Breaking the stereotype

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, July 12, 2007 by Mark Watman

As a coach at a large, racially diverse suburban public high school, the females in our sports program mirror this trend (see "The Prevalence of Black Females in College Sports: It's Just An Illusion," May 31). Basketball, track and cheerleading are almost exclusively African-American, while our other 10 girls' sports teams are predominately Caucasian.

The issue as I see it is to break the stereotype that there are only certain sports that Black athletes can participate in. We also see the same trend with our boys' sports teams. We very aggressively recruit African-American students to participate in all our sports teams, but have not been successful. Find a way to increase participation at the high school level and you will see the college numbers change. The girls who have gone against the trend have had outstanding high school careers, and many have gone on to compete in college.