Inside Women’s Soccer’s Workout for BLM Initiative: Part I

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After Brown women's soccer released its statement on Black Lives Matter on June 4, rising seniors Kayla Thompson and Sydney Cummings wanted to extend that impact.

"We had just released our statement, and we wanted to pair that with action and make a meaningful difference using our platform as athletes," Thompson said. "We were asking people around us and higher ups to do more than just share their words so we wanted to do the same."

With that, Thompson along with Cummings and the rest of the Bears helped implement the Workout for BLM initiative – an 8-minute, 46-second workout in honor of George Floyd and other black lives lost with funds raised benefitting the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"It was really about doing something that we thought everybody could do," Cummigs said "A lot of times you see things on social media and you feel a certain way because you can't donate a ton of money towards a GoFundMe or can't make it out to a protest. We felt like it was a good way for people to make an impact, be involved, and use their platform in a way where they could create change where it didn't take too much. All you had to do was be willing to learn and educate yourself."

Standing in solidarity against system racism, the team sought to use its platform to affect change.

"Being at an Ivy League institution in particular our team is an exception to what teams typically look like in that we have a lot of diversity," Thompson said. "We wanted to spread this out to college athletes across the country, and many of the teams that joined were predominantly white. There was a huge educational piece and a way to take action as an ally."

Statement from Brown Women's Soccer#BLM pic.twitter.com/GuUDsv0JHT
— BrownWSoccer (@Brown_WSoccer) June 4, 2020

"Words are great, and we thought it was really important to release a statement because of how diverse our team is and we were having discussions about it," Cummings said. "We wanted to start those discussions within Brown and the Ivy League in general, but we also know how important it is to put your money where your mouth is. We can say everything we want, but what are we actually doing about it?"

Following the team's June 4 statement, the Bears created their GoFundMe on June 7 beginning a two-week campaign to raise funds for the NAACP LDF and BLM.

Brown University Athletics

Inside Women’s Soccer’s Workout for BLM Initiative: Part I

Players Mentioned

Sydney Cummings

Kayla Thompson

Related Videos