How to be an ally in sports
We have heard a lot about being an ally. What does that mean? What does that look like? I can only speak from my personal experience as an Italian-American, Italian-Russian heritage female. Specifically, I want to talk about being an ally for women in sports and how that looks.
This post came about because my colleague Arda Öcal and I were talking about this very topic. He urged me to write a post about it and I agreed it was something that needed to be discussed. I want to preface this article with the fact that I have had some phenomenal male colleagues in the industry who have done everything possible to be an ally to me. However, the sad fact is that strong allies are not the norm in the industry. I am here to share my insight on how to be an ally.
Many articles and stories have shown the disrespect females and minorities generally have received in the sports and esports industry. From indecent behavior toward women in front offices to straight up physical and verbal abuse. My experience in the sports world has been equally marred by inappropriate and indecent behavior toward me by men. Usually, the men are in positions of power. I have had experiences as strong as physical abuse and verbal abuse to seemingly smaller aggressions via Twitter DMs.
What can those in positions of power do to stop these experiences? There are many things you can do, but I have laid out 3 of them below based on what I wish others had done for me.
Come to our aid when a situation goes sideways. There have been times in my career where I was being verbally berated in public by men while doing my job. It didn’t matter that I was in the press box working or producing a video segment or creating content for social media. Other people were around and no one said anything or did anything. And a few times I was even blamed for their behavior. People stood there and watched it happen, including owners, GMs, Vice Presidents, and others. When you stay silent in those situations, you are complicit in the behavior. Something as simple as, “Hey, that is no way to speak to another human. You need to walk away and cool off”, can be the difference between being an ally and being an accomplice. Sometimes those situations can easily be deescalated when a third-party breaks the interaction. I would have loved for this to happen in the situations I experienced. When you are an ally in this way, it truly raises standards in the industry as a whole.
Establish and stick to strong core values that empower and include minorities. You cannot say you want to be inclusive, equitable, and diverse then continue to do things as you always have. I was part of an organization that recruited me by saying they were going to lift up minority voices. However, their talk was merely lip service and they had no intention of making any meaningful impact in racial and gender disparities within the industry. I ended up leaving the organization because my voice was never being considered or heard, even when I was the most qualified to give input and advice. Establishing and sticking to core values that include and empower minorities takes a long time and it entails talking with those who have not had a voice previously. It takes time to educate your organization on the disparities. STOP and LISTEN. Don’t assume you know how to fix the problems.
Speak for us when we are not in the room where decisions are being made. When we are in the workplace we are able to advocate for ourselves, but if we are not in the rooms where decisions are being made, then we are out of luck. Bring up our names when opportunities arise where we would be a good fit. If you don’t speak for us, then who will? We will never have the most vibrant industry possible if we continue to stifle the rise of women and minorities. The same problems will continue to happen and the industry will decline.
While there are many ways to be an ally, sometimes the easiest advice is: if you see something awry, say something out loud. Those you are fighting for will appreciate it beyond measure and will be strong advocates of yours if the time comes.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. I work with individuals, teams, and leagues in the sports and esports industries to build their businesses strategically. Schedule a 45-minute consultation with me today and walk away with actionable steps and a written summary of our call to make your organization more strategic, fearless, and inclusive.
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