Next year, UNBC will be part of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association and its Northern Timberwolves soccer and basketball teams will be competing in the CIS.
While the effort to join the country's highest-level college sports organization is an accomplishment, one that required three separate bids, UNBC president George Iwama is not content to stop at just two sports, and volleyball is at the top of his wish list.
"I've come to realize in the time I've been here that there is a great foundation for volleyball in the high schools and there's also great coaching potential in our community, so we look forward to that," said Iwama.
"We look forward to adding more sports in the future and that's something we should aspire to. It's the right thing to do. It's reflective of the aspirations of the people in our community for this university. Reach for it, go for it. That's our attitude, whether it's academics or teaching or research or our sports. We're a full-fledged university and we should be doing everything."
That would be good news for Prince George high school volleyball players, who are now forced to leave the city if they want to continue playing at the post-secondary level. Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops has three Prince George graduates on the men's volleyball team -- setter Colin Carson (Duchess Park), left-side hitter Spencer Reed (PGSS) and middle blocker Nic Balazs (D. P. Todd). Prince George has been without post-secondary volleyball since the College of New Caledonia cut its Kodiaks intercollegiate programs in March 2008.
Iwama wants UNBC athletics to better reflect our winter climate, and that could increase opportunities for competitive ski racers.
"We have lots of CIS sports potential here, so let's build on our strengths and lean on our community," said Iwama. "Biathlon and cross-country skiing have a great history here and we're a winter campus, and I look forward to working with the community to enable us financially and support-wise to see a growing number of sports wear the Timberwolves uniform."
On Sept. 20, Canada West directors voted 12-2 in favour of adding UNBC as a member school two weeks ago. A 75 per cent majority was required.
The jump to CIS in soccer and basketball from the Pacific Western Athletic Association to Canada West is going to cost UNBC an estimated $300,000, increasing the varsity athletics budget to $1.4 million, but Iwama is convinced that money will be well spent.
"As a university, we're going to be playing in the league we should be," Iwama said. "We're 20 years old and it's high time we moved up to the next level to play with competition we ought to be playing with.
"It's going to cost more and perhaps some of the hesitation in the voting previous to this successful bid has been the cost to other teams to play us. There's competition for talent and competition for coaching when there's another team on the block. We always did have the majority on our side, and there are still a couple schools on the other side of the fence. But they knew if they gave us a 'No' this time, I'd be back next month with another application. As far as those two teams are concerned, we look forward to playing them next year."
