
Attitude: Being a student first and positive example to others. The school, coaches and teammates need to trust that you will be a good example to others when at our school and visiting other schools for the different sports offered.
Commitment: If you are involved with other events, you should speak to the coach about conflicting times and dates to determine if this school team makes sense with whatever else you are involved with. If you know you will miss most of the timeslots it is important to inform the coach so that they can select players who will usually be present and know the plays created for the team.
The selected team will be posted at school the day after the last tryout.
If you do not make one of our bears teams:
Please try to potentially continue with the activity in different ways. We cover all the athletic events in PE class at some point. We also have our lunch options with multi-sport choices. There are usually organizations in the community as well that run events at different price points.
YMCA POWER UP program (free): https://fredericton.ymca.ca/global-community/power-up-youth-program/
Different Levels of Teams
Our school has many students looking for an enrichment opportunity and we try to structure the athletics program to meet the needs of as many students as possible. District office offers different levels of play depending on the activity, such as grade level and gendered teams or multi-grade teams like Varsity (Gr. 7-8), JV (Gr. 6-7), and Tier 2 (Gr. 6-8). At GSMS, we are finding we can usually make a team with each grade and gender only, for example, we would likely put a Gr. 8 only team into a Varsity division and a Gr. 7 only team into a JV division. Grade level teams make it simple to know which team a student has a choice for making, therefore helps with securing volunteers to coach.
Schools with smaller student populations usually make Tier 2 (Gr. 6-8) teams, where students across multiple grades are needed to create a full team, compared to separate Varsity (Gr. 7-8), JV (Gr. 6-7) or grade level teams. Sometimes we will make a Tier 2 team, based on the number of Gr. 7-8’s who tried out and did not make Varsity or JV.
Multiple teams within the same league: If there are many students at a tryout, a decision could be made to make more than one team for that league, but this requires volunteers be available to lead an additional team. This decision would need to be made at the first tryout for that original team so that balanced teams can be created. For example, if making two Gr. 7 teams in JV we want each team to be competitive against each other, instead of a stronger and weaker team placed in the same league. After the first tryout, Mark Graham mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca, should be spoken with to determine next steps for creating teams.
Playing Time
ASD-W follows fair play guidelines for most activities, which means everyone should receive approximately the same amount of playing time no matter the positions played.
Playing time could be adjusted/suspended due to unexcused absences, extended missed time, injury, and poor behaviour/attitude. Everyone is expected to agree on a convenient time to discuss any questions/concerns that may arise throughout the season.
If a player is absent from school (ex. they were sick) then they are not to practice or play that evening. Players absent for medical appointments (ex. dental appointment) can still attend.
Expectations for everyone
NBIAA Code of Conduct to be followed by everyone: https://www.nbiaa-asinb.org/en/publications/fair-play-code
If waiting to participate ensure you are not interrupting other groups playing. For example, in the GSMS balcony students should be sitting quietly and not interrupting the practice/game on the gym floor.
Keep the area clean (ex. no garbage left behind). Either inside or outside, pick up wrappers, bottles, etc. from your area. Gum has become an issue in the GSMS gym, with it being found on benches, chairs, in the balcony and gym floor. Please ensure gum is placed in the garbage when finished.
Students are to stay within the gym area of GSMS or when visiting other schools. At GSMS, an alarm will go off and the security company alerted if students go outside of the gym area.
Uniforms/Jerseys and Sports Gear
Please ensure any uniforms provided are taken care. Please follow any cleaning and drying instructions on the tags. At the end of season, have them returned to Mr. Graham in a bag labelled with the players name and team. Please do not leave them unattended in the gym expecting Mr. Graham to see it, make sure a physical hand off to Mr. Graham takes place. Participation in another activity will be withheld until the uniform is returned. If the uniform is lost, a $100 fee will be applied to the family.
Coaches will have sport specific equipment. Please ensure what is used is returned. For example, if the coach takes 6 volleyballs to a game, the players are to ensure that the 6 GSMS/BEARS labelled balls make it back in the bag. Overall, the coach is providing the gear to use, but it is the players who need to be responsible to return the gear to the proper spot after using.
Player Fees
A different fee is needed for each sport based on costs to cover items such as scorekeepers, referees, tournament registration, and purchasing team equipment and shared uniforms.
Any transportation costs and accommodations would be at the families expense. For example, driving outside of town and attending a multiday tournament, it would be a family choice to stay in a hotel at their own expense.
If you have any questions about paying a fee please speak with Mark Graham: mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca. Once a team has been created a new School Cash Online (SCO) event will be made for online payment. You can also use cash or cheque written out to GSMS and given directly to Mark Graham.
After a determined date, students will not play games until either the fee or a payment plan has been made.
We will sort out a financial plan, if selected to play, and payment is a challenge. If you are applying for one of these programs, please let Mr. Graham know, as there will likely be a delay in you completing the payment on SCO. Optional programs for assistance:
https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca/pages/individual-child-grants
https://kidsportcanada.ca/new-brunswick/
Transportation (Families responsibility to all events)
All transportation to and from any event location is a family’s responsibility.
Coaches will meet students at the event location. Pick-up is at the location, for example, if cross country practice is at Queen Square, then pick-up is at Queen Square. If soccer is at Morrell Park, then pick-up is at Morrell Park. If getting a drive is difficult, we suggest you speak with other family members of that team and arrange car-pooling, etc.
Any games at different schools or city sites require the family to make transportation arrangements. We encourage students to travel with a buddy or as a small group when leaving the school without a family member, but this is not required and not organized by the school or coaches.
When it is not an event at our school, the event in the calendar will have the location map in the calendar (click on the event for those details). https://georgest.nbed.ca/i/athletics-calendar/
Schedule and Social Media
Athletics calendar on the school website is the most up to date schedule. Weekly schedule usually consists of 1 – 3 practices and/or games. You can click on a calendar event to potentially see additional information (ex. map of the location, parking and entrance instructions, warm-up and game start times, etc).
Most events are around Fredericton, but some teams can travel to rural areas or away for weekend tournaments (ex. volleyball tournament in Moncton).
Practice times listed on the calendar are for when you have access to the playing space. An adult will be present at the start of the time slot to let you into the school.
For game time slots, you can click on the calendar event, and additional information is usually in the description such as location address. Players are not to be left unattended at any event. Coaches need to ensure all students have safely left the event and/or made arrangements with the guardians. Families, please arrive before the time slot has ended as usually games, such as in basketball, will not take the full 1.5hr time slot. Please respect the time our coaches are volunteering for.
Times are not consistent as we work around other schools for scheduling and coaches availability.
We play within a ASD-W league, usually with schools within Fredericton and surrounding rural areas. Usually we include the local francophone schools (ELE and ESA) and the private northside school (FCA).
We usually run between 1hr to 1.5hr (90min) time slots.
In the GSMS gym we usually run these times based on the bell schedule having a 9:20am start and end time of 3:35pm:
7:30-9am (practice), 3:50-5:20pm (practice), 5:30-7pm (practice or game), 7-8:30pm (practice or game).
Game times at other schools vary. Usually, would not start before 4:30pm or go later than 9:00pm.
Outdoor practice and game times vary based on location for soccer, rugby, track and field and softball.
On school cancellation days all events are cancelled after school, even if the weather clears-up later in the evening.
If lightening and thunder occurs, there is a 30min wait till where you cannot hear or see thunder or lightening. The game would be rescheduled unless the game is 2/3 finished where than the score at the end would stand as the final score. For example, if we play 60 minute games in soccer it would be 40 minutes played for the score to stand.
During snow, unless all afterschool activities are being cancelled due to concern about road conditions then your event will likely take place. A decision would be made before dismissal.
We also have GSMS Bears PE & Athletics social media (Facebook, X, Instagram).
Playoffs or Districts
Each of our sports will have a concluding ASD-W playoffs or termed districts where a big banner is awarded the championship team.
Middle school do not have an official provincials where district winners meet for any of our sports. High school athletics has regional winners play for an overall provincial championship, but NOT at the middle school level.
Our middle school season concludes with the ASD-W Playoffs (Districts). Each district in New Brunswick at the middle school level designs their own enrichment options. For athletics, each district would decide on the order and time frame for any sports offered. For example in ASD-W we run basketball from October to December, where another school district could decide to run basketball from January and February.
Some sport organizations, like Basketball NB (BNB) will usually host a tournament after we have finished our ASD-W league labelled as “middle school provincials”, but this is not a representation for selecting a provincial champion as it is a tournament with a registration fee where any school can attend and do not have to qualify based on any league records or district championship standings. Therefore, is not provincials, rather a tournament filled with teams from throughout the province who decided to sign-up and play on that specific weekend.
Volunteer Expectations
If interested in being a volunteer, please email Athletics Director, Mark Graham (mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca). In your message identify your connection with the school and experience within that sport or multiple sports. We have had family members, prior students and members of the community volunteer time and appreciate your potential support. Coaching availability for each sport is listed below.
It is great to have more than one adult volunteer per team to ensure availability for practices and games. If you are not comfortable leading a team, think about partnering up with others and sharing roles such as being a manager or assistant.
Anyone volunteer under 18 years old need another adult present to supervise the group.
Overall, we are looking for role models to help provide enrichment opportunities for our students. Volunteers are requested to complete the following ASD-W volunteer paperwork.
This paperwork only needs to be completed if you are selected to help with a team:
ASD-W-360-1A: Volunteer Sign-Off (Appendix A)
ASD-W-360-1B: Criminal Record and Vulnerable Sector Check
https://www.fredericton.ca/en/resident-services/public-safety/police-force/criminal-record-checks There is a $15 fee that the school would reimburse with a receipt submitted.
ASD-W-360-1C: Volunteer Driver Sign-Off (Appendix C)
If an accident occurs it will need to be documented: Accident Report Form (POLICY 129) C-3 C-4
Sports offered in the order they occur
Soccer
Time frame: September to the end of October.
Tryouts: There will be tryouts for each soccer team. Coaches will discuss expectations around positions and a keeper.
Fee: Usually between $30-40 per student.
Equipment: If you make the team you will need a pair of shin guards and some socks to cover them at your own expense. You will need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. You can wear sneakers or cleats. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices and games: Usually in 1.5 hours (90 minute) time slots. Games are 2, 30 minutes halves with a referee. Based on dismissal times and daylight hours, soccer will have one time slot for games from 4:30-6pm. The season will be four games and then playoffs. If possible, teams will have a week where they will be playing two games. League record determines playoff games. We usually do not attend any tournaments.
The city of Fredericton said Barker Street Pitch will not be available for 2024-25, so practices will be out of Morell Park Soccer Fields and home and away games played at other schools.
Soccer Teams:
Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8)
Coaching spot: Filled for 2025-26
Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8)
Coaching spot: Filled for 2025-26
JV Boys (Gr. 6-7)
Coaching spot: Vacant
JV Girls (Gr. 6-7)
Coaching spot: Vacant
Soccer has traditionally had a challenge with making Gr. 6 only teams, so usually we make combined Gr. 7-8 and combined Gr. 6-7 teams.
Cross Country Running
Time Frame: September until middle of October
Tryouts: There are no tryouts for this team, every student is welcome to run at any point in the season.
Fee: Free.
Equipment: Need a solid pair of black shorts/pants of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. You can wear any sneakers that provide safe traction with uneven ground. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices: Each grade and gender will run races separately, but practice as one large team. Practices are usually at Queen Square from 4 – 5:15pm, with pick-up at Queen Square. As there are no tryouts, please ensure you are on time for pick-up as the coaches will not have a way to contact you.
Races: We usually have 3 races at different locations. Any meet instructions will be put in the event description on the athletics calendar for that event.
Ribbons awarded for the final race for top 6 finishers per grade and gender. We need at least 3 runners per grade and gender at the final race to accumulate points towards a banner, but we can have as many runners as we want within each race.
Points are distributed based on finish position (ex. Gr. 6 Girls race: GSMS runners finish 5th, 8th,15th then GSMS Gr. 6 Girls team = 28 points). The team that scores the least number of points will win the banner for that grade level and gender.
Coaching spot: Filled for 2025-26.
Different race locations:
Gr. 6: Usually 1200 meters
Gr. 7: Usually 1600 meters
Gr. 8: Usually 2000 meters
Basketball
Time Frame: Late October to December (trying to finish before winter break).
Tryouts: There will be tryouts for each basketball team. Coaches will discuss expectations around positions.
Fee: Usually between $60-175 per student depending on the team and any tournaments entered (each tournament entered would increase the team fee).
Equipment: Need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. You can wear any clean sneakers that will not mark the gym floor. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices and games: 1.5 hours (90 minute) timeslots. Games are 8 minute quarters for a total of 32 minutes of stop time play. Scoreboards will be used when available and usually run by students. All teams play 5 vs 5 on a 10 foot net using a size 6 (28.5) basketball.
Usually season is 6 weeks with approximately 6 league games and a week with playoff games. We usually do not practice/play over the 2 week winter break. Your team would have 12-15 players.
After league play we have our ASD-W Fredericton Education Centre playoffs where teams are ranked based on league records to determine playoff game placement. There is no middle school basketball provincials, yet Basketball NB (BNB) usually hosts a tournament after we have finished our ASD-W league in the middle of February labelled as “middle school provincials.” This is not a representation for selecting a provincial champion as any school paying the tournament registration fee can attend and do not have to qualify based on any league records or district championship standings. The tournament also poses challenges due to a host location within the province not being determined until February, yet our season and team budget is determined in October. We like to attend tournaments where we know the location in advance and families can determine if they want to incur those travel and accommodation expenses. If teams decide to attend BNB than families would incur the cost of registering along with any travel and accommodation costs. ASD-W starts basketball earlier than other district so that club basketball and school basketball have less conflicts and we have fewer weather disruptions.
Basketball Teams:
Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8) or Gr. 8 only.
Coaching spot: Filled for 2025-26.
Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8) or Gr. 8 only.
Coaching spot: Vacant
JV Boys (Gr. 6-7) or Gr. 7 only.
Coaching spot: Vacant
JV Girls (Gr. 6-7) or Gr. 7 only.
Coaching spot: Vacant
Gr. 6 Boys
Coaching spot: Vacant
Gr. 6 Girls
Coaching spot: Vacant
Badminton
Time frame: January to March.
Tryouts: There will be tryouts for each badminton team. Teams are by grade and gender. Students will play both singles and doubles, if selected, until the final tournament.
Fee: Usually around $20 per student.
Equipment: Wear any clean sneakers that will not mark the gym floor. You will need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
We have school rackets that can be used or you can bring a personal labelled racket from home.
Practices and Games: Each grade and gender play separately at different time slots. Games consist of playing students from another school for about 45 minutes of full court singles and then 45 minutes of full court doubles, for a total of 1.5hrs.
All students throughout the season play both singles and doubles. Gameplay is usually round robin style and we try to get as many games in as possible within the 1.5hrs. Students keep score themselves and will learn the rules to both singles and doubles. The goal during these games to get to play students from other schools.
Everyone attends playoffs which is set-up in two divisions for singles and doubles with a double elimination format, which means you have to lose two games before being knocked out of the tournament. Students have to chose to play either singles or doubles for the playoffs. Tier 1 would have 4 singles players and 2 doubles teams and same for Tier 2, for a total of 16 players. The coaches determine who will attend Tier 1 and 2.
Badminton Teams:
Gr. 8 Boys
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25.
Gr. 8 Girls
Coaching spot: Still looking for another coach.
Gr. 7 Boys
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25.
Gr. 7 Girls
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25.
Gr. 6 Boys
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25.
Gr. 6 Girls
Coaching spot: Still looking for another coach.
Volleyball
Time frame: March to May.
Tryouts: There will be tryouts for each volleyball team. Coaches will discuss expectations around positions.
Fee: Usually between $60-140 per student depending on the team and number of tournaments entered.
Equipment: Need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. You can wear any clean sneakers that will not mark the gym floor. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Knee pads are optional and a families responsibility to purchase.
Practices and Games:
Practices and games are in 1.5 hours (90 minute) time slots. League games are a best of 3 match. Any additional games played within the timeslot are for fun to maximize the playing time available.
We usually attend 2 local weekend tournaments hosted at the Grant Harvey Centre. Sometimes a team might travel to a tournament in Moncton or surrounding area. These tournament games are usually in 1 hour time blocks. During these tournaments in a best of 2 match, only 12 players will get playing time as the rules state you cannot substitute players unless someone is hurt. When tournament games become a best of 3 match, if the match goes to a third set, then the coaches can substitute players as per the rules of the game.
After league play we conclude with our ASD-W Fredericton Education Centre playoffs. Volleyball NB usually hosts a tournament labelled as provincials, but there are no middle school volleyball provincials. This tournament is not a representation for selecting a provincial champion as any school paying the tournament registration fee can attend and do not have to qualify based on any league records or district championship standings.
Varsity (Gr. 7-8) and JV (Gr. 6-7) play with standard volleyball rules. Gr. 6 only teams play by Volleyball Canada Tripleball rules.
Volleyball Teams:
Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8) or Gr. 8 only
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25
Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8) or Gr. 8 only
Coaching spot: Vacant
JV Boys (Gr. 6-7) or Gr. 7 only
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25
JV Girls (Gr. 6-7) or Gr. 7 only
Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25
Gr. 6 Boys Tripleball
Coaching spot: Vacant
Gr. 6 Girls Tripleball
Coaching spot: Vacant
Track and Field
Time frame: April to June.
Tryouts: There will be tryouts. Students can participate in up to 3 events plus a relay. We can only have 3 students in each event per grade and gender.
Fee: Usually between $15-25 per student to cover all our costs.
Equipment: You will need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top, a pair of shoes and any additional comfortable clothing you want. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices and Meet:
Each grade and gender compete separately at the meet, but coached as a full team for practices.
There is usually a mini-meet on an evening at Nashwaaksis Middle School and then the full meet is during a school day in June. We usually bus the students to the meet location in the morning, usually at Nashwaaksis Middle School, and transportation home is the responsibility of the family. Meet usually starts at 9:45am and ends around 4pm.
Coaching spot: Currently have 1 parent. Need at least 4 people to run tryouts over multiple days.
Rugby (run through a local club)
Time frame: May and June.
Tryouts: Usually no tryouts.
Fee: Set through the Rugby Canada registration process for liability insurance.
Equipment: All you need is a pair of shoes or cleats to run in and durable shorts that could be pulled on during a tackle. Would be good to wait and see if you play on the team before purchasing a pair of rugby shorts. The jersey provided by the Loyalist Rugby Club is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices and Games:
Gr. 6 – 8 boys and girls combined. Organized through the Loyalist Rugby Club.
Coaching spot: Speak with Athletics Director, Mark Graham (mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca) about connecting with the Loyalist Rugby Club.
Softball
Time frame: April to June.
Tryouts: There will be tryouts. Coaches will discuss expectations around positions.
Fee: Usually between $25-35 per student.
Equipment: You will need a solid pair of black shorts of your choosing to wear with the provided jersey top. You will need a pair of shoes to run in and a glove. We provide the softballs, helmets and bats. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
Practices and Games:
Gr. 6-8 girls combined. At this time there is no boys league. Games are in 90min (1.5hr) time slots. We play our home games from Queen Square.
Coaching spot: Vacant
Schools we play outside of ASD-W
EAEC: École Arc-En-Ciel (Oromocto francophone school)
ELE: École Les Éclaireurs (Fredericton northside francophone school)
ESA: École Sainte-Anne (Fredericton southside francophone school)
FCA: Fredericton Christian Academy (private school on Fredericton northside)