As a high school student-athlete looking at prospective colleges, there are many decisions to be made: finding the best fit for your academic studies and finding the best fit for your athletic career. For a Black gymnast, there is even more to consider. Do you attend a HBCU or go to a school that offers your sport. Why should you have to make that choice? Can’t you have both? Unfortunately, there are no gymnastics programs at HBCUs.

Edit: As of January 14, 2023, we have 2 HBCUs that have a gymnastics programs; Fisk University (2022) and Talladega College (2023).

Gymnasts at high levels often train between 20-30 hours per week. They start gymnastics at a young age and dedicate their time, and train to perfect a craft they hope will help secure a spot on an NCAA gymnastics team. 104 (out of 106) HBCUs are automatically scratched off that list. 

Athletes like Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas have done an outstanding job of representing Brown Girls in gymnastics. Their success opened doors for young Black girls to participate in a sport that had low representation of women who look like us at elite levels. Today we see how much of a significant impact young Black athletes are making in the sport. Each week in the world of collegiate gymnastics, Black athletes achieve top scores and show their dominance. They should be able to perform at that level at their family's alma mater.

Join Brown Girls Do Gymnastics in promoting this proposal by:

• signing this petition bringing awareness to establishing gymnastics in HBCUs.
• following our social media platforms for updates: https://www.instagram.com/browngirlsdogymnastics/
• Visit the HBCU Gymnastics Alliance website and fill out the form for updates and ways to help. www.hbcugymnasticsalliance.org