Woodsmen Team

The Colby Woodsmen Team has been competing in the Northeast since the late 1940s. We are proud to honor the centuries-old traditions of logging in Maine. Some of our tools, like peaveys, were invented here and are still manufactured in Maine to this day! Our coach, David Smith, has been with the team for nearly 40 years, and has helped the team evolve and grow through the decades. The team has a total of six championship wins at the Northeast Spring Meet, and continues to compete at a high level—our Jack and Jill team won our home meet last spring and tied for first at UNH this fall.

The Woodsmen Team is a welcoming community that provides opportunities to learn new skills to anyone who makes their way to the field. We are leaders in the Northeast timbersports circuit, with an annual home meet that has run consistently for decades. We are also engaged in the local community: we perform multiple demonstrations at fairs and other events each year, and we recently conducted a food drive fundraiser as a collaboration with the Colby Outing Club to support Waterville food banks during the November lapse in SNAP benefits.

We are fundraising both for our short-term expenses—covering the cost of our competitions, travel, equipment, and coach’s salary—and in order to secure our long-term future. We are working towards creating an endowment fund to eventually cover annual expenses, especially to ensure funding for a coach’s salary in perpetuity. Between the obscurity of the sport and the specialized equipment involved, having an expert to guide us is essential.

People generally have not participated in timber sports before college. As a club sport, we welcome all levels of participation—we have members who come to the field every weekday and others who are more casual participants. We invite all students, no matter their athletic ability or background, to be part of the team. Additionally, logging activities are a particularly Maine pursuit, actively reinforcing our tie to the state’s heritage and character. We ask for your support so we can continue the rich tradition of timber sports for the next generation of Colby students