UBC Thunderbirds Sport Clubs (TSC), provides the opportunity for student-athletes to officially represent UBC as a Thunderbird in their sport. Since the launch of the program, we have welcomed over 2,000 student-athletes into a community that focuses on competitive excellence, academic success and student leadership experiences. As of 2023, there are 14 active sport clubs representing UBC in their sport. We are looking to expand our program and take in a new sport!
Representing the Thunderbirds
Being part of the TSC program allows your sport club to don the Thunderbird and be the official representative of UBC in your respective sport. Our sport clubs strive for success at a local, regional, national & international level and compete in circuits governed by provincial, national, or collegiate sports organizations. Teams can compete locally or travel as far as Hawaii or New York for competition against other universities or clubs.
“Representing UBC as a Thunderbird was an absolute honour and a highlight of my university experience. It not only enabled me to continue honing my skills in a sport I love in a supportive environment, but also blessed me with the opportunity to meet many new friends through a shared passion for table tennis and proudly represent UBC across North America alongside these amazing individuals.” – Ivy Liao, Table Tennis almunus
Since the program’s inception, there have been strong performances by our sport clubs resulting in podium finishes at the highest levels of competition and most recently, two national championships in 2021 (Artistic Swimming, Men’s Tennis). The most recent addition to the TSC family, Table Tennis, found recent competitive success at USTTA Nationals, earning a 5th and 7th place finish amongst North American universities for the co-ed and women’s teams respectively.
Student Leadership
TSC is built on 3 pillars – one of which is student leadership. Each sport club elects an executive team, a group of UBC student-athletes who oversee the operations of their club. In the pursuit of becoming the leading competitive sport club program in Canada, UBC TSC takes pride in supporting the development of employees, student executives, and athletes in the program. All TSC executives receive support from the TSC administration team, who provide role-specific training and guidance on procedures, operations and more.
“I admire how player-driven each Sport Club is – managing practices, competition, finances, travelling, marketing, and more – it’s why I wanted to be a part of the process by joining the executive team. Being a member of a Sports Club goes beyond just being a player; it teaches us to be self-sufficient and passionate about contributing to our team.” – Stephanie Siu, Women’s Ultimate alumnus
Being an executive allows for the opportunity for student-athletes to develop administrative and professional skills. From coordinating travel logistics, facility schedules, apparel and much more, executives have the opportunity to learn the different aspects of sport management. Each sport club’s executive team works hard to creates meaningful experiences for themselves and their athletes while making sure their club operations are ultimately financially self-sustaining.
Support from Athletics & Recreation
While each sport club is responsible for collecting fees from their athletes and fundraising to cover their expenses, they also receive funding from the university for coaching, competitive enhancement and their national championships, should they qualify. With their sport club status, teams receive communications and marketing resources with access to an official UBC email, a club webpage hosted by UBC Recreation and social media story amplification across the UBC Recreation network.
April (right) has been a TSC triathlete since her first year.
“Being TSC has been really huge for our club for a few reasons. For one thing, being in the highly competitive framework of TSC has helped us to push for really strong commitment from our athletes (…) TSC has also opened up coaching and travel opportunities that would be much harder to access without the help of TSC funding, and without the guidance that we gain from being a part of the TSC system.” – April St. Pierre, Triathlon Club Lead
As mentioned previously, TSC teams also have dedicated support from the TSC administration team, a group of Athletics & Recreation staff to support sport club executives in their operations. Support can look like providing athletes with academic concession letters for competition travel or injury, amplifying the results of competition or player stories across different recreation channels, or providing guidance to executives on processes and operations.
The TSC Admin team also work to create events for athletes, such as the Year End Awards Banquet where they recognize the sport clubs in the program for their seasons and award the exceptional athletes, executives and teams for their achievements.