Amy Sandler, Ph.D. Department of Women’s Studies University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Niki Quasney, PE TeacherDoris French Elementary School

Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada

Bridging Differences: Race, Sexuality, Religion, and Gender in Athletics

***A Special Thank You to Pat Griffin of It Takes a Team! for generously contributing to this presentation***

ITAT is an education and advocacy project

Its goal is to make sports a safe and respectful place for all, with a focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT)

ITAT develops and disseminates educational materials and information to sport administrators, coaches, teachers, athletes and parents

ITAT is an initiative of the Women’s Sports Foundation (www.womenssportsfoundation.org)

A dynamic web site: www.ItTakesATeam.org

An educational kit for sport administrators, coaches, athletes and parents

A monthly e-letter with news and resources

Workshops for athletic staff, students and parents

Relationships Team/student productivity Team/classroom climate Leadership and modeling opportunities

Legal requirements Professional and ethical responsibilities

Stereotype them: “Those people…”

Minimize/Ignore them: “Students are students”

Be defensive about them: “I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body”

Eliminate them: “I don’t allow ‘them’ on my team”

Be open to learning

Understand and validate differences and seek common ground

Act to create better communications and relationships, eliminate prejudice and discrimination

◦ GOALS:

To identify how differences in race, gender, religion and sexuality can affect team relationships and performance, and physical education environments

To identify ways to learn, understand and act to create better communications and relationships, eliminate prejudice and discrimination

How do race, sexuality, gender, religion come up in

my professional experience?

How do my personal experiences and relationships prepare me to address race, gender, sexuality and religion issues in athletics?

What kind of professional preparation have I had to help me address race, gender, sexuality and religion issues in athletics?

What would I like to learn about how race, gender, sexuality and religion affect the athletic climate?

Common Ground

Finding the Sweet Spot

CONTEXTFamily BackgroundSociocultural ConditionsCurrent ExperiencesCareer Decisions and Life Planning

COREPersonal AttributesPersonal CharacteristicsPersonal Identity

Model of Multiple Dimensions of Identity

Policy Education and Awareness Example

Be Proactive, Avoid Reactive Crisis Management Mode

Parents, Students/Athletes, Teachers/Coaches

Department and School Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policies

Team Specific Policies (PDAs,Team Prayer, Language Use, Hotel Room Assignments, Inter-Group Conflict)

Diversity Training and Discussion with Team, Coaches, Physical Education Colleagues

Team Orientation Activities: Make Policies and Expectations Clear to All

Team Building Activities◦ Getting to Know You Activities and Games◦ Group Problem Solving Activities and Games◦ Work/Team Social Activities

What Athletic Administrators Say and Do

What the Teachers/Coaches Say and Do

What the Team Captains Say and Do

What Teachers/Coaches Say and Do!!!

Gather in a small group

Choose one or two scenarios you would like to discuss

Use the questions with the scenarios to guide your discussion

Respect and affirm differences in race, gender, religion, sexuality

Learn about different perspectives Identify common interests and values

What policies do your school and athletic department have?

What team specific policies do you have? What team orientation activities do you

plan? What team building activities do you lead? How do you set an example for your

team? How do you prepare team captains to be

examples?

“When the score is tied and there are two seconds left in the game, you don’t care if your teammate is Black or White, Jew or Christian, gay or straight.You just want her to make the shot.”

- Martina Navratilova