A Storm has arrived in Port Alberni.
After months of deliberation, the Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) athletic department has selected a new nickname for its sports teams. During a pep rally on Thursday, Oct. 3, ADSS coaches and athletes announced that their new team name will be the ADSS Storm.
Sports teams were previously known as the 'Alberni Armada,' but earlier this year the athletic department said students, staff and coaches no longer believed the nickname had a connection with the school community and did not represent the school’s values. 'Armada' is the Spanish and Portuguese word for a fleet of warships.
And — as emcee Cam McCarrick pointed out on Thursday — in the late 1500s the "invincible" Spanish Armada was defeated by a storm.
"The Storm is a new and powerful name that's more connected to where we are from," said McCarrick.
The name 'Armada' was originally selected for the school's sports teams back in 1985, said athletic director Mike Roberts. Roberts says he thinks the name was largely selected because of the alliteration with Alberni and not because of any relevance to the school itself.
"Every sports team here had a different name," he said. "The senior boys' basketball team was the Chieftains, the senior girls' basketball team was the Chiefettes. Then we had the Celtics and the Barbarians. It didn't make sense that we were under one roof but all these teams had different names."
However, Roberts said coaches have been having conversations for "quite some time" about changing the name.
"Students, they don't even know what Armada is," he said. "There's got to be a better name for us, a better representation."
The athletic department worked collaboratively with Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations on the name change, as well as other teachers at school. The department opened up the conversation to the community for ideas, then ran polls within the school and started to "whittle down" names to a few top choices.
"There were lots of other things that were talked about, like fog, rain or tsunami," Roberts said. "It's really near impossible to find a name that another team doesn't have. But there is no other team in Port Alberni with the name Storm."
It was also important that the new team name had a Nuu-chah-nulth translation, said Roberts. The Nuu-chah-nulth word for storm is "wiiqsii."
Tseshaht First Nation Elected Councillor Ed Ross said Tseshaht First Nation walked "side-by-side" with the athletic department throughout the process of changing the name. Ross, who also attended ADSS, says that things have changed a lot since he was a student.
"Tseshaht feels very respected, being brought to this table," he said. "In past history, we weren't included in these decisions. It just feels good that we're moving together."
For Ross, the word 'storm' has strong connotations for the Tseshaht First Nation.
"It's naturally powerful, just like our athletes," he said. "For us, energy is everything."
While athletes donned new T-shirts on Thursday with the word 'Storm' printed on them, Roberts said a logo for the Storm is still in the works.
"That's part two of this equation," said Roberts. "We've got a couple good ideas. Things just take time."
