9 Assumptions to Avoid for a More Equitable Team Environment

 

Assumptions and biases are unfortunately impossible to avoid entirely—and to say that you don’t have any around race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, disability, or any other identities, makes it impossible for you to grow as a person. As a coach, your teams almost certainly contain a diverse multitude of athletes with different life experiences, and assumptions about them can be dangerous.

Here, TrueSport Experts Kevin Chapman, PhD, clinical psychologist and founder of The Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, and President of Now What Facilitation, Nadia Kyba, MSW, are explaining how you can begin to acknowledge your current assumptions and create a more equitable team environment.

1. Assumption: you don’t have biases, period.

You’re raised having certain biases, regardless of your situation. For example, if you’re given a white doll as a young girl, Kyba explains that not only are gender roles being enforced—girls are nurturing and caregivers—you’re also learning that whiteness is the default and that being white is the norm. It’s important to get honest with yourself about the biases that you have. Spend some time thinking or journaling about your potential biases and ask yourself which biases play a role in your decision making.

2. Assumption: coaches should be “colorblind”

Whether talking about race, gender, religion, or any other area of identity, pretending that it doesn’t matter is not an option. In the past, you may have said things like, ‘We’re all the same,’ or ‘I don’t see color,’ or ’There’s no difference between X and Y groups.’ But there are differences, and they shouldn’t be ignored. To suggest that a young Black female athlete has the same life experiences as a White male athlete isn’t just wrong, it’s offensive.

“It’s uncomfortable for people to acknowledge differences. But from a coaching standpoint, it’s important to not adopt a colorblind approach,” says Chapman. “Sports are notorious for assuming that we’re all the same, because sports are considered to be the great equalizer. It’s true that sports are where people in the U.S. can come together and set everything else aside in order to win. That has a lot of benefits, but the fact is that we don’t come from the same background. So, if I adopt a colorblind approach as a coach, meaning I don’t see color, that discounts an athlete’s personal experience as a marginalized individual.”