Charlotte, N.C. – The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Affiliation (CIAA), a historic convention made up of Traditionally Black Schools and Universities (HBCUs), has introduced the introduction of Girls’s Flag Soccer at seven of its HBCU member establishments. This thrilling new sport will launch in Spring 2025, additional enhancing alternatives for feminine student-athletes at HBCUs.
The collaborating universities are:
Bluefield State College
Bowie State College
Claflin College
Fayetteville State College
Johnson C. Smith College
Virginia Union College
Winston-Salem State College
As an HBCU-centric athletic convention, the CIAA stays dedicated to fostering progress and inclusion in collegiate sports activities. The introduction of Girls’s Flag Soccer aligns with the NCAA’s recognition of the game as an rising competitors and opens new doorways for feminine athletes at HBCUs to excel on the nationwide stage.
“We’re extremely excited for the continued progress of the CIAA as we add girls’s flag soccer to the various sports activities that our historic convention presents to our student-athletes” stated CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams-Parker. “The chance to not solely broaden, however giving younger girls the chance to be on the forefront of the enlargement and supply one other phenomenal aggressive alternative is one we’re proud to supply and we look ahead to seeing these girls take the sphere and start a brand new period. We’re additionally extremely grateful for the NFL’s function in offering all the mandatory help to assist develop this sport all through the nation in any respect ranges.”
Girls’s Flag Soccer will function groups of 25 gamers, with video games performed in a 7-on-7 format on an 80×40 yard discipline. The NFL, a key supporter of flag soccer nationwide, has been instrumental in selling the game, particularly amongst feminine athletes.
The CIAA is the primary HBCU convention and one in every of solely a handful on the Division II degree so as to add the game.
By means of partnerships with the NFL and RCX Sports activities, the CIAA will proceed its mission of enriching the athletic packages at HBCUs and offering new, inclusive sports activities alternatives for its college students.
“The RCX Sports activities Basis is proud to award a grant to the CIAA Convention to assist launch girls’s flag soccer in spring 2025 as a part of our mission of ‘Sports activities for All,’” stated RCX Sports activities CEO Izell Reese. “This grant ensures that CIAA feminine pupil athletes have the chance to excel in a rising sport, fostering an inclusive atmosphere the place all athletes can thrive.”
The CIAA eagerly anticipates an exhilarating inaugural season of Girls’s Flag Soccer, marking one other milestone within the wealthy legacy of HBCU athletics.
