Athletics/Intramurals

Scott R. Leykam, director

The mission of the University’s athletics programs has four features:

• To educate the minds, hearts, and spirits of student-athletes, in such areas as fairness, discipline, teamwork, competitiveness, and sacrifice;
• To advance the University toward preeminence among its peers by fielding teams and student-athletes that are talented and competitive at the NCAA Division I level;
• To provide additional non-curricular “teaching moments” for all students;
• To formulate and perpetuate programs that reflect the University as a whole, and which symbolize the University’s mission.

Since the University’s founding over a century ago, sport has been both a central means of education for the student body and one of the many ways that the University is bound together as a community.

The University’s inter-collegiate and intramural athletics programs have allowed many thousands of students a form of education respected since the time of the ancient Greeks. On playing fields and courts, University students have focused their physical, mental, and emotional efforts; learned the benefit of discipline and teamwork; channeled competitiveness, creativity, and energy toward goals both individual and common; and realized one aspect of the University’s attempt to teach them what it means to be a wholly educated person, alert to knowledge of the mind, body, and spirit.

The University’s athletics programs have also served as an important means of binding the University community together, in common support of the student-athletes representing the University, and in common support of the athletics staff charged with caring for and teaching the students on their teams. Coaches, trainers, and administrators in the athletics department are considered teachers of direct or indirect influence. Through their conversation, conduct, and personal and professional activities, athletics personnel are colleagues in the University’s effort to educate mind, heart, and spirit.

The University’s participation at the NCAA Division I level is characterized by adhering to the NCAA’s standards of academic quality and degree completion and by striving for regional and national prominence. The University is committed to be an institution that abides by NCAA rules and regulations as well as those of the West Coast Conference (WCC).

Programs: The University of Portland sponsors 15 varsity sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's rowing, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field and women's volleyball.

The recreational services program offers a variety of organized sports and recreational activities for students, faculty, and staff. Participants can choose from two skill levels in many sports including flag football, basketball, volleyball, futsal, outdoor soccer, tennis, badminton, and table tennis. Additional sports include bocce, ultimate frisbee, softball, golf, and more. Outdoor Pursuits activities expand each year and include biking, camping, snow skiing, hiking, rock climbing, and snowshoeing. Fitness classes include cross fit, zumba, total body fitness, scuba diving, yoga, spin, and more. Students can rent bikes, camping equipment, and snowshoes on a short-term basis. For more information, go to http://www.up.edu/recservices/ or call (503) 943-8755.