U of A swimming program in need of a $6 million endowment to potentially be re-instated
"It's tricky, because you don't want to sacrifice the integrity of the program," Willsey says.
RICH LAM On November 15, the University of Alberta Swim Team Alumni Society (UASTAS) held a town hall meeting online with about 190 attendees. The scope of this meeting was to inform and establish an action plan regarding the decision to end the U of A Swimming program after this current season.
Sabrina Willsey, the current vice president of UASTAS, spoke to The Gateway about this decision. Willsey swam for the program from 2015 to 2019 as a walk-on. She was a captain for her last two years. The Gateway also received comment from U of A Media Relations.
“While we’ve had a fantastic swim program, the program is not financially viable at this time. The university will support current students in assessing their swim, athletics, and academic options for next year. We are very proud of and grateful for all who have represented and supported Golden Bears and Pandas swimming in competition since 1948,” the comment read.
“The university would like to note no other athletics programs operations were impacted by the decision and the U of A is not planning to end any other athletics programs.”
So far, UASTAS has met with athletics and the alumni society board. Alongside the board they have engaged in creating an action plan to align with answers and solutions provided by athletics. The board only has eight members. After meeting with a multitude of community members, their first course of action is setting up different smaller committees to “help manage some tasks and accomplish action items.”
“Nobody told us anything. [There’s] a lot of work for eight people who really didn’t expect this to be going on this year,” Willsey said.
“We need a $6 million endowment,” Willsey says
Willsey said that they have put out a call for financial pledges to “gain leveraging power over the university.” The university responded with a need for a $6 million endowment.
“[This was] the first time that it had been brought up, as far as we knew. We need a $6 million endowment. Once we come with pledges for that, then they’ll talk to us. It would be really nice to get it as soon as possible so [that] current athletes don’t have to retire or move to a different school,” Willsey said.
Internally, UASTAS has set a deadline to review pledges on January 31, 2025, with hopes of receiving larger sponsors and donors rather than small pledges.
A major concern in regard to this decision is the options for current athletes in the program. UASTAS has five options that are viable for students: retiring, transferring, swimming club or masters, setting up a varsity style program, or reinstating the club.
“If everything else goes wrong, we can try and set up some varsity style program, for them to continue with. It would [probably] be a partnership with a local team, [but] there’d still be a lot of planning and a lot going on to get that set up,” Willsey said.
“This decision was very abrupt and [had] no concentration,” Willsey says
Currently the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club donates about $100,000 worth of pool space, coaching expenses, and more, while the UASTAS contributes $40,000. The rest is covered by the U of A. Keyano stepped up in 2020 when a similar situation was happening with the swimming program. Willsey said that collaborating with Keyano has “been going very well.”
This decision not only affects current swimmers, but Keyano too, since they had already budgeted for the club prior. No one received any indication of the decision.
“This decision was very abrupt and [had] no concentration. It was even abrupt on athletics. We were told one of the people had only received three days’ notice, and it’s [hard] for them to come up with an action plan,” Willsey said.
“It’s tricky because you don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the program,” Willsey says
According to Willsey, the town hall meeting had a lot of emotions and upset attendees. The meeting was dedicated to inform as much as possible about the situation and compile a list of suggestions, solutions, and create an ongoing action plan.
“A lot of [suggestions were] how can we cut costs to keep this program, and that doesn’t necessarily fix the problem. It’s tricky because you don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the program, just to keep it alive,” Willsey said.
Something that was brought up was how current athletes are supported by UASTAS. Willsey reassured attendees that there is an “open door communication system” in place, without distracting the athletes.
Paul Birmingham, the head coach of the swimming program, told the attendees of the meeting that the performance of the team has a “really good trajectory.” There have been several U Sport and Canada West medalists, as well as many Academic All Canadians in recent years.
UASTAS also asked attendees to write letters and reach out to the Minister of Advanced Education, Minister of Sports, the provincial government, and the U of A Board of Governors. With such a small board, they are relying on connections within the swimming community, Willsey said.
