Howard University is forming an ice skating team per a report by U.S. Figure Skating. The team was founded by Maya James and Cheyenne Walker, two Howard students who have been involved in the sport since they were children.
The duo made the choice of attending Howard instead of other institutions that already had Ice Skating programs. But Walker & James set out to form a Ice Skating team and become the first HBCU to field the sport.
Walker & James didn't know each other before they connected to create a team. James came across an article about Walker, a fellow skater and Howard student, which inspired her to reach out on Instagram. She asked if Walker wanted to work together and officially establish a figure skating club.
Walker said of the James's inquiry, “When Maya reached out to me, I was so excited because I was speaking to other girls from Figure Skating in Harlem who go to Howard and we would always speak about how we wish there was skating, but we didn't know how to go about it. So, when Maya was like, ‘Yeah, I want to start this,’ I was on board for sure because it's definitely something that I wanted to see on our campus community.”
Walker & James collaborted perfectly to make the Ice Skating team a reality. Walker, a political science major, created the constitution for the team and both worked to establish a budget and schedule for the team.
They then worekd to get the club approved by Howard as well as U.S. Figure Skating. The process wasn't easy, as they wre tasked to convince the institution to fund the club and embrace Ice Skating which isn't a Division I sport. However, their effort worked as the program was officially established in Summer 2023.
After the club was established, Walker & James dedicated themselves to recruiting other talented student skaters. Their first practice took place on October 7th, and the team plans to make their debut in a competition at the University of Delaware in February 2024.
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