Sandy Creek's Za'Keya Charles to play — and be filmed — as Tuskegee launches its first-ever soccer teams

Za'Keya Charles has already played college soccer at two schools. Now the Fairburn native is betting her junior season on a program that has never played a single game — because she wants to be the one who starts it.

Charles, a 2024 graduate of Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone where she served as team captain, is a junior forward on Tuskegee University's inaugural women's soccer team. The historically Black university in Alabama is launching both men's and women's soccer programs for the first time in its 145-year history, competing in NCAA Division II. The women's team plays its first-ever game on August 29 against Edward Waters, according to fayette-news.net.

Charles's path to this moment was anything but direct. She spent her freshman season at Grambling State and her sophomore year at Auburn University at Montgomery before transferring to Tuskegee, according to reporting by the Atlanta Voice and fayette-news.net. That makes her one of the most experienced players on a roster being built largely from scratch.

The teams' entire first season is being documented in a series called "Unveiling History." Filming began as student-athletes arrived on campus and will follow the Golden Tigers through their preparation and play, covering both athletics and academics, as well as the coaches and university leaders behind the launch. A distributor for the series has not yet been announced, according to fayette-news.net.

Charles is one of seven Georgia players on the women's roster, part of a deliberate — and in some cases organic — recruiting push by both head coaches. Women's coach Emanuel Stephens, who previously led the women's program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, said the Georgia-heavy roster wasn't entirely by design.

I don't think it was strategic. It just happened that way.— Emanuel Stephens, Tuskegee women's soccer head coach

Men's coach Matthew Tarpley, who most recently served as recruiting coordinator at Faulkner University, was more deliberate, traveling throughout Georgia to scout talent at showcases after accepting the job. Together, the two coaches assembled a combined 24 players with Georgia ties across both programs, according to the Atlanta Voice.

Atlanta is the spot for high school soccer. Tons of really talented, athletic, skilled players in that Atlanta area.— Matthew Tarpley, Tuskegee men's soccer head coach

For many recruits across both rosters, the chance to be part of something genuinely new drove their decision. Men's player Tripp Bailey, a Heritage High School graduate from Conyers who was among the first to commit, put it plainly.

The main reason I wanted to come here was to be a part of the first year of the team and make history and be a part of something. It's cool to see HBCUs get into soccer. A new wave is going to start. I'm glad we're the first one, but other schools are going to start picking up on it too for the culture.— Tripp Bailey, Tuskegee men's soccer player

With the cameras rolling and the opener weeks away, Charles — who captained her high school team and has now played at three college programs — is positioned as one of the experienced voices in a locker room full of players writing a first chapter together.

Why it matters — A Fayette County athlete is at the center of a genuine first in HBCU athletics — and the whole thing is being filmed — giving local readers a front-row seat to a program being built from nothing.

Reported by thecitizen.com, fayette-news.net, fcboe.org, theatlantavoice.com, tuskegee.edu