Andrew Cyr
<Sports Editor>
From January 3-7, 2013, Osgoode sent a contingent of 27 of its boldest and bravest to represent the school at the Canada Student Law Games hosted by Windsor Law. At most law schools, Law Games is an event that needs no introduction. However, the event has waned in popularity in recent years at Osgoode, so it might be helpful to include a brief refresher as to what exactly Law Games is before moving on to discuss how awesome it was.
Law Games initially started out as a one-day hockey tournament between law schools in the mid-1980s, and has evolved to a 5-day annual event including sports, academic competitions, and social events. Today, Canada Student Law Games is the largest gathering of law students in the country. Many schools have long waitlists of students eager to participate in the Games and require students to fill out comprehensive applications in order to attend. At Osgoode, however, we managed to fill a delegation of only 27.
Luckily, however, the 27 delegates we sent were among the best our school has to offer. Despite our limited numbers, we managed to put up a strong showing across a variety of events. Notably, our floor hockey and basketball teams each made it to the tournament finals. The flag football team made it to the semi-finals before succumbing to host Windsor. The dodgeball and water polo teams also put forth strong performances, qualifying for the playoffs in each event.
To state that Law Games is about sporting events, however, would only begin to scratch the surface of what makes the event so great. The social events are truly what Law Games is all about. At the end of a long day of sports when everyone is sore, nothing builds camaraderie like downing a few ice-cold cruisers in the hotel hot tub. Law Games is a great opportunity to meet students from your own school and across the country. This includes the rowdy law undergrads from Québec civil law programs who give common law students a glimpse of how ridiculous they must have looked in their first and second years of undergrad.
Despite being the largest common law school in the country, Osgoode’s representation at Law Games pales in comparison to many other schools. The 27 students sent this year were barely over half the allotment initially given Osgoode by the hosts, yet was a vast improvement over the delegations in the two previous years, where the events were hosted by UBC and University of Laval. Rather than assuming that Osgoode largely attracts students that are allergic to fun, I would like to assume that the limited number of attendees is a result of the general lack of hype surrounding the games. Hopefully, the increased attendance this year will be the start of a trend that allows more students to take advantage of the opportunity that Law Games offers. In my opinion, a law school education is not complete without it.