NEWS RELEASES

09/02/05
 SUPER FANS
a portion of the Nanaimo Bulletin article by Greg Skaki

The most colourful sports fans in the city, the MalU Nation.
Patrick Oliveira and Kris Walushka, physical education students at Vancouver Island University, began the MalU Nation just this season. Going to basketball games, they noticed how quiet the gymnasium seemed to be, and decided to do something about it. They printed up some T-shirts and spread the word.
A few games later, Mariners players could look into the stands and see a sea of blue-shirted, blue-face-painted fans shouting, "Let's go Mal," and then punctuating that thought with the requisite "clap, clap, clap-clap-clap"
refrain.
"The goal is to give the Mariners some support, the home-court advantage," said Walushka.
"We want 'The Boat,' as we call the Mal gym here, to be the most hated gym for opposing teams to come to." It's well on its way.
One of the MalU Nation's successes was a particular men's volleyball game earlier this season, when one of the visiting Douglas College Royals players favoured a hairstyle reminiscent of Fred and Wilma Flintstone's young daughter.
Walushka and Oliveira believe the Nation's relentless chants of "Peb-bles, Peb-bles" contributed to the player's awful game.
"If the opponent comes and sees 20 or 30 people with blue shirts, cheering 'your team hates you' or 'it's all your fault,' then of course they're going to have it in their head that this is not the gym to win in," said MalU Nation member Claire Champagne.
"We keep it appropriate. There's a spectator's code of conduct which we totally follow, but we push it."
The MalU Nation has heard from Mariners players many times just how important they are.
It's part of the reciprocal nature of the athlete-fan dynamic. Fans want to watch the games and players want to see those fans. Fans enjoy seeing a few superstars, just as players like to see a few superfans.