Earlier this week something happened within the world of collegiate
volleyball coaching that was significant. Everyone knows or have heard tidbits
of what happened, but I will briefly describe what happened in a nutshell.
A recruiting service owner send out an email to all of the
Division I coaches, there were over 350 people on that list. In this email the
recruiting service owner joked on the profile of one of his customers, a 16-year-old
recruit that had paid his company. The joke was not particularly overt or funny,
but it was racist and extremely offensive, especially to Asian Americans. Of
which I am one.
What would possess a middle-aged businessman to send something
like that out to all the potential or present customers for his service is
beyond me. It is risky, especially given what is going on in society today, and
more importantly, it revealed his ignorance, privilege, and lack of character.
What I do want to talk about is the response of the Division
1 head coaches that were on the email list. I saw some of the emails responses
from those coaches, and they were directed bluntly and honestly at the recruiting
service owner. They were unconstrained and honest in their response. Many
mocked him, many put their foot down by declaring: we don't want to deal with
somebody like you anymore, so they cancelled their subscription. Many coaches
pointed out the fact that he had written he unfunny little joke on the profile
of a 16-year-old girl whom he is representing, and as leaders in the sport, we
should set a much better example, be a better role model than what was
represented by the comment. We should always strive to do better.
The first response that I had read came from a coach who I know
and I respect. He is a coach of a highly placed team in the collegiate ranks. He
is at the top of his profession and he didn't need to step up and say the
things he did but I am glad that he did because knowing him, he felt like he needed
to step up to his own moral standards. He was unequivocal in his condemnation
of this man's comments. He demonstrated his leadership at that critical moment.
He knew that he was exposing himself to all the other head coaches in the
Division 1ranks. He chose to make a
statement, he took a step forward and did not just stand in place, and he told
the world of collegiate volleyball coaching that this kind of behavior is not
acceptable.
It was a very bold move in my estimation because this was
not a preplanned, professionally produced video or a well-crafted written
statement coming from the keyboards of some well-oiled publicity machine. The
was not a calculated statement on black lives matter, filtered and edited by
the legal sharks and intentionally tuned to not offend anyone, to deliberately leave
no skin in the game. This was a visceral and genuine reaction. He very clearly
told the man: you should not have gone there. Even though he did not threaten
to punitively punish those recruits who had signed up with this company, he did
clearly state that the relationship has changed for the worst, if not been destroyed.
To make that statement took a fortitude that most people in this age of spin
doctoring and obsequious cowering would not even consider.
I was also happy to see that he was not the only one who stood
up to be counted. Many Division 1 coaches tweeted their disgust at the
recruiting service and they said plainly that this is unacceptable. There were
enough Division 1 coaches who responded by canceling their subscription that the
owner apologized en masse. Unfortunately he had already defended himself
multiple times in private emails to the chain of coaches, saying that: I was
just joking, I was having a bad day, and I still believe in what I said I just
said it in a bad way: it was a no apology apology. The usual public: I'm sorry
that you felt bad about what I said but I'm not sorry that I said it statement.
Which is typical of many of the weasels who populate that business. After
having been called out many times, and after seeing his business suffer catastrophically,
he finally relented and wrote a very contrite and sincere sounding apology. He
decided to step down from his own company in deference to bringing in someone
else to run his company, someone less reactionary and supposedly more ‘woke’. I
am reserving judgment, they need to show me. Walk the walk.
Getting back to the coaches, even though I was not privy to all
of the exploding email chain that resulted from the incidence - so I don't know
exactly what all these coaches said ˗
I do know that there were enough cancellations to make this man panic and
resign. Assuming the best of fellow coaches, I am proud of the volleyball
coaching community, actually it is an even more intimate relationship. I would
say we are a volleyball coaching family. As a minority person in this
volleyball coaching family, I have always been made comfortably welcomed and felt
a part of that community. I still wonder, in the deep recesses of my mind,
however, whether I had the right to have that peace of mind, or I would wonder
whether I was being a fool for believing that this was indeed a family.
I've been at coaching for a little over 20 years and I've
always felt that way, there has never been any overt statements being made or
actions being taken regarding my minority status, but I have always been on
guard and prepared to respond in case something happened to change. The unity
and immediate response shown by the Division 1 coaches made me that much more
comfortable with my assumptions, even though I am still on guard, it is a bad
habit, a survival instinct driven habit.
This instance, in the greater scheme of things, does not
mean much, but it meant everything symbolically to everybody that is involved
with volleyball, it meant the world to me. It made me feel comforted that my
fellow coaches stood up and acted, swiftly and decisively. It made me feel
proud that we are all a part of a family that is willing to uphold the highest moral
and ethical standards in doing what we do: teach and lead the future
generations.
I now send a message to the Division 1 coaches who were so
vocal in doing the right thing. To quote Jack Buck, former St. Louis Cardinal
announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, I am standing, and I am applauding you.
