Making the Right Move

The one thing that all Black males want to be is GREAT at what they do. If they are really good, they will receive a collegiate scholarship and move to the next level. However, Today’s young Black males moving quicker than ever. Instead of finishing college to attain a degree, a great number of them are exiting college after one or two years in order to be drafted for professional teams. In consideration of their passion for the sport, by the time these individuals reach college, they have already spent a considerable amount of time developing their skills for the sport. As such, they have then made up their minds to go straight into the professional levels of their career. However, most have never been introduced to the administrative aspects of that sport. Over time of working in any sports professional rim, they are taught plays, but players are never showed how these plays are created from the coaches level. Most of the time, players are told to run the play regardless of how the player feels about the play. Running plays are not just the greatest factor of sports, but also knowing how to manage a team or even manage adversities is critically important.4 With  running plays, the Black male athlete feels like he is part of something that is very powerful, which empowers him because he is part of a unity - very similar to that of a family.  

Family

The one thing that is very important to every player is his family support,  this is the voice of his future. The blind faith of Black youth and their families in sports is a vehicle of self-realization and social-economic advancement. Not stressing the importance of staying in school has detrimental effects on one’s future pursuits beyond the playing of sports. The result is a single-minded pursuit of sports fame and fortune that has spawned an institutionalized triple tragedy in Black society. Friend and LeUnes (1989) discuss this deficit model of discrimination for Black athletes: (1) a long-standing, widely held, racist, and ill-informed presumption of innate, race-linked black athletic superiority and intellectual deficiency; (2) media propaganda portraying sports as a broadly accessible route to black social and economic mobility; and (3) a lack of comparably visible, high-prestige black role models beyond the sports arena.2

Distractions   

Black male athletes are under so much pressure to get fame that they forget the main reason for going to school.3 Over time, the consideration of being a “student athlete” is diminished to simply striving to be an “athlete.” Though it seems that colleges and universities have pushed this rule of being enrolled for a year or two before being drafted into a professional arena, it seems to make little impact on the retention of Black males in college. It should  be considered that while in college, Black male student athletes are faced with numerous challenges that involve family-related or financially related matters; both  matters could also be pushing them to go “pro” before they complete their academic degree. Black males are not wanting to go into sport administration because of the foundation of their education compared to their athletic abilities.1  Also the function of meaningful interactions with diverse peers, supportive relationships with university faculty and staff, and frequent and educationally purposeful engagement in campus activities and student organizations bring a great deal of distractions as well.5

Administration is not my thing today!

So is being a Black male in sports administration not entertaining enough? The reason why Black males are not getting these positions is because if they do not have chances to network with schools and colleges that want to hire Black males in sports administration. Consequently, there is considerable biases in decision making with regards to employment opportunities after a career in playing sports.2 However, Black males today don’t  have the support to finish their college degrees, which limits their opportunities of a career.  The outcome of the networking for opportunities would be great if a Black man would be educated, but that dream will never come if he is not educated, mentored and coached the right way.  

1Braddock, J. H., Royster, D. A., Winfield, L. F., & Hawkins, R. (1991). Bouncing back: Sports and academic resilience among African-American males. Education and Urban Society, 24(1), 113-131.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0013124591024001009

2Edwards, H. (2000). Crisis of Black athletes on the eve of the 21st century. Society, 37(3), 9-13.

Retrieved from:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02686167

3Entine, J. (2008). Taboo: Why black athletes dominate sports and why we're afraid to talk about it. PublicAffairs. Retrieved from:

http://tinyurl.com/lu6nm63

4Friend, J., & LeUnes, A. (1989). Overcoming discrimination in sport management: A systematic approach to affirmative action. Journal of Sport Management, 3(2), 151-157. Retrieved from:

http://www.fitnessforlife.org/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/7525.pdf

5Strayhorn, T. L. (2014). What role does grit play in the academic success of Black male collegians at predominantly White institutions?. Journal of African American Studies, 18(1), 1-10.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12111-012-9243-0

Black Athletes: “Winning on the Court, But Losing in the Classroom”

Everybody loves to win no matter what game you are playing. As a Black male working in an administrative role, you never want to lose on or off the court. However, over time, collegiate Black males have been winning on the courts, but losing in the classroom where it matters the most.

As I have read through multiple articles, I found that the problem with Black males was not actually attaining careers in sports-related professions, but finishing their college degree in a timely manner in order to be considered for said job.

It can be assumed that many Black males, especially those from small or rural towns, envision the role of sports as an avenue in which to ‘get out’. Education may never be  at the forefront of their lives, but sports provide the facade of being a life changer. One can go from extreme measures of poverty to being sponsored by international companies - not to mention the stardom that is associated with the popularity of the sport. With sports, some Black males see an ability to provide for their family and become the fathers that they have never had in their lives. But, in spite of these pipe dreams, they forget the key that unlocks the doors for a brighter future - they are reluctant and take for granted the power of having an education.1

Education for Black males in College Basketball

Dr.Richard M. Southall  speaks on how Black males are failing across the board in all conferences at the D-1 level. Here are a few numbers that he points out that will have you puzzled.2

• The Atlantic Coast Conference, which had six teams the 2016 men’s Sweet Sixteen, four in the Elite-Eight, two in the Final Four, and one team playing for the national championship has an Adjusted Graduation Gap (AGG) of -32.2 that places it 27th among the 31 D-I conferences (excluding the Ivy League).
• The major conference gap of -32.6 percentage points is much worse than the mid-major conference gap of -18.3 points.
• The overall D-I Black AGG is 9.3 percentage points worse than the White (AGG): -26.7 and -17.4 respectively.
• Among major conferences, the best performers are Conference-USA (-25.2) and the Big East (-25.9), both worse than the overall D-I average (AGG) of -23.0.2

The Perfect Playbook for Success

There are three components that serve as a guide for helping Black males throughout their collegiate careers not only on the courts, but also in the classroom. These three things are motivation, character, and heart.

1. Motivation

Every Black male that is on the court has the motivation to win, but are they really motivated to win off the court? or are they conditioned to think that daily? If you look at the numbers, while they are conditioned, these students are not taught that the classroom is the first play that should be their motivation. Failing in the classroom is like missing the game winning free throw with no time on the clock, but the clock is their life.

2. Character

Now after that play of motivation we pass the ball to character. With character on the playbook, that student has put himself in place to know what is wrong and what is right. Each person has that moment in life and on the court. When the teacher issues an assignment, character steps right in, and has that player doing his homework.

3. Heart

This play here will win it all. Most teachers and coaches love students who possess heart because it can see them through any obstacle in which they are facing. This play is not easy to run, but with the help of the teachers moral fiber also with the help of coaches, the numbers of Black males being in college failing will then stop.

Now that you understand the Xs and Os, let’s play the game in the classroom so that our Black males will be as successful off the court as they are on the court. The clock is ticking.  

Reference:

1Bimper Jr, A. Y., Harrison Jr, L., & Clark, L. (2013). Diamonds in the rough: Examining a case of successful Black male student athletes in college sport. Journal of Black Psychology, 39(2), 107-130.Retrieved from

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0095798412454676

2Southall, R. M., Sexton, M. M., & Waring, M. B. (2014). 2014 Adjusted Graduation Gap Report: NCAA FBS Football. College Sport Research Institute. Retrieved from

http://csri-sc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2016-Basketball-AGG-Report_Final.pdf

Mentoring Great Leaders

What does it mean to be a leader on and off the field? The one thing that all players have in common is having a coach. But coaches are never just coaches they are role models and they are mentors. Mentorship can impact the most powerful people - consider Mike Tomlin the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Tomlin shares that he would not be where he is today if it was not for the mentors in his life. In his profile, he accredits many coaches who helped him to direct his path in coaching; it has made a remarkable difference in getting him to climb the ranks into a head coaching position for a highly-ranked professional football organization. Perhaps most impactful is that he does not list simply one person for mentoring him; his list is extensive. This reiterates the value of the “village concept” where it’s not simply one person that can make a difference in someone’s life - it’s an entire village.

Mentoring is not only showing but doing. Mentors are and possess so much power in developing Black youth into becoming productive men in society. And this could either way, young men could have mentors that positively push them to do good in school and other interests, or they can have mentors that reinforce negativity and quickly turn them on the wrong side of the law. Nonetheless, if young African-American males have positive mentors and role models (coaches), then they will be directed towards paths that can also enable them to be leaders in a variety of ways.

What Impact Can Mentors Have on Young African American Males?

According to David L. DuBois, mentoring programs have been conceptualized as potentially affecting youth in a wide variety of areas, including emotional and behavioral functioning, academic achievement, and employment or career development.2 Mike Tomlin challenged 1,500 men to become mentors for urban youth. He saw an increasing epidemic of young males who lacked mentors and attempted to do something about it.1 And, he was on to something. Consider Texas’ school-to-prison pipeline epidemic where students who fall short academically are pushed into the penal system through harsh zero tolerance mandates, school suspensions, and expulsions.3

And as students get older, the percentage of African-American youth who drop out of school continue to increase. Tamika Thompson  stated that 54% of African-Americans graduate from high school, compared to more than three quarters of white and Asian students. Nationally, African-American male students in grades K-12 were nearly 2½ times as likely to be suspended from school in 2000 as white students.4 The power of a mentoring network can have a direct impact on these students, and push them further to their own goals for success, just like Mike Tomlin, and many other decorated coaches and leaders. It is critical that young African American males have community, academic, and/or religious role models in their lives to help shape their trajectory. In this sense, sports coaches play an integral role in developing young minds; students need to be of witness to how coaches are leaders, mentors, and role models both on and off the field.

References:

1Belko,M. (2016,June.5) Tomlin on a mission, challenges 1,500 men to mentor young

people.Retrieved from

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2016/06/05/Tomlin-on-a-mission-challenges-1-500-men-to-mentor-young-people/stories/201606050172

2DuBois, D. L., Holloway, B. E., Valentine, J. C., & Cooper, H. (2002). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: A meta-analytic review. American journal of community psychology, 30(2), 157-197.

3Sanders,K.(2013,July 16th) Private Prisons Use Third-Grade Data To Plan For Prison Beds. Retrieved from

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/jul/16/kathleen-ford/kathleen-ford-says-private-prisons-use-third-grade/

4Thompson,T. (2014,March.26).Fact Sheet: Outcomes for Young, Black Men. Public Broadcasting Network. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/fact-sheet-outcomes-for-young-black-men/

Left at the Starting Line!

Left at the Starting Line: African-American Males, Academic Achievement, Opportunities, and Outcomes

In professional sports, African-Americans are on the field of play, but only a few call the shots from the sidelines. My previous blog highlights the racial disparities of athletic administrators and those in directorships in professional sports, specifically in basketball and football. This blog will shed light on the lack of focus on academics for African-American students toward the variety of sports related careers and disciplines.

Academics or Sports?  You make the call.

Opportunity often begins with education. However, many Black children are often left at the starting line. In a recent article,  Lindsey Cook (2017) stated that 91% of White children, aged 3 to 5, were read to by family members three or more times per week, whereas only 78 % of Black children were read to with the same frequency 1. In this sentiment, it’s important to recognize that a great majority of Black children, particularly those who reside in lower income communities, enter school less prepared than their White counterparts. This is not to say that Black parents care less about education before formal schooling, but it does bring to light how early childhood education affects academic outcomes for this demographic - especially those in poverty-stricken neighborhoods.

Understanding this statistic is important when realizing that these students are in their home environments more - which inevitably provide greater exposure to sports, rather than education. Don’t believe me? Take a hard look at  any “projects” that may be near you and then geomap the closest basketball court or open field. Exactly! They are in very close proximity - some might say, right outside the front door of the complex.

On the other hand, these children who could be perceived as less academically prepared are also entering school with a greater development of sports knowledge and abilities. Because they have spent more time learning in a kinesthetic manner, it would only seem reasonable that they are taught using similar instructional methods. And as a way to peak interest and further academic motivation, these students would also be introduced to and sports-related professions that are not exclusive to just playing sports.

Same Play, Different Court

I am from a small town where many of these situations where many of these factors were the same for me. I was in a neighborhood that had more basketball courts than playgrounds, more open fields than houses for developing. One of the only ways to “make it out” was through high academic achievement or sports. Otherwise, it’s to a factory job you go. Throughout my years in high school I was constantly pushed to be a great athlete, but never pushed to consider professional trajectories as a result of my knowledge and skills in athletics. I wish someone would have started me on the track much sooner - and that again, has become my greatest pursuit for pushing others into athletic administration.

So, in closing, I resonate with all that today’s youth face. It’s hard to combat such obstacles faced in and out of school. However, it should never deter one from their God-given path and purpose. It should never be a gatekeeper to one’s goals. My next blog will focus on developing leadership skills at the collegiate level in order to mentor those in middle or secondary schooling. This mentoring model will help to advance the conversation and push to recruiting Black males into Athletic Administration.

    

   

References

1Cook, L. (2015,January 28). U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal. U.S. News. Retrieved

From

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal

2Convissor,K. (2012,November 19). EduGuide:Why Kids Drop Out of School. Retrieved         

          From  

          http://www.eduguide.org/article/why-kids-drop-out-of-school

3Thompson,T. (2014,March 26).Fact Sheet: Outcomes for Young, Black Men. Public

Broadcasting Network. Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/fact-sheet-outcomes-for-young-black-men/