A healthy physical activity charges us. The options remain diverse yet the sports arena allows us a lot of vitality with absorbing action. Situated in Nashville, Tennessee, the athletic teams of Vanderbilt University are the Vanderbilt Commodores which could contribute some amusement in your life. There are 16 varsity teams under the university (10 women's teams and 6 men's teams). Out of these, 14 teams play in the Southeastern Conference.

Vanderbilt is the only private school of the conference and is a charter member of the Southeastern Conference. The school remains the smallest in the conference with around 6,400 undergraduates. There are lesser teams in Vanderbilt compared to their rivals. Owing to this, the school has failed to enjoy the national prominence embraced by schools such as the University of Kentucky or University of Florida. Vanderbilt's strongest sports have been men's and women's basketball and men's and women's tennis. Bowling programs and women's lacrosse are the sports that are also partially categorized in the strongest sports. Along with these, men's baseball also experience moderate national success. The first half of the 20th century proved the football team as very successful which carried on its struggle with the beginning of the 21st century. The Vanderbilt football team secured a winning season in 2008-09 winning its first bowl game after half a century.

Vanderbilt Commodores administer intercollegiate athletics as a unit of the university's Division of Student Life and not separately from other student organizations. The Chancellor Gordon Gee declared a need to reform college athletics in September 2003 with focus on student half of student-athletes. The intercollegiate athletic teams of Vanderbilt are labeled the Commodores inspired by the name given to Cornelius Vanderbilt who gained much material success through shipping. The Vanderbilt athletic teams are also referred to as "Dores" or cheered as "Go Dores!"

The mid-to-late nineteenth century saw the Navy using the term commodore. Until the Civil War, commodore was the top rank in the US Navy. A naval officer from the 1880s is depicted as Vanderbilt's mascot. He includes cutlass, chops and nineteenth-century naval regalia. Black and gold are the school colors though the reasons for selecting these colors remain elusive. It is generally held that black and orange were the original colors of the school as advised by a Princeton Judge. Others are of the opinion that the school colors have been developed as a tribute to Commodore Vanderbilt's legacy. Gold signifies his money while black denotes the magnate's seizure of coal.

When the earliest football squad in the school was formed in 1890, the members suddenly started wearing black and gold. The University of Tennessee remains the main rival of Vanderbilt Commodores. However, the basketball team of the University of Kentucky also persists as their budding rival. Even more so, Ole Miss also hold their ground against Vanderbilt as the two schools contest against each other as SEC cross-division "permanent opponents" annually.

Scores of football traditions comprise the Vanderbilt. The school's athletic history is honored by the "Corridor of Captains"; the football locker room forms the "Commodore Creed"; cheerleaders, fans comprise the "Star Walk" and the marching band is catered to by the "Star V". In 1924, a fight song for Vanderbilt was composed called "Dynamite". A Student Francis Craig was the writer and the single matches the spirit and vigor with which Vanderbilt plays. The battle cry of the Commodores has been implemented by the students as "Who ya wit?" Normally it is a single person who shouts this and then the rest of the people yell in reply "V! U!".

In the recent years, Vanderbilt's athletic programs have been very successful. The 2006-07 season has been especially recorded as the best. The school's seven teams have been ranked in the Top 25 of their respective sports at one stage.

The traditions of the school's athletic teams continue to carry an upward trend. Do not lose Vanderbilt Commodores Tickets!