Now that the leaves are falling in giant piles for students to jump into, a real sense of autumn spirit has established itself on campus. Many UBC teams have been on fiery winning streaks and with the prospect of Halloween fast approaching, it's crucial that players avoid all black cats in order to maintain their luck for the games ahead. We got in touch with some notable fall athletes in order to get their take on all things spooky for the Halloween edition of the T-Birds 5-on-5!
Brandon Deschamps (BD): football
Jasmin Dhanda (JD): women’s soccer
Joe Antilla (JA): men’s hockey
Olivia de Goede (OG): women’s soccer
Rowan Harris (RH): women’s field hockey
1) What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
BD: Coach Nill if I find a way to convey his fear-inducing aura.
JD: I am dressing up as Princess Jasmine – you can probably guess why she is my favorite.
JA: I was thinking about going as one of the Will Ferrell characters – probably Chaz Michael Michaels or Ron Burgundy – but it has been hard to find a sex panther cologne that works 60 per cent of the time, every time.
OG: I'll probably be working in the lab (lame), so I guess a mad scientist?
RH: Max from The Grinch and my best looking friend is being the Grinch.
2) Do you have any game-day superstitions?
BD: I need to shave my head a few days before the game — a 2015 trend.
JD: I have to have a small amount of candy before every game!
JA: I have the typical hockey superstitions such as putting on gear from left to right and showering before suiting up for games. I also run back to the dressing room following our off-ice jump around to be the first one getting ready for game time.
OG: Nothing too crazy – I have a lucky necklace that I wear on game days and I always put my water bottle on the same side of the goal.
RH: I have no game-day superstitions, but for the past couple years I have been keeping up the tradition of forgetting at least one item of my equipment.
3) If your team had to face a team of pirates or ninjas, which would you rather face?
BD: I'd like to think the football team could take a bunch of malnourished drunkards. We'd stand no chance with ninjas.
JD: I would rather face pirates because I feel like they aren't as good fighters.
JA: Having watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Beverly Hills Ninja I would have to say pirates. Facing that Kraken thing wouldn’t be very fun – unless it was Kraken rum, then I think our team would probably win that competition.
OG: I would definitely rather face pirates! Ninjas are super agile and way too tricky ... they'd do things like disguise themselves as team members. Plus, it would be pretty hard for pirates to kick and run around if they have peg legs.
RH: Ninjas, definitely. They would accept me as their own.
4) Describe the scariest moment you have had as an athlete.
BD: Pretty much every off-season morning when Coach Joe brings us in for a "warm-up."
JD: My scariest moment has to have been when I joined the team and was pretty much interrogated by every senior player on our first away trip.
JA: In my second year at UBC, we flew to Alaska to play Fairbanks and Anchorage. Ten minutes before landing in Fairbanks we had some pretty scary turbulence.
OG: One time during a slow game, I was bored and fooling around with the net and then got caught in it and was almost scored on. It was pretty terrifying.
RH: I blacked out once after diving for the ball in a game. The swing went right through my head. I made the save then headed straight to the concussion clinic.
5) In the spirit of trick or treating, what’s your most impressive party trick?
BD: I can jive dance like a turkey.
JD: I wish I knew some tricks, but unfortunately I don't!
JA: My party trick is probably being able to eat mass amounts of food. I have been known to eat boxes of cookies before I go to sleep.
OG: I don't really have any party tricks ... but, through some unfortunate experiences hosting parties in an older house, I can work some magic with broken plumbing! So if anyone ever needs a party trick like that, I'm your gal.
RH: I can tie a cherry stem using only my tongue. But the real feat is the insane amount of pull-ups I can do while exhausted.