The University of the Sunshine Coast is gearing up to welcome almost 2,000 athletes involved in 17 sports when it helps stage the 2016 Northern University Games from 3-7 July.

Tertiary students from Queensland and northern NSW will vie for honours in baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, football, futsal, golf, handball, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, squash, surfing, tennis, tenpin bowling, touch, ultimate frisbee and volleyball at USC’s Sippy Downs campus and at sporting venues across the Coast.

The multi-sport tournament, which will be run by Australian University Sport (AUS), will be hosted by USC in partnership with Visit Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast Council.

Many of the events will serve as qualifiers for the 2016 Australian University Games to be held in Perth in September.

An official Games launch was held at USC today, with Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson, USC academic and Olympic kayaker Dr Gayle Mayes and AUS general manager Tony Jermyn outlining the significance of the event for the students involved and for the region.

Students from USC, Queensland University of Technology, University of Southern Queensland and Griffith University then took part in a hard-fought Launch Cup mixed basketball tournament, which was won by Griffith.

USC Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill said hosting the Northern University Games would provide USC students with fantastic opportunities to participate as athletes, officials or volunteers.

“It will give USC the chance to showcase its world-class sports facilities in a way that provides for some great sporting and social outcomes for all involved,” he said.

“There are also career benefits, as participating in events such as these has been found to develop attributes that improve graduate employability.”

— Terry Walsh