Move over Armada, Storm is the new name in town.
After decades of its teams being known as the Armada, the Alberni District Secondary School community decided it was time for a change.
Armada had been the name of school teams since the 1984-85 school year, said school athletic director Mike Roberts. “It became the Armada because every sports team here had a different nickname at the time.”
Armada — as in the 16th-century Spanish Armada naval fleet — was chosen as a nod to the city’s namesake, Spanish explorer Pedro de Alberni, said Pam Craig, chair of the Pacific Rim School Board chair and an Alberni District Secondary graduate.
Roberts said the colonial connection to the word was among the primary reasons for a change — as was the fact that many students didn’t even know what it meant.
“It didn’t represent our school and our athletic department well,” he said. “It made sense in lots of ways that we needed a change.”
Storm was selected after a process involving teachers, current and former students, First Nations and others, Roberts said.
Other names tossed around during the process included Fog, Rain and Tsunami, he said.
“We thought: ‘What if we encompass these things under one word?’ Then Storm came out of all that.”
Roberts said it was also noted that there is a specific Nuu-cha-nulth word for storm — wiiqsii — unlike some of the other suggestions.
Craig said she’s happy that consideration of the new name took a good deal of time and thought, and included First Nations input. “That part was so important to all of us.”
Port Alberni Coun. Charles Mealey, a 1996 Alberni District Secondary graduate and long-time announcer for the school’s annual Totem basketball tournament, is all for Storm, which he called a name that “everybody can love.”
He said he’s looking forward to adding sound effects to games: “some storm sounds, and some rain and some thunder.”
Team uniforms won’t be changed overnight, but the new name was celebrated at a recent pep rally at the school, complete with cheerleaders holding up the letters S-T-O-R-M.
Roberts said the transition to new uniforms will happen gradually, through fundraising. “As they’re acquired we’ll make the changeover.”
A new logo reflecting the name Storm is also in the works.
It remains to be seen, however, what will happen to school mascot Pete the Pirate.
“That’s another conversation, too,” Roberts said. “Does Pete go by the wayside? Does Pete become something else?”
