November/December 2022 - 32

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TIPS TO HELP
SPORT LEADERS
BUILD INCLUSIVE
ENVIRONMENTS
Identifying Team Captains
To get the best out of your team or organization, you should create a dynamic
that helps every athlete feel safe, supported, and strengthened.
Saying it is easy, but it's no slam dunk for sports leaders to do it.
Every athlete under your leadership likely faces a major on-field or off-field challenge. A broken leg in a hard cast
may clearly suggest a personal challenge. But most challenges your athletes face can't easily be seen on the
surface. Often, they have origins in how we treat each other-including the impact our words and actions have on
those who don't look, move, or act like we do.
In inclusive environments, no one has to change to fit in. Coaches and administrators play a lead role in creating this
environment to support athletes of all abilities, races, backgrounds, and identities. These tips will help you do so.
1. Promote athletes' agency and autonomy:
Encourage them to set physical and emotional
boundaries and respect those boundaries. Give
every athlete what they need to be individually
successful, rather than assuming they all have the
same circumstances or motivators. Give athletes
with disabilities the help they request, not the
help you assume they need.
2. Communicate openly and respectfully: Talk
intentionally with your team at the start of
a season to set expectations about culture,
engagement, and respect for others. Communicate
using simple, clear language, and ensure policies,
schedules, rules, and other important information
are easy to access and absorb. Check to be sure
you are understood by athletes whose intellectual
and developmental abilities may differ from yours.
3. Model respect, equity, and integrity:
Let your athletes know you value them as
people, not solely as a means to winning.
Help them learn and grow through open, ageappropriate
conversations on topics of fairness
and oppression such as racism, homophobia,
and ableism. Be aware of natural imbalances of
power between coaches and athletes, and do not
manipulate or exploit them.
32 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022
4. Be sensitive to stress or trauma:
Check in with your athletes regularly to
understand any unusual or chronic stress and
trauma they may be facing. If an athlete is acting
inappropriately, consider what factors may be
affecting their behavior before you decide on
consequences.
5. Don't let harmful behavior linger:
Address inappropriate behavior promptly.
Develop processes for addressing disagreements,
conflicts, and incidents of misconduct, and
publicize them during the season. Be alert to any
team rules you may set (such as on personal
grooming, behavior, or schedule) that may reflect
cultural bias.
On top of these actionable tips, the U.S. Center
for SafeSport produces tools and online trainings
to help coaches and administrators recognize
and learn techniques for preventing abuse and
misconduct on your team. Visit our SafeSport
Courses for All webpage, and learn how you can
Champion Respect and End Abuse in your sport.

http://www.USCENTERFORSAFESPORT.ORG

November/December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2022