Race and Collegiate Athletics: An Observatory Reflection

Discussions of race, power, and justifiable anger in class have prompted a continuous cycle of contemplation on the subjects, that which does not end when the class period does. I find myself addressing themes of racial projects in social situations, thinking about how the lack of diversity higher education perpetuates ideas of power, even dreaming about racial injustices in organized sports (true story). In particular, the concept of “stretching or dying” is one that, I believe, applies to racial perceptions experienced today, especially in instances of little diversity, such as the collegiate environment of Kalamazoo College. Our discussions in class have prompted my evaluation of the diversity (specifically, the lack thereof) observed in the collegiate environment, and especially in college athletics here at K.

In regards to my subconscious experience, my participation in the sport of lacrosse combined with conversations of racial formations and projections were manifested into its own dream. Lacrosse is a very racially divided sport: in my experience it is predominantly a sport practiced by the suburban white. Though the sport originated at the hands of the Native American communities, lacrosse has since evolved to be a dominating sport in Canada, and now, the U.S. As the sport has grown from the native hands into those of the Canadian and American, the requirements for lacrosse have also developed. The equipment, for example, has developed from wooden shafts laced with deer skin to metal shafts, with plastic heads strung with nylon pockets. Similarly the sport has since been practiced on painted turf or grass fields, in comparison to the sweeping unmarked plains used by the Native Americans.

The expensive tools demanded by the sport such as equipment, or even participation fees create a divide in who can participate. The divide has been drawn along the lines of financially affluent individuals, who can afford the demands of the sport, and then along racial lines, through which socioeconomics are transitively related. The communities that can afford to introduce lacrosse to their youth are predominantly white, suburban communities that have the leisure to spend money on organized sport as opposed to devoting time and money to more pressing things, like getting food on the table. This divide is reflected by the practice of the sport in developed countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, whereas in developing regions in African and Latin America the sport is completely foreign.

As a result, there is an overall lack of diversity in the sport of lacrosse. Many a times have I witnessed non-white players degraded during a match where they are clearly the minority. This is where I apply the concept of ‘stretch or die’: those who stretch their minds beyond the racial project of lacrosse being a sport for ‘whites only’, or they will perish (figuratively) within the confines of their obtuse mind. Classroom discussions have prompted deeper contemplation on this topic of diversity in my sport, and what I can do to to increase it for the future of lacrosse.