Jacksonville, FL – In HBCU Soccer, nothing is extra thrilling than traditional soccer video games. The Bayou Traditional, Magic Metropolis Traditional, and Florida Traditional have been staples in black tradition for many years. There are much more traditional video games that appeal to 1000’s to their host metropolis for a weekend of festivities. They usually deliver not solely soccer video games, however a number of ancillary occasions that appeal to followers from all walks of life. Jacksonville, FL, would be the website of the Unity Traditional, which debuts on September 13 and options the Virginia Union College Panthers (VUU) and the Edward Waters College Tigers (EWU).
That is an early-season interconference rivalry between the 2 HBCU Division II conferences, the SIAC and the CIAA. The introductory press convention was held within the Edward Waters gymnasium on April 25, with a number of key figures in attendance.
The Unity Traditional is the brainchild of EWU Trustee the Rev. Dr. RB Holmes Jr. Holmes has additionally served as a trustee at Florida A&M, one other HBCU. His imaginative and prescient to deliver the traditional to Jacksonville comes from an even bigger imaginative and prescient.
“There are nice women and men who’ve instructed us it’s in our arms to make this a greater place and a greater nation, and most significantly to avoid wasting and strengthen HBCUs,” Holmes mentioned. “We’re bringing collectively for the primary time within the historical past of this metropolis, a traditional that’s talking on to the importance of HBCUs. We’ve two of the best universities on planet Earth, the Virginia Union College and Edward Waters College. My brothers and sisters, that is going to be magic.”
On the identical day that Travis Hunter was showing in Jacksonville for the primary time since being drafted because the No.2 general decide, the press convention featured the athletic administrators and head coaches of each groups in addition to Dr. A. Zachary Faison, President and CEO of Edward Waters College.
“Let me simply say this, what an awe-inspiring day this isn’t only for Edward Waters College and Virginia Union College, however for all who perceive and actually respect the wonder, brilliance, and boundless legacy of black greater training excellence,” Faison mentioned. “I’m completely elated to be right here at present as we formally announce the inaugural Unity Soccer Traditional.”
Dr. Linda Groomes, chairwoman of the Unity Traditional committee, laid out the main points of the occasions surrounding the traditional recreation. Groomes expressed the truth that whereas it’s a soccer contest on the middle of the weekend, it should emphasize the approaching collectively of the HBCUs and the neighborhood.
“Regardless that we can have a pleasant competitors between two of the nation’s oldest traditionally black universities specifically Virginia Union, which was based in 1865, and Jacksonville’s personal Edward Waters College present in 1866, when the rubber meets the street, we’re striving and sustaining unity. We face a time of uncertainty at our academic establishments and admittedly each side of our lives,” Groomes mentioned. “All one should do is to take a look at the information and see the specter of federal funding being taken away from giant universities like Princeton and Harvard. All our HBCUs, if not already, could quickly really feel the impact of the lack of funding.”
“One of many different goals of this traditional is to encourage tutorial excellence by awarding scholarships from the proceeds of this occasion to deserving on the two universities,” she mentioned. “We consider when one pupil hurts as a result of she or he can not pay their tuition all college students harm when one pupil can’t afford to purchase books, it impacts all college students.”
The Unity Traditional recreation is ready for Saturday. Sept. 13 with a 4:00 PM kickoff on the Glover Group Discipline and Stadium on the campus of EWU. There’s a president’s reception, a kickoff luncheon, a battle of the bands, a pregame tailgate, and a gospel live performance all related to the inaugural unity traditional.
HBCU Gameday is without doubt one of the inaugural companions of the Unity Traditional.
