VANCOUVER - For the first time, on Saturday, October 2, 2021, the UBC Thunderbirds Softball team hosted their innaugural home game against Simon Fraser University at the newly named Collings Field at Nobel Park. Established in 2010, the UBC Softball program has been without a true home field on which to practice and play.
Players were traveling to train and play in South Surrey for the last 10 years of the program, a challenge that Vice President Students, Ainsley Carry was determined to solve.
"As soon as I heard that we had student-athletes driving over 50 km to train and compete, I knew we had to make this project a priority and focus on providing an equitable solution for our female student-athletes. Our focus on gender equity covers scholarships, operations and facilities, and this project was a keystone in us supporting softball'
Thanks to a generous naming gift from the Collings Stevens Family Foundation and significant support from alumni, parents and community members, the UBC Softball program has a new home on campus. UBC Athletics and Recreation set an ambitious goal to fundraise for the project which cost over $520,000 to renovate and contributed funds to match a portion of the donor funds, to ensure the project would be built in time for when sports returned to campus.
"Softball is home! We are so pleased to have a campus field dedicated to our softball athletes to train and compete just down the road from where they will receive a world-class education. Our donors and alumni have gone the extra mile to make this field a reality, and we especially appreciate our own soccer alumnus, Al Collings, and his wife Hilary Stevens, for stepping up to name the field in honour of Gord Collings - our true hero to our softball athletes". -
Kavie Toor, Managing Director of Athletics & Recreation.
The atmosphere at the Collings Field Dedication Ceremony was focused on building and grounding a community. This was made apparent by the crowd of family and friends who gathered to support Coach
Gord Collings and cheer on their 'Birds.
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We are so proud to be able to create a lasting legacy for brother Gord's life-long dedication to education and women's softball throughout BC and, most significantly, to the UBC Thunderbirds Softball program. We hope this new dedicated home field inspires many talented student-athletes to attend UBC and be a part of this program. We also hope that our gift to help create Collings Field will inspire other UBC Alumni to give back to UBC to support current and future student-athletes." - Al Collings
After missing two full seasons due to Covid-19 restrictions, the team is back in action exactly where they should be, on campus. Thanks to the commitment from the university and a fundraising campaign spearheaded by volunteers from the softball community, the project was completed in June 2021.
"We are so excited that we have our own home field on campus. Our athletes are now able to play in front of our UBC supporters and student-athletes from other UBC teams. Not only will our student-athletes no longer need to travel an hour each way to our home field - they won't be missing as much class time and will have access to Athletic trainers and support staff prior to games. This new field provides a feeling of ownership and pride for our athletes and we are so grateful to everyone who contributed to make this happen for our team." - Gord Collings
