The Thunderbirds

UBC fields 26 sports teams — 13 men’s, and 13 women’s. The majority of UBC teams compete in the Canada West conference of Canada’s nationwide U Sports Association. This includes basketball, cross country, ice hockey, rowing, rugby, soccer, swimming, volleyball, women’s field hockey and rugby sevens. Both our men’s and our women’s swimming teams have been the defending national champions since 2020.

Six Thunderbirds teams compete against American schools in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as the only Canadian affiliate member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. These include our outdoor track and field, golf, men’s baseball and women’s softball teams. Both of our track and field teams and our women’s golf team won the title in 2019.

The Thunderbird nickname actually started at The Ubyssey with a contest asking students to submit and then vote on possible names for our teams — before then, our teams were only known as Varsity or the Blue and Gold. Seagulls won the contest, but The Ubyssey and the Pep Club decided against it, and Thunderbirds was chosen as the official name at a meeting between the two on January 31, 1934. A mythic and powerful creature indigenous to the West Coast, the Thunderbird was officially sanctioned by Chief William Scow of the Kwakwaka’wakw people at homecoming 1948 and was re-dedicated by their descendants at the 1993 Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.

So, want to catch a game? UBC students are eligible to purchase a student season pass, which includes admission to all UBC home games, including large discounts on our five major annual events: Homecoming (football), the Winter Classic (hockey), Courtside (basketball), Thunderstruck (volleyball) and the Legends Cup (rugby). Single event tickets are also available. Go Thunderbirds, go UBC! U