As Red Deer College transitions to university status, the school has decided a rebrand and renaming of the athletic programs is necessary.
The school will begin the rebrand with several steps, including focus groups that will provide feedback from community members.
Once the feedback is received, Red Deer University will work to establish the new brand and name for the athletics program. A common team name will be used at the beginning of the 2021-22 athletic season.
“As RDC undertakes the exciting process of rebranding to become Red Deer University, we began to look at the names of our Kings and Queens athletic teams. While these names have served us well, this is the ideal time for us to evolve and adopt names that are not gender-based,” said president Peter Nunoda.
“Red Deer University Athletics needs a new team name that is common for men’s teams, women’s teams and mixed teams. This forward-thinking approach will reflect the values of the institution and RDU Athletics.”
The school will hold the first focus group on Feb. 11. Interested individuals can register for the session at rdc.ab.ca/communitysession. There is also an online survey that opened on Wednesday and will be available until Feb. 14.
Community members can complete the survey at rdc.ab.ca/athleticsurvey.
The Kings and Queens name has been worn by the program in Red Deer for 56 years. The storied history of those teams includes 25 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national titles, 171 Alberta Colleges Athletic Association team and individual titles.