The TRU WolfPack badminton program will live on as Alex Perkin and his father, Ross, will coach the team for the 2012-13 Pacific West Athletic Association season.
The WolfPack had been coached by Brad Pape until the spring, when he retired after 28 years at the helm.
Alex Perkin, a former WolfPack player, stepped up, and will be helped by Ross, who is a longtime local badminton coach.
“The program will require a lot of work as there are a few returning players for us to work with,” said Alex, in a news release. “However, we are working on recruitment and will continue to work on the development of players. Hopefully by next year, we’ll be in the stages of creating a team to compete competitively for medals in the future.”
The team will hold tryouts in September, and has had its schedule set for the PacWest season. TRU will play host to the first tournament, on Oct. 19-20, before a tournament at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo on Nov. 3-4 and another at Douglas College in New Westminster on Jan. 19-20. The PacWest championship will go at Vancouver’s Langara College on Feb. 16-17.
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Most of the WolfPack’s teams have had their schedules released, and the soccer teams will open their PacWest seasons in September.
TRU will be at home to the Douglas Royals on Sept. 8, before welcoming the Kwantlen Eagles on Sept. 9 Each WolfPack team will play 14 regular-season games, seven of them at Hillside Stadium.
The WolfPack golf team, meanwhile, will play host to the first tournament of the PacWest season at The Dunes on Sept. 8-9. TRU also will play tournaments at Kwantlen’s home course, Hazelmere, at VIU’s home course, Nanaimo Golf Course, and Fraser Valley’s home, Chilliwack Golf and Country Club.
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The Canada West schedules also have been released, with TRU’s volleyball and basketball teams welcoming provincial rivals in their home-openers.
The WolfPack volleyball teams will open with a home-and-home series with the UBC-Okanagan Heat. The teams will play at the Tournament Capital Centre on Oct. 26, before meeting in Kelowna on Oct. 27.
TRU’s first road action will come the following weekend, when the men and women travel to Brandon to play the Bobcats.
The WolfPack men are scheduled to play host to the McDonald’s Invitational at the TCC after Christmas.
The WolfPack basketball teams will welcome the UNBC Timberwolves to Canada West on Nov. 2-3.
The Timberwolves are new to Canada West, joining the Mount Royal Cougars in helping form a 16-team conference.
TRU’s women are to play host to a tournament from Oct. 19-21, when the Victoria Vikes, Saskatchewan Huskies and Alberta Colleges Athletic Association’s Grant MacEwan Griffins will come to the TCC.
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The WolfPack hockey team has signed an international player, a first for the fourth-year program.
TRU announced Wednesday that Adrien Hervillard of Sainte-Maur, France, has committed for the 2012-13 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season.
Hervillard, a goaltender, played for the Mattawa Voyageurs of the Greater Metro Junior Hockey League, a junior A league in Ontario. He was a league all-star last season, going 8-9 with a GAA of 3.67 and .890 save percentage.
“I have the opportunity to play very competitive hockey and get an education. What else do I need to ask for?,” Hervillard said in a news release. “It’s a big chance for me to be able to play at this level and still go to school, we don’t have this kind of opportunity in France.”
