The women's basketball team of UFSM is a bronze medalist in the 2026 Brazilian University Games (JUBs). The team traveled to Goiania, in the state of Goias, to represent the University and Rio Grande do Sul in the second division of the national competition and secured a place on the podium with a victory of 55 to 52 against UNINASSAU of Bahia, last Saturday (29).
The girls from Federal de Santa Maria avenged their opponents, as in their debut in the tournament, on August 25th, they had lost by a score of 51 to 39. In the initial phase, despite the defeat against the Bahian team, two victories guaranteed qualification to the knockout stage: 51 to 39 against UFRN of Rio Grande do Norte, and 45 to 38 against UNINASSAU of Paraiba. The Gauchos went to the 3rd place match due to the defeat of 55 to 36 against UNIRV of Goias in the semifinals.
The coach of the team was Thiago Maixner, a UFSM student of Physical Education, who is in charge of a high-performance team for the first time in his career. In his view, the experience in the 2026 JUBs "shows that hard work, effort, and love are very well rewarded". He highlights: "the pride of these girls is something that doesn't fit in my chest. What remains, above all, is the experience and the learnings, both for my professional and personal life".
Winning record
The women's basketball team of UFSM qualified for the JUBs after winning in June, in Santa Maria, the Gaucho University Games (JUGs). The team is the largest champion in the history of the modality in the university setting of Rio Grande do Sul, having won the trophy for the fourth time this year. The other titles were between 2022 and 2024.
The University saw the trophy escape its hands in 2025, when it finished as vice-champion of the competition, which was held in Pelotas. In 2023, in addition to the state title, the team was also champion of the 3rd division of the JUBs, an unprecedented feat and, until now, the only one for a collective modality represented by Federal de Santa Maria. The achievement also ensured that Rio Grande do Sul would rise to the second national division.
Bianca Revers, a postgraduate student in the Postgraduate Program in Education in Sciences at UFSM, is the team's point guard since the first JUGs title, and in 2026, she also held the position of captain of the team. She reveals that this made her feel a greater responsibility in Goiânia, in the sense of helping her colleagues to trust themselves and believe that they could go far. "So, for me, this bronze medal represents a mixture of emotions and individual and collective achievements," she confessed.
Positive journey in Goiás.
According to the player, the team had a good overall performance throughout the tournament. In addition to the technical quality of the squad, the team's unity and ability to overcome challenges made it easier to adapt to the playing style against each rival and made it simpler to focus on the goal of at least reaching the podium. In the university squad's last participation in 2024, the final result was 4th place in the 2nd division.
"I believe that each athlete experiences good and bad moments within the sport they practice, and we often carry all these experiences, difficulties, and achievements with us. Each of us knew what we had faced to get there, and together, we knew that we deserved that achievement. I believe that it was precisely this will, this unity, and this certainty that we could achieve it that made us win the medal. It was the confirmation of everything we had built together during the championship and that we deserved each victory," said the team captain.
Coach Thiago admits that the campaign was somewhat surprising. Due to the scarcity of female basketball teams in Rio Grande do Sul, the squad had a good amount of training, but few "real" matches under the command of the coach, as he himself recalls the famous saying: "training is training, game is game."
"The evaluation is the best possible. The way the team improved its behavior on the court from the first to the last match of the competition was extraordinary. The understanding of what should be done and which path to take was something that impressed me greatly, given the few matches we had until the JUBs. I don't want to create expectations, but I can't deny that they did much more than they could, considering all the adversities we encountered along the way to 3rd place," said the student of Physical Education.
With the end of the JUBs, the female basketball team at UFSM does not have any other confirmed commitments for the rest of the season. To find out the news, follow the team onInstagram.
Text: Pedro Pereira, journalist
Photos: Luiza Mielke, public relations and press assistant of Basquete UFSM