Intercollegiate athletics at Fresno Pacific University has been an important part of the campus and community life for over five decades. As the only accredited Christian university in central California, Fresno Pacific University has emerged as a leading west coast university known for academic excellence, innovative programming and spiritual vitality. Fresno Pacific offers outstanding academic programs integrated with ethical and spiritual development through traditional bachelor's and master's degrees, adult degree completion degrees, certificate and credential programs. Founded on Christ, FPU strives for excellence in all areas of students' lives including intercollegiate athletics.
Fresno Pacific offers opportunities to participate in a variety of intercollegiate sports, designed to stimulate the physical, social and spiritual development of our student-athletes through elite levels of athletic competition. Sunbird athletics is one of the most successful members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and is a charter member of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). The GSAC has become one of the premier NAIA conferences in the country. FPU fields 16 teams in total (8 men's and 8 women's) including: men's and women's basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and water polo, women's volleyball and men's baseball.
In addition to nationally recognized athletic success, the Sunbirds are also committed to the NAIA's Champions of Character initiative. In an effort to make a positive impact outside the competitive arena of collegiate sport, Fresno Pacific University athletics is pleased to be a national leader in this important endeavor. This innovative program is an educational outreach initiative which emphasizes the tenets of character and integrity not only for our Sunbird student-athletes but for youth, coaches and parents in our communities. Based on the five core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship, the NAIA Champions of Character program believes that sport, when done correctly, can promote ethical values which are necessary to sustain our families, institutions, communities and our society. The mere participation in sport does not teach character. Rather, it's coaches and parents through the proper emphases of sport who teach character.
The NAIA's Champions of Character program was developed in response to the growing deterioration of behavioral and character standards in sport in our country. Introduced in 2000 to the over 300 member institutions in the NAIA, hundreds of thousands of people, from youth sport participants to high school and college age student-athletes, to coaches, community leaders and parents, have already been positively affected through the NAIA's Champions of Character program; its goal is to change the culture of sport in America.
Fresno Pacific University's athletic programs enjoy strong support through the Sunbird Association. This organization is made up of interested individuals and businesses that help provide scholarships, cover travel expenses and purchase athletic and training equipment. Association members are an important part of the Sunbird team not only through their financial contributions, but through their enthusiastic attendance at sporting events and overall generosity.
In recent years, Sunbird athletics has enjoyed outstanding competitive success as evidenced by recent "top five" finishes in the prestigious NACDA Director's Cup, the award that signifies overall athletic success on the national scale. Numerous Sunbird student-athletes have garnered All-America honors as well as All-America Scholar-Athlete awards.
FPU teams are regularly in contention for national championships. Recent accomplishments include four national championships in a row for the women's volleyball team, back-to-back national championships in men's swimming, a national championship for both men's & women's tennis, and a national runner-up finish in women's swimming.