Years of perseverance is coming close to paying off as directors representing the Canada West Universities Athletic Association have approved the University of Northern British Columbia's (UNBC) application for full membership.
The outcome means UNBC can compete in Canada's top university athletic association in both basketball and soccer starting in 2012-13, pending final approval by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) which UNBC athletics director Jason Kirswell expects will be a formality.
"Normally, the CIS and Canada West are very lock step in terms of supporting each other's decisions," Kirswell said Tuesday, when the outcome of the vote, held last week, was announced.
However, winning CIS approval will still require a full application, which UNBC will submit in December. CIS officials will also visit UNBC sometime between January and May next year before holding a final vote in June 2012.
Getting this far has been a long time coming.
UNBC and its basketball program first applied for Canada West membership in 2008, and after a decision was put off for a year, the application was denied in May 2010. A new application that included the soccer teams was rejected in June, but only by a narrow margin, and Canada West directors asked UNBC for further details the following month.
When a special meeting was held last week, it was enough to sway 84 per cent of the board to let UNBC on board, well above the 75 per cent threshold.
"We did a very good job of demonstrating our commitment to our soccer programs through commitment to hiring full-time coaches to enhancing the scholarship program for soccer, as well as providing our soccer student athletes and coaches with some more room in the budget to travel by air instead of always by bus," Kerswell said when asked what put UNBC over the top.
Concern about travel to Prince George was high on Canada West minds, Kerswell said.
"For many of the member institutions, it will be a good day worth of traveling to get to Prince George but at the end of the day I think the association realized that the northern B.C. market is ripe for something like this," he said.
"We've got amazing fan support and we have got a good product that we put on and I think athletes are going to really enjoy coming to play here."
UNBC have probationary member status for two years. The Timberwolves basketball and soccer teams can still vie for national CIS championships but UNBC will not have voting privileges and cannot hold office in the Canada West for that time.
"At the end of the probationary period, there will be another vote and if we're successful we get to shed that probationary status and away we go as a full member," Kerswell said.
With the addition of UNBC, Canada West members will stand at 16, three of them probationary. There are four conferences in the CIS.
The UNBC Timberwolves basketball and soccer teams currently compete in the Pacific Western Athletic Association, formerly the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association, made up of 14 schools. The Timberwolves have won one men's national college basketball championship and a men's and a women's provincial college basketball title.
