U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national
sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences:
Ontario University Athletics (OUA),
Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ),
Canada West (CW), and
Atlantic University Sport (AUS). The equivalent body for organized sports at
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
s in Canada is the
Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Some institutions are members of both bodies for different sports.
History
Formation, CIAU, CIS
The original Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) was founded in 1906 and existed until 1955, composed only of universities from
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
and
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. The semi-national organization, CIAU Central, provided common rules and regulations.
A growth spurt between 1944–55 saw the CIAU Central grow into a large group of nineteen (19) member universities each of which had diverse enrollment, philosophy, and practices both academically and athletically. The result saw the collapse of CIAU Central as there was no forum to evaluate or research policy in order to adjudicate conflicts within the organization
At the same time women's programs were expanding and required organization. In 1923, the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WIAU) was founded to provide athletic competition for female students in Ontario and the Ontario-Quebec Women's Intercollegiate Athletics (O-QWICA) coordinated programs for female students in Ontario and Quebec.
With the collapse of the CIAU Central in the mid-1950s, calls for a new, national governing body for university sport accelerated. Once the
Royal Military College of Canada became a degree granting institution, Major W. J. (Danny) McLeod, athletic director at the RMC directed the establishment of the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) in 1961.
With financial assistance from the
federal government
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
, universities committed themselves to excellence in their sports programs, increased their schedules, and assigned coaches to year round programs to assist the federal government in identifying talent, national training centers, provision of facilities, sport research, and testing, all with an eye on developing international competitors.
Major McLeod ran the CIAU from his office at RMC as the first CIAU Secretary-Treasurer. In the 1960s the CIAU functioned as a voluntary, autonomous, educational sport organization which represented by the various universities from coast to coast.
In 1978, the Canadian Women's Interuniversity Athletic Union (CWIAU), which had formed in 1970, merged with the CIAU; the expanded CIAU reinforced its university focus by adjusting its name to the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union.
In June 2001, the membership of the CIAU voted to change the name and logo of the organization to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
Rebrand and new approach
On October 20, 2016, CIS announced that it would be changing its name to U Sports, accompanied by a new logo and approach to Canadian University sports. The name was chosen in part to better represent Canada as a bilingual nation with a united name as opposed to separate acronyms. The new name and look were also intended to increase the marketability of Canadian University sports.
Athletic funding and eligibility
The U Sports member institutions offer
athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...
s known as Athletic Financial Awards (AFA); subject to minimum academic requirements. The AFA's are capped and may not exceed the value of the tuition and compulsory fees for the student-athlete. Universities also may provide additional non-athletic awards including academic scholarships and needs-based grants for athletes in addition to this cap, provided the additional awards do not include athletic criteria. In 2008–09 one in two U Sports athletes was receiving an athletic scholarship.
Increasingly, U Sports schools are offering booster-support programs, where alumni, parents and/or corporations can donate money to a targeted fund especially designed to off-set a student-athlete's tuition and living costs. The
University of Windsor has an ''Adopt-A-Lancer'' program, for example. U Sports has no regulations regarding how much each school can provide to teams through private support. The Université Laval's
Rouge et Or football team, winner of seven of the last 12
Vanier Cups, is so successful with fund raising that the team trains in
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
during the spring.
Canadian Hockey League teams offer financial support for their graduates – who attend school within two years of playing major junior – who choose to play for a U Sports school after graduating from
major junior hockey based on a model where the league will give scholarships commensurate with the seasons they played in the CHL.
Beginning with the 2024–25 season, students will be able to receive athletic scholarships regardless of the grades they receive in their final year of high school or CEGEP. U Sports institutions will also be required to give a minimum of 45 per cent of their total athletic scholarship units to athletes on men's teams and a minimum of 45 per cent to athletes on women's teams.
Sponsored sports
Sports sanctioned include the following:
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
cross country,
curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...
,
field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
(women),
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
(men),
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
,
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
(women),
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
,
track and field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
, and
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
.
Men's team sports
Men's individual sports
Women's team sports
Women's individual sports
National championships
U Sports hosts national championships for the following sports:
Conferences and members
There are 58 member universities in U Sports. These 58 member universities are currently organized into the four following regional associations. In some of these sports, these associations are sometimes referred to as conferences. These conferences also organize regional championships.
*
Atlantic University Sport (AUS)
*
Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CW)
*
Ontario University Athletics (OUA)
*
Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ)
;Notes
Sponsors
Source:
* Sherrard Kuzz
* Fox 40
* Wilson
* Mikasa Canada
* Gilbert
* Vereburn
* Baron Rings
* Nike
* 88 Coaches Clinics
* OGP Enterprises
See also
*
Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association
*
International University Sports Federation
The International University Sports Federation (FISU; ) is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of ...
*
List of colleges in Canada
*
List of universities in Canada
*
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
*
Universiade
The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...
Notes and references
*
External links
*
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{{U Sports championships
{{U Sports basketball
{{U Sports football
{{U Sports men's ice hockey
{{U Sports women's ice hockey
{{U Sports soccer
{{U Sports volleyball
{{Atlantic University Sport
{{Canada West Universities Athletic Association
{{Ontario University Athletics
{{Quebec Student Sport Federation
1906 establishments in Canada
College and university associations and consortia in Canada
University sports governing bodies in Canada
Sports organizations established in 1906
Student sports governing bodies