Talking and writing about women's sports isn't always easy. The fight for equal access, opportunity and attention to the women's game is on-going. It often feels like a battle. While we celebrate over 50 years of Title IX and the efforts that female athletes like Billie Jean King led toward equal pay, the struggle remains real. For example, NIL and its affect on college sports—who is getting the money and why—add a new and pressing challenge. However, I recently led a conversation on the state of sport for women. My session at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver was one of many dynamic and important breakout sessions at their 11th annual Diversity Day. I left feeling energized and hopeful. I mean it when I said, "it was fun." Victory.
As written on Regis Jesuit's website,
Our theme for this year comes from the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences #2 and #4: Care for the Common Home / Walking with the Excluded. The theme: “For the Greater Glory of All God’s Diverse Creation” is a call to kinship. To be in Kinship with our community – to recognize that we “belong to each other” is to recognize that we are interconnected.And that definition drove my title: Moving the margins, Kinship in Sports.
I began with profiling RJ alumna, Fran Belibi '19 to illustrate we really are interconnected. Belibi is the first female high school player in Colorado to dunk the ball during game play. I heard about her because the principal of the school is a close friend and passionate about basketball. Knowing my love of Sports and Spirituality, he shared Belibi's remarkable story. I recommend reading it here.
Not only did she start playing basketball later in life, her parents weren't excited about this idea. Believe you me when I say her story is atypical, or as she would say "miraculous." Through Fran Belibi, I learned why it's uncommon for women to dunk. I had no idea.
Belibi matriculated to Stanford University. Though I live fairly close to Palo Alto, I don't consider myself to be a fan of the Cardinal. That is, until two of my former students, the Begovich brothers made the men's basketball team.
Through both Daniel and Neal, I paid more attention to the Stanford hoops. When the women made it to the finals in the 2001 National Championship, Daniel told me specifics about the team. He knew the players and told me how supportive their programs were of one another. Because he cared, I cared. We belong to each other. I have always had great respect for the women's coach, Tara VanDerveer and knowing that one of their players came from Regis Jesuit made it that much more fun to watch and celebrate. We are interconnected. Kinship.
But the story doesn't end here. I took my Sports and Spirituality class on a field to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for the exhibit "Get in the Game: Sports, Art and Culture." Upon checking in, we encountered the work of the cartoonist and graphic novelist, Gene Luen Yang. His illustration of "Bay Area Hoops" featured the stories of Steph Curry, Jeremy Lin and Fran Belibi. Reading her panel brought me back to the article that I first read on the Regis Jesuit website, FRAN BELIBI ’19: SUCCESS THROUGH FAITH AND SCIENCE. It speaks of Love and Basketball—her love of God and ultimately kinship.
During the 45 minute session, I asked the students What makes kinship hard. What gets in the way? Why have we forgotten that we belong to each other. Is it the nature of athletics? Is it fear? Fear that focusing on being with the other will take away from the other? Or, fear that there isn’t enough to go around?
I said to them, "I want to know, Are we unable to appreciate differences for what they are?" And I wonder, To what degree has our society and everyday norms act as systems of oppression and marginalization? Might they have had more of an impact than we know/realize?
Student responses were varied and thoughtful. While many spoke to the questions I raised, others mentioned our human nature and the unredeemed part of ourself that put our wants and needs first/at the expense of others.
The shared introspection was meaningful. Although challenging and difficult, we did not conclude the conversation here. I pivoted to two sets of trivia questions. Each one invites some insight into the forces and norms that have challenged interconnection—past and present. Those who were able to answer these questions correctly got a WNBA trading card (I got the idea from this work of art at the SFMoMA exhibit). It was awesome to see how excited they were to receive something shiny, new and interesting!
My next post will include both the answers to these trivia questions and suggestions for how we can move the margins and live out kinship.
Congratulations to Regis Jesuit for an inspiring, important, inclusive and Diversity Day. This dynamic gathering doesn't happen without the hard work, servant leadership and kinship of the faculty, staff and student body. Go Raiders!
These questions are True or False:
- During Medieval times (500-1500 AD) women were forbidden from playing in sport.
- According to historian William Baker, nearly all modern sports have their roots in the play of medieval peasants.
- In the early 20th Century, Catholic Church leaders expressed concern that sports sexualized women’s bodies and that sports could take away from women’s natural role as mothers.
- Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the “Theology of the Body” speaks to a positive appreciation on for the central role of sport, recreation, exercise and play for the development of a person’s mind and spirit. He proclaimed this as true for women only.
- Name the two fastest growing sports for females in the U.S.
- Can you name a professional female athlete who is a mom?
- Is Pope Francis a sports fan? If so, of what sport?
- He speaks and write about the Culture of Encounter. What might this mean in sport?
- Name three WNBA teams. How many are there?
