Racial stigmas in coaching
Kori Walters (Junior, Clackamas OR): “I don’t think you should be in a position to coach young people if you don’t understand the impact you can have on said ‘young people,’ especially from a race point. I think a lot of the coaches that I had, thought they were doing something good, something productive by saying ‘you’re so strong, great job’ but they don’t understand the damage it has to never hear anything else, to think that’s all you amount to. How am I ever supposed to believe I can take a player on 1v1 in an attacking stance, when I’m just strong? I think a lot of coaches throughout America have these damaging effects on young Black women and are not even aware of it because sadly, a lot of White people in America don’t understand how much education is necessary to not have these negative effects. In their minds it’s not malicious, so if they slip up, ‘oh well, my bad.’ Additionally, most Black girls in America are often not in an environment where they feel safe or comfortable mentioning that as an issue. They don’t care about the long-lasting, negative impact that it has on us. You can be so confident about your play until you realize at the collegiate level that you’re lacking technical skills, accuracy, vision of the field. Not because you didn’t work hard at it, but because coaches throughout your career have not given you the credit or opportunity to work with you on developing those skills.”
Olivia Cobb (Freshman, Greensboro NC): “I feel like since that’s what I was labeled as it was all that I thought that I was. I didn’t think I had any technical abilities; I didn’t think I was anything better than a strong, fast player that was supposed to run and get the ball. I also feel like developmentally they [her coaches] didn’t even focus as much on technical work with me because they were just like ‘oh she can run fast and she can body people off the ball, we don’t have to worry about how well she can execute a pass or a shot.’”
Tionna Taylor (Sophomore, Gilbert AZ/Seattle WA): “I think there are still those coaches out there that have stereotyped what you’re supposed to be based on how you look. You are supposed to be physical. I feel like those physical stereotypes are very much placed on black women in sports, and I think it has pushed into the coaching aspect. You are supposed to be built and strong—inside and out. So, it was always like, ‘why are you getting pushed off the ball?’ ‘Why aren’t you winning this, or winning that?’ I’d say that I’m pretty average sized and not really the biggest person, but my dad is 6’6” and 280 pounds. So, they would say things like, ‘oh, you’re kinda small for a black girl,’ or ‘why aren’t you big like him?’ I think those coaches take away from the technical ability or even downplay how much you can do as a well-rounded player. I would call myself a fairly technical player, and they would be like, ‘okay well that makes up for the fact that you don’t want to expand on what you’re supposed to be,’ which is the physicality aspect. Crystal Dunn for example, is one of the few black players that is represented in the national team, but people say stuff like, ‘oh she’s technical for a black girl, so that’s why she is on the national team.’ But I do think some coaches really do want to move away from that, to where they just see players as players, which is how it’s supposed to be.”
‘The Black girl up top’
Marley Thompson (Junior, Toronto Canada): “Honestly, I never used to look into it because it’s describing her, but then I started to notice that they never say, ‘that White girl,’ it’s just ‘that Black girl.’ Why can’t you describe her the same way you do White girls? You could use her jersey number, anything really. They don’t have a problem using numbers for other players. I guess I get why they do it, but then again, I don’t because they use numbers for every other player on the field except for us. I didn’t really become aware of this until I came to an HBCU though.
Alessia Skinner (Junior, Toronto Canada): “It’s just annoying. They have no problem saying the [jersey] number [for White girls] so why do you have to point out that she’s Black? There’s just no point to that. You could even say their name if you knew their name by looking at the roster. You could use their number that you can physically see. You don’t need to point out someone’s skin color because that’s not what matters. On a soccer team you pick the number that you want [on your jersey], that’s how you want to be recognized on the field. You don’t need to bring up ethnicity. I just don’t understand why that needs to be brought up.”
Kori: “I think it’s something that a lot of people don’t even notice—even as the minorities. We don’t really notice until, like the situation I’m in now [at an HBCU], because majority of the girls are Black. But then again with jersey number identifiers, how come White girls are [attributed to] number 7, number 11, number 29, but we’re just the Black girls. I feel like it’s disrespectful in a way because when you play a sport at any level, much less at the collegiate level, much less division one, your number means a lot. It’s how you’re identified throughout the whole sport. So, when they can’t even use that, they can’t even take the time to look at your number because they can’t see past your skin, it’s disrespectful. It’s hurtful because nobody wants to be disrespected. I’ve earned my spot in this position on this field, so how come I’m not getting the same respect because of my skin tone?”
Kyla Sands (Sophomore, Alta Loma CA): “I think that’s annoying. Why do you have to say it to the black girl when you can say her number just like anyone else. You wouldn’t say, ‘oh the white girl,’ because then they’d be like, ‘oh well there’s so many white girls,’ but that’s the problem. Why are there so many white girls and not so many black girls. So, it’s irritating because like I know that’s what people have said about me, ‘oh the black girl in the back,’ and the same with my sisters, ‘oh the black girls in the back.’ ‘They’re gonna be fast because they’re black.’ Okay, we get it, we’re black.”
Representation of professional Black female athletes
Maya Thompson (Sophomore, Toronto Canada): “[seeing how black female athletes like Sha’Carri Richardson (versus someone like Michael Phelps) are treated in the media] I think it sucks. They’re both professional athletes so why does she have to get so much backlash and disregard to all the good things that she’s done. I feel like it’s gonna take a long time for that to go away. People are always gonna associate her as ‘oh look there goes the weed girl,’ or something like that, ‘she’s probably smoking.’ I just think it’s super unfair. It kinda just makes me think that if they’re gonna treat people like that—Black professional and elite level athletes—who have earned so many people’s respect, it kinda makes me think and makes me nervous to mess up. I don’t want to be portrayed as my mistakes.
Women are very judged when they show any sort of emotion and frustration [Serena Williams outburst] it’s automatically labeled as the woman being emotional. The ‘angry Black woman’ is just the lowest of the low that you can steep to. I don’t know why people think that Black women are so angry, but I can say that it’s not just what happens in that moment. It’s all the things that we (Black women) had to endure before—it’s like a domino effect. All the things we had gone through in the past, so when something happens and we react and then they’re like ‘oh that’s just an angry Black woman,’ like all those times we were holding back those emotions we weren’t labeled as a ‘calm Black woman’ then. But when there’s an issue and we voice how we feel it’s like ‘you’re mad’ it’s very negative, it’s never ‘she’s passionate.’”
Brynn Walker (Junior, Wichita KS): “I would say seriously the only person was Sydney Leroux when she was on the 2012 Olympic team. I remember everybody was praising Alex Morgan and I instantly went to Sydney Leroux because she was the minority on the team. Her mom is White, and her dad is Black, but even so, she still doesn’t look like me. You know? Outside of soccer in the media and movies, it’s always light-skinned women that are depicted. It’s very rare that you see a brown, dark-skinned woman with a main role. I think representation is very important, so on the one hand it’s like yes she is that ‘one,’ but she still doesn’t look like me. Flash forward 7-8 years after that to now, Crystal Dunn is a big-time player and at 20 years old that’s the first player I’ve ever seen on the national team that actually looks like me, a dark-skinned woman. I think that’s really important for little girls growing up. I really believe that representation is everything. With more Black women in sports and in real-world roles like Vice President, I think we will see a bigger outcome of little girls being like ‘oh I can be like her’ by seeing Black women in positions of power. I think that’s really important for the younger generation. For me, I’m past that stage and I’m older, but now I just want to be someone that a little girl can look up to.”
Tionna: “I didn’t have much [to look up to]. I think there’s just not a lot of black female athletes that are put out there for black girls to aspire to be. As a goalkeeper growing up, it was always, ‘Hope Solo, Hope Solo.’ But now in the media, she’s gotten her second DUI, second neglect of her kids. She had a fight with her nephew when she was younger. I feel like with those types of things, her being a white woman who was very successful in her soccer career, these very serious things in society are just kinda pushed to the side. When reading articles, they always say, ‘oh yeah she got arrested for a DUI with two of her kids in the car and resisted arrest, but she won the World Cup and the Olympics.’ Like what’s more important? What defines you more as a person. The media downplays things on who they want it to, and then they let it define others. I think it’s very selective. Like I said with people to aspire to be, personally I don’t like Hope Solo for the person that she is. I can’t aspire to be someone just for her performance, like you have to look at somebody as a well-rounded person and I don’t think she is. But I also believe that there are Black female athletes out there that weren’t portrayed on the media for me to aspire to be. I never grew up with Crystal Dunn as a household name. I mean obviously you see her on the field, and now you hear about the US women’s national team in general more, because they advocate for themselves very well. I don’t think black female athletes are put out there for young black girls to look up to.”
Caiah Smith (Junior, Atlanta GA): “The US women’s national team never had like any crazy amounts of Black players. So, whenever I saw a Black girl on that team, like Sydney Leroux or Crystal Dunn, I would think, ‘oh I have to watch them, I have to see what they’re doing, I have to see what their work ethic is like,’ just because I could see that they made it. It was kind of disheartening as a kid because I know there’s a bunch of Black women out there who are playing soccer just as well as Sydney and Crystal, but you didn’t see as many of them. It always sucked growing up seeing all the [replica] jerseys and everyone was like, ‘oh I want to be Alex Morgan, I want to be Abby Wambach.’ But I never really saw anyone like me who’s doing the sport that I love at that level. I didn’t know if it was because they weren’t good enough or just because that’s the way the team was and they weren’t gonna change it, or they didn’t have the resources to there—because a lot of times that’s the case. There’s a lot more that are getting those opportunities to play on the US national team now, like Catarina Macario, Sophia Smith, Lynn Williams. But the fact that I have to sit here and think about who all there is whereas with the white players you don’t even have to think you can just list them off by memory. That sucks. But it’s cool that there’s at least more than there were.”
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