Stiles: Athletics program a win for RCC, Robeson community

LUMBERTON — I’ve been asked many times over the years if I thought Robeson Community College would ever start an athletics program. Having no inside knowledge of its plans, my answer was generally something to the effect of “I could see it happening, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

We don’t have to wait and see any longer.

RCC announced last week plans to start an athletics program for the 2025-26 school year, beginning with teams in baseball and women’s soccer.

Athletics at any post-secondary educational institution provide the school with exposure and bring excitement to the surrounding community. A sense of campus community is often helped by coming together to root for the home team’s success.

Thus, the new program is a major win for RCC.

I can envision a not-too-distant future in which baseball and soccer games are a major event among the RCC community, not unlike what is seen when games take place on the UNC Pembroke campus a few miles to the west. Athletics are a big part of the college experience, something that prospective students are often looking for. Establishing athletics, and subsequent successes in those programs, often drive a boom in even non-athletes’ interest in a school, and obviously there will be an influx of baseball and softball players who will enroll to join those teams.

The program also a win for the Lumberton and Robeson County community. Cheering for the RCC teams (nickname TBD) will be a great way to unite us — something that is certainly needed everywhere nowadays.

The fact it will all happen at the Dr. Raymond B. Pennington Athletic Complex, the crown jewel of the City of Lumberton’s Parks & Recreation Department, should only create even more community involvement.

Regarding that location, plans are for the baseball program to use the existing Field 5 at the Pennington Complex, which will be renovated to fit the collegiate level of baseball; work is set to begin next month, according to RCC Executive Vice President Eric Freeman. The women’s soccer program will compete at the existing multi-use field at the west end of the park, which will also have some “cleanup” work done, Freeman said.

Women’s soccer will begin play in the fall of 2025 and baseball in the spring of 2026. RCC is looking to hire coaches by Sept. 1, Freeman said, giving them nearly a full year to recruit the players who will make up the school’s inaugural teams before they come to campus to begin the fall 2025 semester.

After RCC’s announcement last week, the new most common question I’ve gotten on the topic is whether or not other sports could be added in the future.

“We’re definitely going to add more sports in the future,” Freeman told me Thursday, rather directly. “We’re starting out now with men’s baseball and women’s soccer. We’re going to use those sports to help lay the foundation. … We’re going to use those two sports to break the ice and then from there we’ll see where the community takes us, as to what they feel like the next sport that needs to be offered should be.”

A to-be-established athletic booster club will have some input on the direction the program goes in adding sports, Freeman said.

Here’s my two cents: basketball would be the most obvious natural fit in Robeson County, with successful boys and girls basketball programs in the county at the high school level and a broader interest in North Carolina, often called “The Hoop State.” Robeson County also has a strong softball scene, and a softball team would be a natural compliment to the baseball program.

But for the time being, baseball and women’s soccer will stand alone. While it would make lots of sense to eventually add more sports, being the only team on campus in their respective fall and spring seasons could play out very well for these first two programs, as that exclusivity gives them a chance to shine.

And shine they will, as I fully expect they’ll be fully embraced by so many at RCC, in Lumberton, in Robeson County and even beyond.

It remains to be seen how many wins will come on the field, but just being on the field will be a win of its own.