PE Teacher & Athletics Director
Below includes what to expect with middle school extra-curricular athletics. If you have any questions, please reach out via email to PE Teacher and Athletics Director at GSMS for all sports, Mark Graham mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca
Adults can speak with 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 support. All our sports are listed below.
It is great to have more than one coach per team to ensure availability for practices and games. If you are not comfortable leading a team, then think about partnering up with others and sharing roles such as being a manager or assistant. Previous experience with the sport is great to have. Overall, we are looking for role models to help provide positive additional opportunities for our students.
Tier 2 teams can be made up of Gr. 6-8 students. Rural schools usually make Tier 2 teams as they do not have the student numbers to make seperate Varsity (Gr. 7-8) and JV (Gr. 6-7) teams. Mr. Graham does not create these Tier 2 teams automatically. At the request of a volunteer looking to coach Mr. Graham will determine if a team will be created. There is a deadline to create teams as a game schedule has to be made. This would be an option for soccer, basketball, and volleyball.
All of our 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. Students are chosen based on the following:
Athletic ability: Performing the skills required within that sport, potentially at specific positions based on team dynamics. Students will be given practice time to improve skills throughout the season.
Attitude: Reflects being a student first and positive example to others. We need to trust that you will be a good example to others when attending our school and others after school hours 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 time slots 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.
Playing Time: ASD-W follows fair play guidelines for most activities, which means everyone should receive approximately the same amount of playing time, but this may be adjusted 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 that may arise throughout the season. If waiting to participate ensure you are not interrupting other groups playing and keep the area clean (ex. no garbage).
NBIAA Code of Conduct to be followed by all participants: https://www.nbiaa-asinb.org/en/publications/fair-play-code
Please ensure any uniforms provided are taken care of throughout that sport. Please follow any cleaning instructions on the jersey 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.
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 transportion and accomodation costs would be the families expense (ex. attending an away tournament and needing a hotel). If you have any questions about paying a fee please speak with Athletics Director, Mark Graham (mark.graham@nbed.nb.ca). Once a team has been created a new School Cash Online event will be made for online payment.
Athletics calendar on the school website is the most up to date schedule. Teams usually have 1 or 2 practices and a game each week. Times are not consistent as we work around other schools for scheduling. You can click on an event to potentially see additional information (ex. map of the location, parking and enterance instructions, etc). Most events are around Fredericton, but some teams can travel to rural areas or away for weekend tournaments (ex. volleyball tournament maybe in Moncton).
We also have GSMS Bears PE & Athletics social media (Facebook, X, Instagram).
Middle School sports do not have provincials. We play within a ASD-W league, usually with schools within Fredericton and surrounding rural areas. Usually we include the local francophone schools and private northside school. Our ASD-W playoffs are the conclusion of our seasons. Some associations like Basketball New Brunswick (BNB) will run a tournament labelled as 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.
We usually run between 1hr to 1hr 30min time slots.
In the gym we usually run these practice times: 7 – 8am, 3 – 4:30pm, 4:30 – 6pm, 6 – 7:30pm, 7:30 -9pm.
Home games in the gym would be: 4:30 – 6pm, 6 – 7:30pm, 7:30 – 9pm
Outdoor practice and game times vary based on location.
All transportation to and from any event location is a family’s responsibility. Students choosing to walk or bike to Morell Park for soccer or Queen Square for x-country would be done without an adult supervising. Any games at different schools or city venues 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 organized by the school or coaches. Coaches will meet players at the playing location.
- Soccer: September to the end of October.
- Is usually 5 weeks with 6 league games and a week with playoff games. League record determines playoff games. We usually do not attend any tournaments.
- Fee is ususally between $30-40 per student.
- Practices and games are usually in 1.5 hours (90 minute) time slots. Games are 2, 30 minutes halves with a referee.
- 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.
- Teams:
- Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8) Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25
- Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8). Coaching spot: Vacant
- JV Boys (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Vacant
- JV Girls (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Vacant
- X-Country: September to the middle of October.
- Each grade and gender run seperately, but practice as one large team. Goal is to have a minimum of 3 or more runners per grade and gender. There are no tryouts for this team, every student is welcome to run. Each week will usually have a practice and a race. We usually have 3 races at different locations within the area. A typical race would be Gr. 6’s run first, then Gr. 7’s and Gr. 8’s last. Grade level banners are awarded based top 3 runners per grade and gender combined at the last race of the season. Any meet instructions will be put in the event description on the athletics calendar for that event when posted.
- Usual locations vary from:
- Odell Park (gravel trails within the park)
- Killarney Lake (starting at the beach and running around the lake)
- Nashwaaksis Middle School (on the gravel trail around the school)
- Bliss Carman Middle School (on the gravel trail around the school)
- Hanwell Park Academy (trails within the Hanwell Recreation Park)
- Distances
- Gr. 6’s usually 1200m (1.2Km)
- Gr. 7’s usually 1600m (1.6Km)
- Gr. 8’s uaully 2000m (2Km)
- Usually no fee.
- 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 to run in. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
- Practices are usually around Queen Square for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Coaching spot: Currently have 1 parent who will lead coaching for 2024-25. Looking for more volunteers.
- Basketball: Late October to the middle of January.
- All teams play 5 vs 5 on a 10 foot net using a size 28.5 ball. Is usually 6 weeks with 6 league games and a week with playoff games. We usually do not practice/play over the 2 week winter break.
- Fee is usually between $60-175 per student depending on the team and any tournaments entered. Varsity teams usually attend a local BCMS tournament. Potentially other schools could host a tournament at the JV or Gr. 6 level. Middle schools do not have an offical provincals where district winners meet. 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. Basketball NB (BNB) usually hosts a tournament after we have finished our ASD-W league in the middle of February labelled as 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. This tournament poses challenges due to us already having started our badminton season and host location within the province not being determined until February, so we typically do not send teams to this event. We like to attend tournaments where we know the location to be played and families can determine if they want to incur those travel and accomodation expenses. The team fee does not reflect attending the BNB tournament. If teams decided to attend than families would incur the cost of registering along with any travel costs. Other districts in the province start basketball leagues later than ASD-W. ASD-W starts leagues earlier so that club basketball and school basketball have less conflicts.
- Equipment: You will 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 are in 1.5 hours (90 minute) time slots. Games are 8 minute quarters for a total of 32 minutes of stop time play.
- Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8) Coaching spot: Vacant
- Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8) Coaching spot : Vacant
- JV Boys (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Vacant
- JV Girls (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 6 Boys Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 6 Girls Coaching spot: Vacant
- Badminton: End of January to end of March
- 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 gameplay and then 45 minutes of full court doubles gameplay, 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.
- 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.
- Fee is usually around $20 per student.
- Equipment: You can 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 will have school rackets that can be used or you can bring a personal racket from home that we suggest be labelled with the students name.
- Gr. 8 Boys Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 8 Girls Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 7 Boys Coaching spot: Filled for 2024-25
- Gr. 7 Girls Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 6 Boys Coaching spot: Vacant
- Gr. 6 Girls Coaching spot: Vacant
- Volleyball: Middle of March to the end of May
- Varsity (Gr. 7-8) and JV (GR. 6-7) play with standard volleyball rules. Gr. 6 only teams play by Volleyball Canada Tripleball rules.
- Fee is usually between $60-140 per student depending on the team and number of tournaments entered. We usually attend 2 local weekend tournaments hosted at the Grant Harvey Centre. Somtimes a team might travel to a tournament in Moncton or surronding area. 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.
- Equipment: You will 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 responsiblity to purchase.
- 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.
- Varsity Boys (Gr. 7-8) Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- Varsity Girls (Gr. 7-8) Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- JV Boys (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- JV Girls (Gr. 6-7) Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- Gr. 6 Boys Tripleball Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- Gr. 6 Girls Tripleball Coaching spot: Filled for 2023-24
- Track & Field: May and June
- Each grade and gender compete seperately. Coached as a full team. Students can participate in up to 3 events plus a relay. We can only have 3 students in each event per grade and gender. There is usually a mini-meet on an evening at Nashwaaksis Middle School and then the full meet is during a school day. We usually bus the students to the meet venue in the morning, usually at Nashwaaksis Middle School, and transportation home is the responsibility of the family.
- Fee is usually between $15-25 per student.
- 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 addtional comfortable clothing you want. The jersey provided is to be returned at the end of the season.
- Coaching spot: Looking for more volunteers. Currently have 2 teachers who will lead the coaching.
- Softball: May and June
- Gr. 6-8 girls. At this time there is no boys league. Games are in 90min (1.5hr) time slots. We play our home games from Queen Square.
- Fee is 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.
- Coaching spot: Vacant
- Rugby: May and June.
- Gr. 6-8 boys and girls combined. Organized through the Loyalist Rugby Club.
- Fee is 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 Loyalisit Rugby Club is to be returned at the end of the season.
- Coaching spot: Speak with Mark Graham about connection with the Loyalist Rugby Club.
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)