Coaching While Black

I have played basketball since the first grade which puts me around six-years-old; I’m twenty now. In that time I have played for a total of 2 female head coaches. Being at American University is the first time I have played for a coaching staff that is entirely female with that being said I love them to death, but none of them look like me. Black female coaches are hard to find at any level and even harder to find at the Division 1 level. The Players Tribune is a an online publication where athletes and coaches can write articles or do an interview on video of their own story. These feature stories are sometimes feel good stories, but in most cases they are about breaking boundaries and letting the public and other athletes know that their experiences deserve to be heard and understood. The latest Players Tribune feature story focuses on Dawn Staley the head coach of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team. Coach Staley has broken boundaries as a black female head coach and creating a path for all black women and girls that want to follow in her footsteps. Staley’s story is an excellent example of how basketball can bring communities together. She talks about how South Carolina is basically an all white campus which is not remotely a reflection of the team. She talks about how her games have brought people to campus that had never been on campus before because of the racism that history of the campus and the State brings.

The Players Tribune is a platform that proves that we are more than athletes and hopefully this story with bring some awareness to the fact that Dawn Staley is pioneer and legend in the making and we need more women like her as head coaches. Another video including five black female head coaches was released today and they sit around and talk about their experiences as black women in leadership positions.