RC Weslowski

Last week I had the distinct privilege to coach the 2014 Vancouver Youth Poetry Slam Team at the annual YouthCanSlam festival. 10 teams from across the country (Halifax to Vancouver) took part and our team won.

The team is made up of Sebastien Wen (who also won the Underground Indies competition) Mariah Dear, Melissa Illing, Andrew Warner and Scout. They were the most consistent team finishing 2nd in both of their preliminary bouts and then finishing 1st in the finals.

It was definitely not as easy victory though. While we lead from the outset both Ottawa and Hamilton were close on our heels all evening and we won by only .2 difference in total. I thought a stellar group piece by Ottawa in the last round would have them catch or surpass us but it was not to be.

We are all back home in Vancouver today.

I also want to thank all the organizers and volunteers who helped put the festival on especially Artistic Director, Ikenna Onyegbula. So often such hard work goes unrecognized and I just wanted to give them all a shout out. Also to Ian Keteku who is my favourite show host in the land!

Two of the three members of this year’s team have aged out and won’t be able to compete next year so we will have a fresh new vibe once again in 2015. I can’t wait.