Fisk University Set To Make History Again By Hosting Gymnastics Meet With All Black Women Coaches

The Fisk University gymnastics team made history last year when they became the first-ever gymnastics team at a historically Black college or university.

The groundbreaking team is looking to make history again when the program kicks off its second competition season at the start of 2024. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year, Fisk University Lady Bulldogs will compete in a gymnastics meet with five other teams whose head coaches are all Black women, the school shared in a press release.

“It is going to be historic… we’re going to embrace and celebrate what we have and show how we need more,” Fisk coach Corrinne Tarver told News Channel 5. 

Fisk’s Athletic Director Valencia Jordan said the one event “could have the potential just to have a ripple effect that a lot of other institutions that may have thought about it, now I think they’ll think about it a little bit more.” 

Jordan believes the Fisk gymnasts are helping pave the way for other Black girls who want to participate in the sport. “To know that they are a part of the group that was some of the first, I think it’s something that they’ll hold in their hearts forever,” she said.

Fisk will compete against Brown University, Iowa State University, Rutgers University, Talladega College, and William & Mary University. Over the summer, Talladega College in Alabama became the second HBCU to launch a gymnastics team.

The event will be held at Vanderbilt University’s Memorial Gym on January 15, 2024 and will be an official part of Nashville’s Martin Luther King, Jr. week of celebration next year.