Leading Athletic Activism and Making People More Cognisant About It

If we look into stats, there has been a long history of athletes actively bringing social changes. This was successfully achieved by raising awareness and fostering dialogues about issues like injustice and inequality in sports. 

There have been instances of racial injustice in the United States. The attention to this issue was drawn by the athletes engaged in some movements against this issue. Leading to this, it was concluded that point spread activism in sports that we need more than success in sports. But then again, athletes too can’t do this on their own, and this is why they require support from all actors in sports. 

Well, there can be some criteria and aspects that can be included along with the physical training of athletes to teach them the importance of activism in sports. Now that we are talking about that let’s look at what aspects should be included and what can be done.

Acknowledge Students with Holistic Identities

• This includes talking with the student-athletes regularly about various identities. Their social, professional, and academic personality and identity. 
• They can try implementing topics related to multiple identities in their team meetings to make the student-athletes mode comfortable about it. 
• Student-athletes should be encouraged to participate in activities outside their particular sports more often. 

Let the Student-athletes Engage More with Activism Topics.

• Try incorporating a specific language that could help address the documents’ activism. 
• Please spare some time in the team meeting to discuss sports activism and related issues. 
• Conduct or organize workshops on activism during team meetings or annual meets. 
• Coordinate with the staff to identify educational programs to help student-athletes know more about point-spread activism. 
• Engage with athlete alumni who may have experience with activism. 
• Coordinate with resources to train the student-athletes with activism more efficiently. 

Infrastructure for Students Athlete Activism

• You can encourage the staff to fund the resources and provide institutional support to the cause. This will lead the student-athletes to participate more actively in the activist curriculum. 
• Just like there are divisions in the budgets, provide a part of your budget to the student athletes’ point spread activist efforts and development of their other activities. 

Provide Resources That Can Spread Awareness About the Activism Among Students

• Gather resources to which student-athletes can maximize their interaction towards activism. 
• Try to provide the information that is readily available to the students, just like a student-athlete handbook or a magazine. 
• Collect all the available resources about activism from every platform. 
• Provide campus resources like cultural centers, offices, departments, etc. 

Asses Student’s Needs When It is Even Remotely Related to Activism

• Work on conducting regular climate surveys. Make them know more about it every day with every lesson and meeting. 
• Add a section on student-athletes needs and requirements for point-spread activism. 
• Join team meetings to discover what you can add to your student awareness programs. 
• Conduct personal meetings with each of them to make sure they are not comfortable speaking up in public. 

Provide Visibility to Even the Minor Efforts of Student-Athletes

• Students love it when they are being acknowledged or appreciated. Make sure you do that, too, even for their most minor effort. 
• Create a short video highlighting their efforts in activism. 
• Please include them in communication more often. 
• Bring students’ athletes’ leadership aspects to team meetings and departmental discussions. 

Expect a Little Resistance and Reluctance. 

• Don’t be so sure about it from the beginning itself. Expect students to be a little reluctant about this topic at first. 
• Do remember to prioritize your physical and mental health, especially when participating in some activism activity. 
• Take a while off to relax. Visit school counseling and take short breaks as well. 

All these athletes’ activism undertaking might be a little isolating, but in the end, they all came up to be a help. They stand with a meaningful cause to bring social change to our society. If we look into it, numerous resources help you with that. Be it online or offline, i.e., in printed forms, there’s always a way around it. Hence, ensure you include all the significant aspects in your team meetings and discuss them regularly. Try to make it more like a habit so that it is easier for the student-athletes too.