When I was asked to contribute an article to this feminist publication, I must say I was surprised and somewhat reluctant. Why? For years my impressions of feminists were of rich and/or highly educated preppy white women who, although they championed the cause for equality for women, neither understood nor wanted to understand the struggles of black women or poor working women. In my experience, I have found the feminist movement to be irrelevant to my world and the world of many others who look like me. In my experience, the major struggle has been the competition between black women and white women.
Now that have retired from Temple University after enjoying a wonderful career in coaching and teaching, I am spending time objectively reflecting on my success in coaching. After reviewing materials, documents, and pictures, having discussions, and reviewing videos, I realize that some of the women described above who I perceived as feminists were actually very influential in my successful career. Were it not for my attendance at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, where I was coached and mentored by committed and caring teachers like Jane Weitzenhoffer, Dorothy Chalikian, and Ginny Cocoa, I would never have participated in field hockey nor attended West Chester State College. Were it not for caring coaches and teachers at West Chester like Vonnie Gros, Pat Nesley, Mimi Greenwood, and Elinor Taylor, I would not have been able to excel in lacrosse and in the fields of coaching and teaching. Mentors like Marge Watson, Carol Oglesby, Aggie Bixler, and many other white women opened many doors for me. These women had the courage, fortitude, and empathy to share power when it was not necessarily to their professional advantage.
I especially appreciate the black female mentors in my life – family, board members, friends and colleagues who have supported me, chastised me, challenged me, and showed me how to survive and excel in a sometimes hostile world. Trailblazing pioneers such as Kitty Cox (field hockey) and Dr. Nell Jackson and Dr. Dorothy Richey (sports administration) helped pave the way for my success. I am extremely grateful to all of these women.
Through my own athletic career, I have come to realize the value of black female mentors. As one of the founders of the Black Women in Sport Foundation (BWSF), it has been one of my goals and one of the goals of the foundation to mentor young black women who want to pursue careers in sports. Also, the founders realize that there is a critical need for black female sports leaders. Statistics show that women of color hold 2.9 percent of administration positions in Division I programs, compared to 88.4 percent for white women.1 Women of color are drastically underrepresented in college sports as well. They make up only 15 percent of female athletes.2 They continue to be underrepresented in sports such as tennis, lacrosse, fencing, and golf.
Nessie Johnson, a former lacrosse player and a rhetoric and communications alum of Temple University, has recently returned to the United States. Nessie wants to be the first black professional pool player. She was asked to share her experience as an athlete who is an African American.
As I begin my journey to becoming a professional pool player, the experiences that I have learned from my athletic years have prepared me for what awaits ahead. Sports, for me, have never been about feminism because I knew at a very young age that I could beat the boys at almost anything, not only in sports. So, it was never about gaining equality with men in sports. It has been about obtaining equality among my white female counterparts. There are some sports that are deemed “sports for black athletes”, such as track and field, basketball, and football. Then there are sports that are hailed as “white sports” such as ice hockey, tennis, golf, lacrosse, and pool to name a few. Although there are more people from diverse backgrounds playing these sports, when we [African-American athletes] cross over into these sports we are met with harsher criticism and intensified critical public scrutiny until we have proven that we have the right to play the sport. I do not believe that any other race of women have had to prove themselves in any sport the way that African-American athletes have had to do. If it had not been for an African-American mentor helping to encourage me through many turns and obstacles at the collegiate level, I would have given up on sports altogether. Although she had retired the year before I played lacrosse for Temple, Coach Tina Sloan Green continued to mentor me as if she was still coaching. The Black Women in Sport Foundation has and continues to support black women of all ages and all sports to achieve not only their sports goals but their life goals as well.3
Mentoring is not an easy task; however, it is important and necessary. Sometimes you choose your mentee and sometimes the mentee chooses you. You must be willing to give unconditionally of yourself. You must try to lead by example. You have to be able to praise when deserved and criticize when appropriate. You must be willing to empathize yet not paralyze. Most important, you must establish a personal relationship with your mentee. BWSF has seen mentees come, grow, and go. The most rewarding part of mentoring is watching your mentees mature into competent professionals, some even exceeding your expectations. Although it is often painful, part of mentoring is to know when to let go and allow the mentee to fly. I find mentoring much like parenting.
- Richard E. Lapchick, Racial and Gender Report Card (University of Central Florida, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, 2003). [↩]
- Lopiano, Donna, “Gender Equity and the Black Female in Sport,” Women’s Sports Foundation, http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/
cgi-bin/iowa/issues/disc/article.html?record=869 . [↩] - Ernesta (Nessie) A. Johnson, graduate of Temple University, and currently pursing her goal to become a professional billiards player. [↩]
