Bluefield State College in West Virginia has added a dozen new sports teams for the 2021-2022 school year, including women’s and men’s swimming & diving.
Bluefield State is a historically black college established in 1895. The school competes at the Division II level in the NCAA, and previously sponsored just 10 varsity sports. But Bluefield State announced this week that it would be adding 12 new sports to its athletic department, more than doubling its varsity sports offerings.
The new sports will include swimming & diving for both women and men, as well as football, which returns to the athletic department for the first time since 1980. Here’s the full list of new sports:
- Women’s swimming
- Men’s swimming
- Football
- Women’s soccer
- Women’s golf
- Women’s acrobatics and tumbling
- Women’s bowling
- Women’s indoor track and field
- Women’s outdoor track and field
- Men’s indoor track and field
- Men’s outdoor track and field
- Wrestling
The school says it is already hiring coaches for the new sports, and will “target good student athletes with the goal of being competitive immediately.”
The school expects the new sports to help bring about 250 new students to campus, more than doubling a current student-athlete population that currently sits at about 150.
“Making this commitment to these young people also means making a commitment to doing all the things that go with a full-bore athletics program: new and improved facilities, upgraded training, residences and meals,” said interim athletic director Derrick Price. “It also means working with the Provost and Deans so that our athletes have a tremendous academic experience as well.”
Bluefield State competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).