Coaching for Life

Saturday, though, when 804 Coaches for Change convened at the Arthur Ashe Monument for a peaceful yet powerful protest, the subject was different. Actually, it was culture-shifting different.

 

This time, with upwards of 400 proponents of racial justice, many of them coaches from Central Virginia and beyond, in attendance, the subject was human dignity, social awareness, open and honest dialogue, and respect.

 

“The idea was started by (basketball) Coach Darryl Watts at Armstrong High School,” said Del Harris, who heads Collegiate’s boys basketball program. “He reached out to Ty White at John Marshall and Stephen Lewis at St. Christopher’s. It spiraled from there. It’s coaches coming together, taking the lead, and taking a stand for our black student-athletes and the community.”

 

Why the venue?

 

“Because Arthur Ashe was a humanitarian,” Harris said. “Yeah, he was a tennis player, but he stood for peace, for what’s right, and for equality for all. For black Americans, for black student-athletes facing racial injustice, we’re saying, ‘We stand for you. We feel your pain. We hear your voices. We hear your cries.’

 

“Coaches have a platform. In simple terms, with everything going on, to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, African-Americans want to be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.”

 

Anyone entrusted with leading a team, regardless of the sport, will tell you that conducting workouts, devising strategy, and coaching in the athletic venue is the easy part.

        

What’s more important – vital, in fact – is coaching hearts and minds, conveying life lessons, and guiding and empowering young men and women as they navigate life’s peaks and valleys and all the terrain in between.

 

“My mentor, Jerry Wainwright, shared with me that the reward in coaching always comes later,” said Harris of the former University of Richmond coach (2002-2005) who now serves as an assistant at Tulsa. “It’s not about wins and losses. Coaches can impact lives. If we can be a vehicle – all coaches – to support this cause, it’s great.”

 

Saturday, Harris was one of nine speakers including VCU men’s basketball coach Mike Rhoades, UVA associate head coach Jason Williford, and Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.

 

Addressing the assemblage earnestly and passionately, Harris stressed the importance of effective communication and trust-building.

 

“Social media is how this younger generation communicates,” he said. “We have to have real-life, hard, uncomfortable conversations so we can understand each other, so black Americans can talk to white Americans and share their experiences, so white Americans can talk to other white Americans and hold them accountable for racism. Black Americans have to watch the words we say and how we portray things. We can all build each other up together. We’re here because it’s uncomfortable times. As an African-American student at Collegiate recently shared with me, real change is not found in your comfort zone.

 

“And to be successful as a leader and in anything in life, you have to listen. You have to listen to our black community who’s screaming out right now. Our country does. Our community does.”

 

Referencing a 1967 speech by Dr. King, Harris said that people cannot be selfish in this fight for equality.

 

“We don’t teach our players to be selfish,” he said. “As parents, you don’t teach your children to be selfish. We teach our players the words us, we, together. So if you’re turning a blind eye and not realizing what’s going on, you’re selfish, and selfish will lead to racism.

 

“In that same speech, Dr. King said, ‘The wealth is not in money. It’s not in buildings. It’s not in materialistic things. The wealth is in the people.’ We are in the Common-wealth of Virginia. The wealth is always going to be in us, the people. What you see in Black Lives Matter is that change is upon us. This is just the beginning.”

    

Coaches invariably find themselves in the spotlight, both literally and figuratively. Many regularly appear before the television cameras. Saturday, several members of the print and broadcast media as well as many taking cell-phone videos documented the proceedings, which included a 1.2-mile walk east to the Robert E. Lee Monument.

 

That said…

 

“This isn’t about show,” Harris emphasized. “It’s not a photo op. This was a great community event. We have to be one and united. We have to be present. We have to be visible. Then we have to take it into action. We’re going to be judged by what we do. What are we going to consistently do to make things better?”

   ~ Weldon Bradshaw