Fisk hosts historic gymnastics meet: 6 African American women coaches

Sisterhood. It brought six Black female college gymnastics coaches to Nashville for Monday’s MLK Day Invitational.

It allowed these women to support each other — despite their collegiate allegiances — from job opportunities to peer advising. And just as important, it’s allowing Fisk coach Corrinne Tarver and her peers to tutor a new generation of gymnasts who look like them.

"Even before we became coaches," Tarver said, "we were friends."

So excuse coaches and gymnasts Monday afternoon at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gymnasium if they celebrate competitors as much as each other. This is not a typical gymnastics meet.

The MLK Day Invitational features an all-Black women cast of coaches: Tarver, along with her gymnastics peers at Brown (Brittany Harris), Iowa State (Ashley Miles Greig), Rutgers (Umme Salim-Beasley), Talladega College (Aja Sims-Fletcher) and William & Mary (Kelsey Hinton).

On Sunday, the coaches are scheduled to speak on a panel at Fisk about the importance of diversity and inclusion in college gymnastics.

Last year, Fisk became the first HBCU women’s gymnastics program in the nation (Talladega is now the second).

Monday’s event, which starts at 3 p.m., is a testament to how much the sport continues to evolve. After decades of meager participation by Black girls and young women — often less than 5% — the visibility of Black gymnasts has swelled, from Simone Biles, the most decorated American gymnast in history, to Konner McClain, Shilese Jones and Jordan Chiles becoming the first Black women to sweep the U.S. Gymnastics Championships (2022).

The effort continued with UCLA gymnast Nya Reed, who in December dazzled during a floor performance which paid homage to historically Black colleges and universities, as well as her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta — one of the National Pan-Hellenic Council's nine Black Greek organizations.

Then there's All-American gymnasts Morgan Price, Liberty Mora, Zyia Coleman and the rest of Fisk’s squad, ready to energize crowds with every somersault, cartwheel, roundoff and scissors leap.

“An event like this helps college gymnastics as a whole because it brings a lot of attention to the sport on a national level,” said Tarver, the first African American member of the University of Georgia's gymnastics team, as well as the first African-American to win the NCAA's All-Around Gymnastics Championship.

"It's not a rivalry. It's an opportunity to just go out there, have a good time and show people what great college gymnastics is."

Fisk’s inaugural gymnastics season ended with three All-Americans and two bronze medalists at nationals. This year, the roster increased to 24 with athletes from all over the county.

Price from the Nashville area. Breyana Daniels from Pennsylvania and Sophia Pratt from New York. Hailey Clark from Florida. Madyson Baucom from North Carolina. Kiana Session from Arizona. Aliyah Reed-Hammon from Wisconsin.

Tickets for the MLK Invitational can be found at www.fiskathletics.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Fisk gymnastics to host meet with African American coaches