Coaches, by talking about race, step up their game

Coaching isn’t just about the X’s and O’s, or wins and losses.

That isn’t a particularly groundbreaking statement, but it’s one we all need to be reminded of given how wrapped up we get in the competitiveness of professional, collegiate and youth sports.

Fortunately some coaches from the San Diego area haven’t lost sight of that. They are putting in the work during this tumultuous moment in our country to further conversations about race and racial reconciliation.

“Anyone who knows what the definition of a coach really is, they know it’s not so much how many games you win, but how many lives you affect,” said Lincoln High basketball Coach Jeff Harper-Harris, founder of a group called Coaches for Racial Equality.

“Our job isn’t done when practice is over,” he said. “Coaches are looked up to. We’re the mentors, the fathers, the uncles, the mothers. We’re the ones there when sometimes a kid needs to talk to somebody or need something else.

“All the coaches I’ve ever had cared when the game was over.”

Harper-Harris founded Coaches for Racial Equality last year after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer.

He said he wanted to support and protect kids —

many of whom were out protesting for racial justice. He also wanted to discourage kids from lashing out in anger at those who are different than them.

And he wanted to know what white coaches were saying to Black athletes. After Floyd was killed he saw lots of coaches’ statements on social media about “standing with their athletes,” but he wanted to know what action that was translating into.

The group’s first virtual meeting lasted two hours and brought in coaches from across the region for candid, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations.

From there it grew — bringing in kids, parents, teachers, referees, and administrators for bimonthly virtual meetings, with the ultimate goal of promoting education, understanding and racial reconciliation, as well as generating solutions, such as a proposal for mandatory racial reconciliation training for all athletic department personnel and and proposals for teams to interact beyond competition, such as in clinics.

“It opened up the communication about how people feel, and it was uncomfortable,” HarperHarris recalled about the meetings. “But I commend

those that stood around ... The solution is all of ours.”

Harper-Harris estimates that 150 to 200 people have participated in at least one of the group’s events.

On Wednesday I sat in on a session that had people of many races from cross San Diego County, including folks from Lincoln High, The Preuss School, Mira Mesa High, St. Augustine High and Cathedral Catholic High.

The main topics were the guilty verdicts in the Derek Chauvin murder trial and recent racist incidents involving Cathedral Catholic High students. Some of the school’s football players had shared racist photos on social media of them throwing up gang signs and of one player wearing a T shirt implying Lincoln High players were “convicts.”

During the discussion about the Chauvin verdict, one coach said he held a listening session instead of practice, allowing players to openly share how they were feeling. Many generally seemed to be glad Chauvin was held accountable but were disheartened about all the other people killed or brutalized by police with little or no accountability. Others said their students seemed numb or exhausted, especially because 30 minutes after the verdict a 15year-old was killed by police in Columbus, Ohio.

One coach said he felt he didn’t do a good enough job

talking about the verdict with his team or in the classroom.

The Cathedral Catholic topic sparked a similarly emotional dialogue. Some people talked about a behavior double standard for Black and White student athletes and children broadly.

Others questioned how the racist incidents made Cathedral’s Black athletes feel. And some people talked about how racist incidents like this can begin at-home, where parents voice bigoted outlooks or they quickly jump to a kid’s defense without ref lecting on the harm their kid caused.

Lincoln football Coach David Dunn said it’s disheartening to see students constantly labeled as gang members and thugs when, at their age they’re trying to build self confidence. He also noted additional obstacles kids deal with just playing a game, such as increased security on some campuses during road games. And he shared how he felt as a youngster playing in a Pop Warner league, when he was warned about how he’d be treated in certain parts of San Diego County.

“I remember at 9-yearsold being told you may be called other names, you may be called out because of your race, you may be stepped on or pushed to the limit — and you can’t retaliate,” Dunn said. “How do you process

that as a 9-year-old? And here I am, 40 years later, telling my grandson and my sons the exact same thing. It’s exhausting, and there’s no place for it.”

Some people connected with Cathedral and Lincoln spoke about the ongoing conversations between the schools, and one Cathedral person said it seems there is momentum to create a growth opportunity here.

We’ll wait and see where this ultimately leads. For now I am just impressed by every coach, educator, administrator and parent who participated in Coaches for

Racial Equity. It shows great courage and compassion.

I’m sure there are people out there who will feign outrage at coaches diving into this subject, ignoring the fact that sports intrinsically are tied to race and often have served as a bridge.

These coaches and educators are engaging in difficult, uncomfortable work. They’re listening and learning and, bottom line, they are showing care for kids. They are trying to build a better San Diego.

And if you need something to convince you of why this kind of work is important, let me leave you with a concerned Black mother’s comment when discussing the Cathedral incident.

“Young Black men and women have to stand accountable all the time. It’s like they get used for their athleticism, but then they don’t get protected for their humanity,” she said. “People in higher places at schools, who more often than not are Caucasian, they get to go home and leave it at school. We don’t, and our kids don’t.”