Courtesy of Howard College Athletics
WASHINGTON – Within the upcoming months, student-athletes from Washington DC-based HBCU Howard College can be bringing the Journey Channel to life and getting their passports stamped constantly, beginning with the volleyball program.
With its distinctive educational and athletic achievements, Howard can be worldwide on three continents over the subsequent six months.
The volleyball group departs for Africa this week and can go to Botswana and Zimbabwe (Might 16-27). The Bison volleyball program went to Africa in 2018, the primary Division I volleyball group to see the continent.
Later this summer time, the lads’s basketball group will embark on a journey of historic significance, touring to Brazil (August 2 to 14). The 2-time Mid-Japanese Athletic Convention (MEAC) Match champions will spend time in Sao Paolo, Salvador and Rio, the location of the 2016 Olympics. This journey holds particular which means for the HBCU program, coinciding with the 2 hundredth anniversary of US/Brazil relations, marking a big milestone within the historical past of each nations.
In October, the Howard College males’s golf group will compete at historic St. Andrew’s (Scotland), the oldest golf course on the earth. The match will air on the Golf Channel, sponsored by NBC/Common.
“These excursions are a useful alternative for our student-athletes to develop their horizons,” stated Kery Davis, Director of Athletics at Howard College. “By experiencing new cultures and interesting with communities overseas, they are going to grow to be well-rounded people who’re outfitted to develop into leaders of their respective profession fields upon commencement.”
The volleyball group will embark on a 20-hour flight throughout the Atlantic Ocean for its journey.
The tour will see the HBCU squad take part in a global match the place they are going to showcase their abilities and compete in opposition to groups from all through the African continent. However it isn’t simply concerning the competitors. The group may even have the chance to make a significant impression within the native communities of Botswana and Zimbabwe, leaving a long-lasting impression and fostering worldwide goodwill.
“I really feel that this journey is important to a well-rounded instructional expertise whereas at Howard,” Howard volleyball head coach Shaun Kupferberg stated. “There may be solely a lot you’ll be able to be taught within the classroom. These concepts must discover a helpful place in the true world and this journey offers our college students the flexibility to make that connection. Sports activities permits us this chance to work together and be taught from our hosts after we journey overseas. The worldwide perspective that this journey brings is invaluable as our student-athletes lead the subsequent technology of their respective fields of examine.
The Howard College gamers will go to colleges and conduct scholar volleyball camps whereas participating in group service initiatives. They goal to encourage and empower younger people by sport. Along with taking part in in opposition to elite worldwide competitors and sightseeing, every Howard volleyball, males’s basketball and males’s golf student-athlete will take part in numerous group service alternatives, take pleasure in strong cultural experiences and develop international management abilities.
“That is my first journey overseas with the group and I’m excited to get to bond with them for 10 days,” stated Howard tremendous sophomore Rya McKinnon (Hoover, Ala.), the two-time MEAC Participant of the Yr. “I’m additionally excited to see the completely different tradition. This isn’t solely a possibility for us to play but in addition to provide again by working with college students and internet hosting clinics.”
By visiting different international locations, the HBCU student-athletes are gaining one thing extra valuable than cash, which is typically misplaced in as we speak’s society of immediate gratification. They broaden their horizons outdoors the classroom by being uncovered to completely different languages, customs and traditions, selling cross-cultural understanding and international consciousness. Additionally they be taught concerning the historical past and artwork of the locations they go to, gaining a wealthy and rewarding expertise.
With the ability to take pleasure in these possibilities to create lifetime reminiscences requires plenty of assist from completely different individuals, one thing that was not misplaced on sophomore Maddie Siegel (Fishers, Ind.) as she packed her baggage for her first go to in her life to Africa.
“I’m extraordinarily grateful to see so many individuals come collectively to donate and assist our group,” Siegel stated. “It’s really a blessing to have this chance, but it surely wouldn’t be attainable with out the village of supporters behind us from alums to donors to mates to household to followers and all people who helps girls’s athletics. Their perception in our group is one thing we maintain near our coronary heart and are eternally grateful for.”
The journeys may even give every program additional apply and bonding time, which is much more essential with the switch portal shuffling rosters like by no means earlier than in HBCU sports activities. Every Bison student-athlete will return from its abroad journey a modified particular person, which is able to set them up for fulfillment in life.
“I’m hoping that we will make an impression on the volleyball group there,” McKinnon stated. “I’m positive that we’ll be taught simply as a lot and I hope that we’re pleased with what we accomplish whereas we’re there. Additionally, I simply need to have a enjoyable journey.”
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