Mounties soccer player creates Black Student-Athletes' Union
(Feb. 15, 2024) - Xavier Tshimp believes it’s better to give than to receive.
This fall when the Mount Allison University Mounties men’s soccer player was named the recipient of the school’s Jules Alie Bursary – a financial award created to support black student-athletes on the soccer team - he was inspired. That inspiration resulted in the establishment of the Black Student-Athletes’ Union.
“Just receiving that bursary, it sparked something in me. If I’m awarded this privilege, I might as well use it to my advantage and give back to the community,” said Tshimp, who will graduate from Mount Allison this spring with a degree in Environmental Studies and a dual minor in Philosophy and Geography. “It was a community engagement scholarship for black student athletes so I figured I would take up a little more community engagement initiatives.”
Tshimp has played four seasons with the Mounties, starting back in the 2019-20 season. Following COVID’s cancellation of the 2020-21 campaign, the wing back continued roaming the pitch for three more years.
Already the vice-president of Mount Allison’s Black Student Union, Tshimp felt there had to be a way to bridge the gap between black student-athletes and the rest of Mount Allison’s student body.
“Student-athletes, our extracurriculars are typically sports. It’s where we spend most of our time, whereas the rest of the student body, their extracurriculars are societies or intramurals,” said Tshimp. “Sometimes we’re seen as being outside of the pack, but this initiative brings us into the conversation.”
Earlier in the school year, Tshimp conducted a research project in which he issued a survey to Mount Allison’s black student-athlete body that assessed their experiences on a predominantly white campus.
With that fresh in his mind, the Black Student-Athletes’ Union was born.
“The main reason for the Black Student-Athletes’ Union is we aim to uplift and empower Mount Allison’s black student-athletes to be transformative leaders in and out of athletics,” he explained. “It’s to give voice to the people and acknowledge that we’re stronger together, and to change the narrative that black student-athletes are respectable, distinguished members of the community and that we’re involved in different engagements of the university.”
The group’s first meeting was held Jan. 24 with Tshimp saying in a follow-up email that 15 student-athletes attended, and that five of those have signed on to be part of the executive.
He also takes pride in the encouragement and well-wishes that has come from not just those who wear a Mounties uniform.
“There’s been tremendous support from the students and a lot of different members of the faculty,” he added. “Everyone I have spoken to about this initiative say: ‘This is a great idea, let’s make this happen.’”
Next steps include officially instating their executives with the student union, hosting a Black History Month basketball game and beginning to engage alumni in hopes of creating a sustainable support network and community.
Tshimp envisions a time in the not-so-distant future where alumni return as guest speakers and share their experiences as black student-athletes at Mount Allison.
“I think it would be huge to get some alumni engagement,” he said. “Having that sentiment of belonging, brotherhood, family is something I would love to promote with this group.”
Maybe one day, that alumni guest speaker will be Tshimp himself.
“In my fifth year, I have the ability to look back and see things in retrospect,” he stated. “I can see that some things could have gone smoother and if there was a black student-athlete group prior I would have felt more included and had additional opportunities to speak up. . . That motivated me to support my peers and the people who are coming after me.”
Tshimp also hopes that the idea doesn’t stay at just Mount Allison. While he has seen similar groups at schools in the United States, he would encourage other black post-secondary athletes in schools across the AUS and Canada to look into creating their own Black Student-Athletes’ Union.
“That’s what we’re hoping for. It is powerful movement, and it garners support from everyone who hears about it,” he said proudly. “Just getting the word out would be ideal and if we could reach different universities with this same kind of idea of getting black student-athletes’ unions I think it would be a powerful narrative. . . Especially in an Atlantic context where the universities are predominantly white.”