Friday, June 24, 2011

ESPN coaches survey: recruiting and sexual orientation

Hats off to ESPN writers for tackling the subject of how a recruit's sexual orientation might effect recruiting:

When ESPN HoopGurlz asked more than 20 college head and assistant coaches or recruiting coordinators whether a prospect's sexual orientation should be a factor in her recruitment, all were adamant that it should not be. Yet, when the discussions progressed, it turned out that sexual orientation, in some situations, could have an impact.

"It does matter," said the head coach referenced above. "I'm being honest."

Another said, "It's an unavoidable question."

.........

Still, many coaches insisted the topic almost always comes up in recruiting, usually raised by a prospect or, even more often, by a prospect's parents.

And, in such cases, the issue can cut both ways. Some parents are concerned their daughters might be "flipped," as one coach put it, by a gay teammate or coach. On the other hand, heterosexual coaching staffs believe they've often lost openly gay recruits. "I think they just don't feel we can relate enough," one coach said.


Deep talk.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link, Sue.

As much as some of the comments in the ESPN survey made me cringe, we are making progress against homophobia in American women's sports.

A New York Times story about soccer in Nigeria paints a very different, horrible, picture.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/6zlf4s5

Sonja and Paul said...

It doesn't matter. Fans want to see their teams win and good athletes produce wins. Who cares if they are gay, bi or straight?

Sue Favor said...

Scamp: that's a really scary story. Good lord.

Sonja and Paul, that's the way it seems to me to be on the teams I've watched play in person. Hopefully they're not putting on an act, and it's really as it seems. Neither coaches nor athletes seem to focus attention on sexuality - it's all about school and the game of basketball.