United College Golf Tournament Tees Up New Legacy: Supporting Warriors Women’s Basketball Team
For fifteen years, United College has been hosting a successful summer golf tournament – originally at a course near Bolton, and more recently at the beautiful Springfield Country Club, just outside of Guelph.
The tournament was established by a group of dedicated alumni looking for a fun way to get together each summer and who wanted to raise money for student-related projects at their college. Over the years, the tournament has provided funds for such things as a music room, a skating rink, and for programming such as GreenHouse, the College’s outstanding social innovation incubator.
“The golf tournament has always been great way to get together with old friends from undergraduate days, and to meet some of today’s undergrads and learn what’s on their minds. We wouldn’t miss it for the world” say John and Marcia Capell, who do not play in the tournament but love to volunteer at it.
Going forward, United College will be using the proceeds from the tournament to support the Warriors Women’s Basketball team (WBB) at the University of Waterloo.
The College has had a unique relationship with WBB since 2018 when it established the United College Athletic Excellence Awards. The College also created a “Booster Club” to support the team at home games, with many of the student-athletes choosing to live at the College in their first year.
Principal Rick Myers saw these steps as a new opportunity to contribute to the broader campus while at the same time adding to college life.
“Varsity sports programmess can be a great vehicle for community building,” he says, “and the idea of our College ‘adopting’ a particular team had a lot of potential in that respect.”
In recent years, Warriors Athletics has encouraged its varsity teams to engage in fundraising to support their programming.
After the WBB attempted to start a golf tournament to raise funds on their own, Principal Myers believed it was the perfect opportunity for a partnership between the college and the WBB.
He quietly floated this idea with the alumni who were instrumental in launching the College’s golf tournament and the reaction was universally enthusiastic.
“I just love the idea that the College is raising money to support others, rather than itself,” says Bill Watson, a friend of the college. “And I think our golfers will naturally like the idea of supporting a women’s varsity team.”
Myers says that the proceeds from the tournament will cover the College’s ongoing funding of the Athletic Excellence Awards and should also generate an additional ten to fifteen thousand dollars for the team each year. WBB will be able to use these funds to participate nin high-profile exhibition tournaments and experiences or for any other special project that will elevate the program and make it an attractive choice for top recruits.
“This kind of special project funding will have a huge impact on our program,” says Head Coach Jess Roque. “Our partnership with United College just gets stronger with each year and we are deeply grateful for it.”