A football player from the University of Northern Colorado has been selected to participate in a college football players’ association.
Junior Kassidy Woods, who transferred to UNC from Washington State, was named to the College Football Players Association Board of Directors this week. The association works with student-athletes to ensure that past, present and future players are represented.
It was founded as a way to organize college football players and help contribute to decision-making. The association wants to see the sport become safer and better, support players’ lives beyond the pitch and help players advocate for change in the sport, according to its website.
The management committee is made up of current and former players. The committee works alongside the association’s board of directors to determine goals, guide decision-making and connect with other stakeholders nationwide.
Before transferring to UNC, Woods was part of the group organized by Pac-12 players called WeAreUnited. The group called for better safety in sport – not just when it comes to gambling but, at the time, COVID-19 protocols – and fairness in race, economics and academics .
The movement itself was short-lived, but it led to a larger movement called WeWantToPlay and the founding of the College Football Players Association.
Woods tweeted that he was excited to join the organization and that it was necessary to have associations to represent college athletes.
Prior to his appointment, Woods shared a statement calling for the creation of a players’ association that would represent all athletes, regardless of sport. He praised his fellow players for their commitment to their sports and education, but called the system exploitative and oppressive. Woods named several top athletes who died by suicide this year, saying the system impacts various aspects of their health.
A letter to college athletes… pic.twitter.com/fiiIsapiwr
— KassidyWoods (@Kassidy7Woods) May 25, 2022
“If I do or say nothing, I betray the college athletic community and become part of the problem, not the solution,” Woods wrote. “If we want to change the system, then we have to demand the change we want to see. No one is going to save us or help us, only us.
“Let’s put aside race, gender, gender, social and economic class and all that society uses to divide us and focus on what unites us. We are all human and collegiate athletes. Let us come together in unconditional love to control our own narrative, our own destiny and, most importantly, our own community.
Woods returns to UNC this fall after earning honorable mention All-Big Sky in his first season with the Bears. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology this spring and is continuing his studies in philosophy.
