
The UBC Thunderbirds' Lacrosse Sport Club has come a long way since its inception in the fall of 2012. What started with a couple of friends, three-foot long lacrosse sticks and a ball tossed around Totem Park Residence now has 25 players on its roster and is one of nine clubs selected to kick off the UBC Athletics' new athletic stream — the competitive club.
Despite field lacrosse being one of Canada’s oldest sports, many people are unaware that a UBC lacrosse team even exists. But things may be about to change. The team, due an early season start, will be the first in the new competitive status division and the first non-varsity team able to don the Thunderbird name.
Kyle Robinson, New Westminister native and head coach of the team, has been playing lacrosse most of his life. Being from around here, UBC should have been an obvious pick for his post-secondary education. The lack of a strong and competitive lacrosse team at UBC means that he went to school at McGill. The East Coast boasts a more established and prominent league called the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) which is comprised of 13 teams from Ontario and Quebec. He ended up playing four years in that league.
“One of the major driving forces for not going to UBC was that there was no lacrosse,” said Robinson, who is also the club’s competitive director. “I’ve grown up playing lacrosse here, the club level [and] the high school level — everything but at the university level."
After he graduated from McGill in 2013, Robinson came to UBC where the lacrosse club was still a fledgling team trying to grow. The previous year, Dan Millar with his friends Sam Neuharth and David Hammond, recruited friends to their new lacrosse club — albeit with free beer. Months later, they had their club constituted by the AMS.