Saint Augustine's University Students Get Serious about Cycling
When a former Olympian sprinter lands on your college campus, no one is surprised that an innovation in the sporting arena could emerge. Former sprinter, Brandon Valentine-Parris, has worked with faculty and coaches to spearhead the new Saint Augustine’s University cycling team, the first such team on a HBCU campus to be registered with USA Cycling.
Before making Saint Augustine’s his home campus, Valentine-Parris competed in the 400-Meter sprint at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He also had spent some time on a track scholarship at another HBCU, Claflin University, in South Carolina.
This new cycling initiative grew out of a conversation between Valentine-Parris and a faculty member Dr, Mark Janas. A few months later, faculty, student and Coach Umar Muhammad had developed a program being coordinated through St-Aug’s School of Business, Management and Technology.
Photo Courtesy of Brandon Valentine-Parris
If you know anything about HBCU campuses and their athletic programs, you know that these schools have produced career athletes in every major league sport in the US. HBCU alumni are national and international champions, Hall of Famers and definitely Olympians. You also only have to look at the rivalries in the MEAC and SWAC to know that HBCUs are competitive. Rivalries are fierce and you don’t need to look further than Twitter or Instagram to understand the smack talk that flies between the students, alumni and community of supporters around these schools. That means, we predict, it will be only a matter of time before other HBCUs follow suit and launch their own Cycling programs. You can count on it!
Campus student leaders are getting involved and this founding team includes six men and three women. Student Government President, Aaliyah “Lele” Williams, now co-captains the cycling team with Valentine-Parris. According to Williams, cycling became a go-to activity for her when senior year basketball season vanished due to COVID.
One of the things that we love about HBCUs is that when they innovate on their campuses, they not only teach about the state of the current sport, they also pay homage to the historical or current role of Black participants across the sport. This article - The Long Road of Black Americans in Cycling - featuring the historic launch of the cycling program at Saint Augustine’s University, positions their program in line with the accomplishments of other barrier breakers in Cycling. They position their club as the next rung in the evolution of broader inclusion in the sport.