Armageddon has been predicted for UBC Athletics, but it has yet to arrive.
Students, faculty, coaches and the press claim the administration is completely absent, that coaches get no support and that no one has been to a Thunderbirds game in a decade. Presented with this information, one would have to think that Thunder is breathing his last breath.
And while the administration is usually absent, many coaches and teams receive virtually no support and no one goes to games, the 'Birds keep flying.
UBC athletes just won 38 medals at the Pan Am games. The women’s swimming team has won the last three CIS national championships, and the men are nearly as dominant. Field hockey won back to back championships. The men’s soccer team made it to the semifinals, and that was considered a failure. Almost every Thunderbird team qualified and found success in the playoffs last season. Canadian national teams for field hockey, rugby, swimming and many other sports rely heavily on UBC athletes. Put plainly, the Thunderbirds are central to Canadian athletics.
Imagine what they could achieve with better support.
An exodus of staff, poor funding, pathetic turnouts, apathetic students and an administration that doesn’t even seem to know what the CIS is all contribute to a rather poor image and hold athletes back from achieving their full potential. But a few recent steps in the right direction are a welcome change.
Last year, Athletics partnered with student groups, namely the Calendar and AMS Events, to put on the biggest football and hockey games the university has seen in recent years. Attendance numbers broke records and showed that students can, and will, pay $2 for tickets (and more for beer) to see the Thunderbirds play.
UBC has hired administrators to work with students and promote athletics, and an interim committee that’s in charge before a new director is hired is comprised of administrators and coaches working together. While these changes alone won’t solve Athletics’ problems, they are, at the very least, a sign UBC is looking to improve.
So what will make the Thunderbirds popular, and get the players and coaches the support they need?
Involving the students works. Boring videos about athletes doesn’t. If you want the ‘Birds to be an athletic and economic success there is only one solution: get students excited about teams and get them out to games. And the only way to do that is to get students talking, posting on Facebook and tweeting about games.
If UBC can get their act together and work with the AMS, the Calendar, varsity athletes and others (maybe even The Ubyssey…) then sports at UBC have a chance build community. Homecoming and the Winter Classic, health fairs and beer gardens at Storm the Wall and other Rec events, and after-parties for games are the direction in which UBC needs to move.
Athletics needs to be about students having fun, cheering on their fellow Thunderbirds and, of course, enjoying a few beers. Make that happen and UBC could build a strong community.
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