{"id":6007,"date":"2019-04-07T20:52:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T03:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/?p=6007"},"modified":"2019-04-08T16:40:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T23:40:36","slug":"mike-holmes-inducted-into-uvic-sports-hall-of-fame-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westshorerfc.com\/index.php\/mike-holmes-inducted-into-uvic-sports-hall-of-fame-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Holmes Inducted into UVIC Sports Hall of Fame-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Congratulations<\/span> to Westshore’s RFC Current club President, Mike Holmes on the outstanding news of inducted into the UVIC Sports Hall of Fame as a builder to the sport of rugby. Article from ISN, link below:<\/p>\n

VICTORIA \u2013 The University of Victoria Vikes\u00a0are pleased to announce the 2019 class of the UVic Sports Hall of Fame that includes two athletes and one builder. Joining the hall will be two-time women\u2019s basketball national champion Lori Clarke, a member of the inaugural national championship-winning women\u2019s field hockey team Sara Brant Ballantyne and outstanding contributor and champion for Vikes rugby Michael Holmes.<\/p>\n

The trio of inductees makes up the 17th<\/sup> class of the UVic Sports Hall of Fame, founded in 2002 to honour those individuals who have contributed significantly to sport or recreation at the University as athletes, coaches, teams or as builders. They will be formally inducted at the annual Celebration of Champions event on April 5, 2019, at the Victoria Conference Centre.<\/p>\n

MICHAEL HOLMES<\/strong>
\nBuilder, Rugby<\/p>\n

Mike Holmes competed as a varsity athlete for the Vikes men\u2019s rugby team from 1982 to 1987, while completing his Bachelor of Arts degree. He then returned to UVic to pursue a Law degree. Holmes was an accomplished player competing for B.C. provincial and Canadian national teams, while attending UVic, but after graduating Holmes went on to practice law with Emery Jones Law firm, while continuing to be a prominent alumnus working hard to develop partnerships to help the Vikes financially. In 2011, Holmes was recognized with the Times Colonist Publisher\u2019s Award presented to individuals within the community that have made an outstanding voluntary contribution to a varsity program. Holmes and Howard Gerwing, who was previously inducted in to the UVic Sports Hall of Fame as a builder, created one of the first athletic scholarships at UVic in 1987 in memory of Brian Williams starting what is now 31 years of philanthropy for the Vikes.<\/p>\n

Holmes is a founding member of the Canadian Rugby Foundation, a non-profit society that uses an endowment to develop rugby across Canada. Holmes serves an executive director, as the fund has raised over 2 million dollars, and now funds many of the youth development programs in Canada, as well as forming the Canadian University Rugby Championship. Holmes has initiated programs to make sure youth representatives can afford to play the sport of rugby. In the recent years Holmes embraced a Vikes challenge to raise nearly $800,000 for the Vikes men\u2019s rugby program and started new campaigns to create a Vikes coaching fund to help fund assistant coaches. He has also started a tour fund to ensure future Vikes get the opportunity to experience international travel and competition.<\/p>\n

Vikes Celebration of Champions and UVic Sports Hall of Fame Banquet<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n