Wilberforce University has added a gymnastics program, which will be only the third gymnastics team at an HBCU in the nation.
The team is also just the fourth college team in Ohio. They’ll compete this January.
The university was founded in 1865 and is now one of over 100 historically Black colleges and universities.
Derrin Moore, the founder of Brown Girls Do Gymnastics, said her organization advocated for the team’s creation.
“They get to be at an HBCU and they get to do the sport that they love and that they've been working on their whole life, to be, collegiate gymnast,” Moore said. “I know that there are plenty of girls who have wanted to go to HBCUs forever. It's a part of their family legacy.”
The group won over Fisk in 2022, creating the first HBCU gymnastics team.
In 2023, they implemented a program at Talladega College in Alabama. Funding deficits caused that program to be cut this year.
Many of the team’s gymnasts and the coach transferred to compete at Wilberforce.
“We now see from what happened at Talladega that we cannot, sit back and just, open these programs and not stick with them throughout it,” Moore said. “We are in it knee deep because we absolutely have to make sure this program succeeds.”
They’ve helped create a booster club and fundraiser for Wilberforce’s team. That extra money will help pay for things like gear, travel and scholarships.
“We want to be able to help these schools start programs,” Moore said. “We know it's going to take some time, but our goal is to be able to fund these programs fully.
The organization also holds an annual conference and offers youth camps.
Those programs connect gymnasts and parents with judges, nutritionists, ER doctors and mentors.
Wilberforce hosted the organization’s Isla Camp for youth gymnastics in June. Campers ages six to 13 trained at the Dayton Academy of Gymnastics.