Annual CSLS Addresses Leadership In Social Justice
January 22, 2021 | Leadership Academy
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – For the last seven years, Carolina student-athletes who participate in the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy have led the Carolina Sports Leadership Summit on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The three-hour, in-person events typically focus on teaching leadership skills to middle school students, but as with many things this year, the 2021 event looked different than ever before.
This year, Carolina student-athletes conducted the Carolina Sports Leadership Summit virtually, through a Zoom session in which the focus was on athlete activism and sport as a mechanism for change.
The Zoom session featured a panel of student-athletes who spoke on the ways that their respective teams have used their platforms as Tar Heels to support racial equity and social justice.
This panel included Briana Pinto and Rachel Jones (Women's Soccer), Tomon Fox (Football), Courtnie Williamson (Field Hockey), and Santiago Herrera and Giovanni Montesdeoca (Men's Soccer).
These Tar Heel leaders were joined on the Zoom by nearly 50 local middle school students and UNC Athletic Department staff for an hour-long meeting during which each student-athlete detailed the steps their teams have taken to support social justice movements and fielded questions from the crew of eager middle schoolers.
In addition to marches for justice and in-game protests, UNC's athletic squads shared the ways that they used their voices this fall. Women's soccer added "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi to the team's summer reading list. Men's soccer began an alumni-guest speaker Zoom series called "Let's Talk." Field hockey started an intra-squad racial equality group, and football wore phrases like "Equality" and "Unity" on the back of their jerseys for their game against Notre Dame.
"Being an antiracist means actively participating every single day," Pinto said. "Once our team understood that, everyone has showed up every single day. We are making this advocacy for change a fundamental part of the UNC women's soccer culture."
After sharing steps their teams have taken, the UNC student-athletes took questions from the participants, who had the chance to ask these Tar Heels about their lived experiences with race and racism.
"When you're not a diverse team, that is when you need to have even more conversations," Williamson said. "That was one of our biggest challenges but we all came together through having those hard discussions early and often."
After the student-athlete Q&A, the Zoom wrapped up with Pinto, Jones, and others turning the tables to ask the middle school participants how their teams and schools were speaking out against acts of injustice.
The participants cited fundraising efforts, conversations with peers and mentors, and plenty of literature and film resources as ways that they and their teammates are leveraging their platforms as middle school student-athletes to lead their friends, families, and communities.
The middle school and collegiate student-athletes bonded over the potential challenges that these conversations may bring, but Williamson left the aspiring Tar Heels with some words of wisdom. "Telling your lived experiences with people helps them to have a better understanding," she said. "Making yourself vulnerable and telling your truth makes people more educated and want to support you and care about you. Knowing that you're standing up for the right thing needs to be enough for you to continue to use your voice."
Annika Martensson is a a second-year student in the UNC Sport Administration master's program and a grad assistant in UNC Event Management/Games Operations
The three-hour, in-person events typically focus on teaching leadership skills to middle school students, but as with many things this year, the 2021 event looked different than ever before.
This year, Carolina student-athletes conducted the Carolina Sports Leadership Summit virtually, through a Zoom session in which the focus was on athlete activism and sport as a mechanism for change.
The Zoom session featured a panel of student-athletes who spoke on the ways that their respective teams have used their platforms as Tar Heels to support racial equity and social justice.
This panel included Briana Pinto and Rachel Jones (Women's Soccer), Tomon Fox (Football), Courtnie Williamson (Field Hockey), and Santiago Herrera and Giovanni Montesdeoca (Men's Soccer).
These Tar Heel leaders were joined on the Zoom by nearly 50 local middle school students and UNC Athletic Department staff for an hour-long meeting during which each student-athlete detailed the steps their teams have taken to support social justice movements and fielded questions from the crew of eager middle schoolers.
In addition to marches for justice and in-game protests, UNC's athletic squads shared the ways that they used their voices this fall. Women's soccer added "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi to the team's summer reading list. Men's soccer began an alumni-guest speaker Zoom series called "Let's Talk." Field hockey started an intra-squad racial equality group, and football wore phrases like "Equality" and "Unity" on the back of their jerseys for their game against Notre Dame.
"Being an antiracist means actively participating every single day," Pinto said. "Once our team understood that, everyone has showed up every single day. We are making this advocacy for change a fundamental part of the UNC women's soccer culture."
After sharing steps their teams have taken, the UNC student-athletes took questions from the participants, who had the chance to ask these Tar Heels about their lived experiences with race and racism.
"When you're not a diverse team, that is when you need to have even more conversations," Williamson said. "That was one of our biggest challenges but we all came together through having those hard discussions early and often."
After the student-athlete Q&A, the Zoom wrapped up with Pinto, Jones, and others turning the tables to ask the middle school participants how their teams and schools were speaking out against acts of injustice.
The participants cited fundraising efforts, conversations with peers and mentors, and plenty of literature and film resources as ways that they and their teammates are leveraging their platforms as middle school student-athletes to lead their friends, families, and communities.
The middle school and collegiate student-athletes bonded over the potential challenges that these conversations may bring, but Williamson left the aspiring Tar Heels with some words of wisdom. "Telling your lived experiences with people helps them to have a better understanding," she said. "Making yourself vulnerable and telling your truth makes people more educated and want to support you and care about you. Knowing that you're standing up for the right thing needs to be enough for you to continue to use your voice."
Annika Martensson is a a second-year student in the UNC Sport Administration master's program and a grad assistant in UNC Event Management/Games Operations
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