>> I'm pleased to say that we've
got two advisory board members
here in today [inaudible]
the former Health Director
at Tuskegee State [crowd
cheers] and [inaudible] lecturer
in the Department of Kinesiology
and also a former
world-class triathlete.
>> Wow [crowd cheers].
>> And of course he
has impeccable timing,
the Dean of the College
of Education [inaudible]
just walked in just
as I was about to thank her.
I really do want to extend a
thank you once again [inaudible]
every event, and she's
earned it this week.
[Inaudible] a big thank you
to [inaudible] generous
support [applause].
And the Department of
Kinesiology as well.
[Inaudible] in 2011, and has
been a huge fan of [inaudible]
in so many different ways.
And they continue through to the
[inaudible] with your support.
So we are grateful to the
Department of Kinesiology
and it's entire faculty
and staff [applause].
One other quick thing.
You'll notice that
there are surveys
in the appropriate color,
purple or lavender [inaudible].
If you wouldn't mind filling
that out after the presentation,
and I guess just [inaudible] or
drop it under your seat there.
That would really be great.
We appreciate your
feedback about our events.
Finally now on to Donna Duffy.
Dr. Donna Duffy is an Assistant
Professor in the Department
of Kinesiology at the University
of North Carolina Greensboro
where she teaches a wide
range of courses from pedagogy
and coaching to P.E.
administration.
She serves as the
program coordinator
for undergraduate
coaching education option
in the major on that campus.
In addition, she directs the
program for the advancement
of girls and women
sport [inaudible].
She has been and is the
principal investigator
on a number of different
research grants.
Some but not all related
to the work [inaudible].
In the past month she's been
awarded the Coleman Fellowship,
which supports faculty
in an effort
to integrate [inaudible]
skills and learning objectives
into their coursework,
and she's going to do
that for the foundation
as a coaching class.
The second award
that she's been given
in recent weeks is
the [inaudible] Award.
And this is to fund faculty
for international travel
to take their research agenda
abroad and to introduce it folks
and share knowledge
and get knowledge back
on the international level.
So congratulations
[multiple speakers].
>> Thank you.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Those of us familiar
with athletic culture,
and I know there
are plenty of you
in the room are also aware the
practice [inaudible] employ
language that they think will
motivate athletes that's laced
with profanity and can,
in addition, homophobic
and sexually explicit
or violent rather
than positive and constructive.
The tactics used by some
coaches serves to humiliate
and instill fear in athletes.
In some instances,
those in control
of what happens [inaudible]
tolerate coaches behavior
or even encourage it.
Such language would
simply not be accepted
in any other educational
setting,
but it may not even raise
an eyebrow when it happens
on playing fields
and athletic courts.
Dr. Duffy's research is intent
on changing that culture
of coaches using derogatory
or humiliating language
to motivate the players.
In part, the role of
the field hockey coach
for many years sparked
your interest in the topic
and also the development of a
workshop that she has created
that she's going to be giving
on our campus this afternoon
at 4:30 entitled
Coaching Coaches,
an educational workshop
[inaudible]
about sexually violent
language in coaching.
Hundreds of coaches and athletic
administrators have completed
the workshop with the
vast majority indicating
that the information gained
in the session will help them
do their jobs both differently
and better.
Given Dr. Duffy's commitment to
challenging existing practices
and sport of demeaning,
marginalized, and [inaudible],
we are thrilled that she
accepted our invitation
to come to campus today.
Please join me in welcoming
Donna Duffy [applause].
>> Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I am going to move this.
Is that OK?
Well thank you very much.
I'm extremely honored
to be here, very happy.
Never been to this part
of the country before.
So it was the first time
I flew into San Francisco
and have had just such
a great experience
with being here so far.
So thank you very much.
And thanks to the center
for bringing me in.
Just a couple of, well I
guess a quick disclosure.
I've never been invited to
speak anywhere before except
here [applause].
So, you know, it's a very
interesting thing, right,
because when you start
your academic work,
when you start your career as a
faculty member, you are sending
in abstracts left and right
to every conference you
can get your hand on,
"Please accept me."
And so sometimes you do
and sometimes you don't.
Right? You get those
opportunities.
Well, when I got invited
to speak here I thought well
this is great, you know,
maybe I can stop
sending in abstracts now,
but I don't think that's
going to happen [laughter].
I think that's something that
I'm still going to have to do
on a pretty regular basis.
So thank you very much.
And forever in terms
of my academic history,
you'll be my first invited talk.
So that's good.
And I'll make sure I let all
the other people who follow you
after you know, let them
know that I was here first.
So today I want to talk to you
just a little bit about the out,
what we learned from a
program that we developed.
And I do have a long history
in coaching, a long history
with coaching specifically
field hockey,
but I grew up in
a coaching family.
My grandfather was the
first football coach
in the town that we grew up in.
My grandmother was the
first cheerleading coach.
She started that program.
I grew up in a family
of coaches.
My uncles, my aunts,
my mother, everybody.
Coaching, coaching, coaching,
athletics, athletics, athletics.
Right? So and growing up in my
world actually I was expected
to be an athlete.
There was no question about it.
Any other interests that I
could have potentially had
like the flute was
not an option.
Put it down.
Go to practice kind of thing.
That was what it was.
So I've been athletics
for a long time
and have coached high school
field hockey for about 24 years
and go a little bit of
work with USA Field Hockey
through our program at UNCG.
So I've been very fortunate
to have these experiences.
And one of the things
I've learned
as I've had these experiences
is that these spaces
where we send kids,
where we send adults,
where we send young
adults to participate
and hopefully learn some of
what we sometimes consider the
byproducts of sport
participation like teamwork
and being more cooperative,
higher levels
of efficacy and self esteem.
Sometimes those things are
compromised if the program
or the organization
or the athletic department
is using language,
and language creates
a culture, doesn't it?
Is using a language that
is derogatory in nature.
And one of the things
I started to figure
out as I got a little bit older,
as I got some more
education underneath my belt,
and I started teaching and
started doing more research is
that a lot of these spaces are
not conducive for these things.
They're not conducive
for learning.
So I kind of took a
step back and said,
"What am I going to do?"
Because I love athletics.
I grew up in athletics.
It's how I identify myself.
What am I going to do about
this because this space
that I love may not be safe
anymore because of the way
that I was changing, because of
the way my thinking was changing
about being in those
spaces and how
that culture was being developed
based on how I was being coached
and how other people
were being coached.
The words that were being
used in those spaces.
OK? The relationships, etcetera.
So what I did was say, "I need
to begin to explore this."
Right? So about two years ago I
was very lucky and got a grant,
an $80,000 grant, from a local
foundation in Winston Salem,
North Carolina that
focuses very specific
on issues of social justice.
And I put in a proposal that
said I want to develop a program
that looks at coaching language
and how we can reduce sexually
violent language in coaching
because it's there,
and it's happening.
And sort of the breaking point
for me I guess was I was
coaching a field hockey team
with a friend of mine
at a local high school
in Guilford County,
North Carolina.
And field hockey and football
are in the same season.
And in our field, we have this
little field over here off
in the corner, and then the
football team has two different
fields, right?
So what we have in this
situation is the head football
coach standing on a
platform with a bullhorn.
Is that what you call it?
Like a megaphone.
Right? Screaming at these
players using sexually
violent language.
And I'm thinking, "He's
trying to motivate them."
Right? So it's like all of the
sudden all these bells went off
in my head, and I'm
thinking to myself
if the athletic environment
is truly an extension
of the school day
and kids are there
to learn things,
this is unacceptable.
We can no longer have school
sanctioned events whether they
are between 8:30 in the morning
until 3:00 in the afternoon
or 3:00 in the afternoon
until 7:00 at night
when that final whistle blows,
these have to be safe
educational spaces
where learning is taking place.
So I wrote this grant,
and I said we need
to teach coaches how to do this.
And I think, in the
long run, right,
we're going to reduce the amount
of sexually violent language.
And it will help not
to normalize this way
that kids are being coached and
the normalization of derogatory
and violent language
around women's issues.
So what I have here for you
today is an analysis of some
of the work that we did with
this program over two summers
with 154 coaches
in North Carolina.
Those of you that
are going to go
through the program this
afternoon, the workshop,
you're actually going
to get the workshop.
This is what we learned from
the workshop after two summers.
OK? So I want to give you just
a little bit of a backdrop here.
What was our foundational
belief?
I talked about this
just for a minute.
High school athletics
are an important aspect
of the school environment.
How many of you agree with that?
To embody the educational values
instilled during the school day,
coaching language, and the
messages being delivered
to motivate and communicate with
high school athletes in practice
and competitive settings should
be instructional in nature
with word choices that are
free of violent language,
derogatory messages,
and the normalization
of sexually violent acts.
Now, how many of you
have been on a team,
have been coached, or do coach?
OK. Now, you don't have to raise
your hand for this, but how many
of you have ever
heard another person
in an athletic environment
use some kind of language
that was sexually violent in
nature to either make a point,
challenge you, or motivate you?
It happens all the time.
Doesn't it?
This kind of normalization
is extremely problematic.
I focused really with
high school athletics.
But we're seeing that
this is threading itself
through the elimination
of this kind
of language is threading itself
through all the way to the top.
What did the NFL recently come
out and say for the fall season?
That penalties will be
imposed to players on the field
if they use homophobic
language, racial slurs,
sexually violent
language, and other forms
of inappropriate language.
You will be penalized.
Guess how many yards?
>> Fifteen yards.
>> Fifteen.
OK. So this is threading
through.
People are starting to see
that this is a problem,
and the way we communicate in
these spaces has to change.
Now, my work with this
particular project is
on sexually violent language
because a lot of what I study,
well the primary,
my primary area
of research is sexual
violence in athletics.
OK. So this is what we believe.
And so this is kind
of where we started.
Our partners on this particular
project we worked very closely
with the North Carolina
Coalition
Against Sexually Assault,
the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association,
and of course faculty and
staff, graduate students,
and undergraduate students
from UNC Greensboro.
We really aim to enhance
the leadership role
that coaches played in
eliminating the normalization
of gender-based sexual violence
in athletic settings
via the creation
of an educational program
for high school coaches
in North Carolina.
When we started this program
two and half years ago,
we had no idea how far
it was going to go.
And it will be presented for the
fourth time this year in Boston
at the national level.
So we thought this was
a statewide project
that we were going to do.
It was going to be great.
We were going to help
enhance athletics
and improve athletics
in North Carolina.
We had no idea that people
would be so interested
at the national level.
OK? So these were our partners.
These people right
here especially NC CASA
and the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association,
they were critical
partners for us.
OK? I want to just kind
of give you a snapshot
of who are the 154 people that
were a part of our training.
OK. So who's coaching high
school sports in North Carolina?
Just kind of an average here.
The summer that we
worked with them
and we gathered this information
that I'm going to present
to you, by the way, for
the first time today,
I just finished this analysis.
But with qualitative data you're
never really done, are you?
I'm going to look at
it again next week,
and I'll have to
send you an email.
I forgot to mention this,
I found this this time.
So we had 154 coaches.
The average age was
41 years old.
We had 98 male coaches, and
we had 56 female coaches.
On average, the coaches that
we worked with have 12 years
of coaching experience.
Ninety-two percent of them
reported that they were going
to coach their sport
the following season.
And 47% of them reported that
they coached more than one sport
at the high school level.
OK. So a lot of coaching
experience in there.
One hundred and seven of the
of the coaches have a
four-year college degree.
One hundred and thirty-four
of them report having
a teaching license
or certificate in
North Carolina.
Seventy-five of them reported
that they have a degree
in exercise and sports
science slash kinesiology.
Forty reported taking a
coaching class while they were
in college.
Thirty-six of the one fifty-four
have a master's degree.
One hundred and twelve of them
reported that they had some kind
of formalized coach training.
OK? And what we basically found
out, we dug a little bit deeper
on this, what they meant by
that was they have some kind
of online learning
certificate that they got
from taking online
coaching classes.
So they have some other kind of
formalized coaching training.
On average, these coaches, the
154 of them reported spending
about 24 hours a week engaged
in coaching while
they were in season.
How many of you coach,
currently coach?
How many of you think this
is pretty accurate, 24 hours?
How many of you think
it's a little bit more?
Yeah. I think so.
I mean, I thought that
was a little conservative.
On average, coaches report
that their seasons
last about 18 weeks.
OK. So this really is just
sort of a snapshot for you
of who participated,
who we worked
with when we first
did this workshop.
OK? So how did we
develop this curriculum?
We have two very great partners.
How did we develop
this workshop?
The first year we asked
stakeholders and experts
from UNCG, the North
Carolina Coalition
Against Sexual Assault,
the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association,
we sat down, and we tried to
really flush out what we needed
to teach, what's important.
You have a group of coaches
in a room for an hour.
You want them to stop using
sexually violent language,
what are you going to do?
What do you teach them,
and how do you do it
in a way that's very applied
and in a way that's going
to make it accessible for them?
Right? Something that just kind
of can roll off the tongue.
So we did that.
We took that initial curriculum
that we all worked through.
We delivered it to, we
piloted it to 75 coaches
in North Carolina at
different coaching workshops
in the summer of 2011.
OK? Then they did all
these evaluations for us.
And in the academic year
of 2011, 2012, we went in,
and we revised the entire thing.
So based on their feedback and
suggestions of the coaches,
these 75 coaches changed a lot.
OK. In year two, this is
where, and this is how we got
to where we are, this
is the presentation
that you'll see this afternoon.
We revised the curriculum,
and then we went back
and we presented it to the 154
coaches in the summer of 2012.
OK. We developed a final
program based on their feedback.
So we did another
round of revisioning.
And then we put the final
program training online in May.
OK. Last year.
So this training
is free of charge
to all North Carolina coaches
and athletic directors.
And to be honest with you, I
guess it's really free of charge
for anybody who wants to
access it because it's online.
The videos are up there.
Everything is there.
So if you wanted to
access it you could.
But this is basically how we
came to develop the curriculum,
which is going to be important
for you to know when I start
to talk about outcomes.
And how do we know if it worked?
Right? So we could
develop these programs,
but how do you know if it works?
How do you know if those
coaches when they leave
that setting are going to
walk away and say, "Yep,
I know how to do this.
I know what to say if it
comes up, and I'm not going
to use this language anymore."
OK. So what we talked to
them about, just a little,
I want to give you just a little
hint here of some of the things
that we did talk to them
above so you have some context
when I start to talk
about the outcomes.
We said, "Well, what's
the problem?"
You know, so we talked to
the coaches about this.
What's the problem?
Sexual violence is
a societal problem.
Right? Sexual violence exists
in many domains and spaces.
Athletic and sport
is only one example.
One of the things that was
it was very important for me
because I do love athletics is
I don't want anybody that goes
through this training to feel
like we're attacking athletics.
You know, it's bad, right?
I don't want anybody
to feel that way.
We need to make a change.
There's got to be an adjustment,
which will only make this
space better and safer.
OK?
So the other example that
we often give is music.
How many of you listen to music
that has references to sex,
sexually violence, derogatory
messages against women?
How many of you have
ever heard music
that has those words in them?
Right. So this is not
an athletic problem.
Sexual violence, this
is a societal problem.
But because of who we are, what
we study, and where we sit,
we're in the best places to
make an impact in this area.
Aren't we?
Right? This is a societal issue.
It's not an athletic issue.
Something that's
engrained in a lot
of different aspects
of our lives.
Right? So I think that this is
one of the most important things
that I point out to people
when I give this workshop.
The other day, the
program that I run
at UNCG just had a
phenomenal opportunity.
And do you all know
about the WIFL?
It's the Women's
Independent Football League.
It's a semi-pro league
for women.
You do? I'm glad.
It's an independent semi-pro
tackle football league
for women.
Insane how strong
these women are.
So they asked me if
I wanted to play.
And I thought, "What?"
I can't play, right?
Because I pride myself
on being tough,
but if I took one I'd be done.
That'd be it.
So my entire self-identity
would be out the window.
So I wouldn't get up
from a hit like that.
Right? So I bring this
up because the program
that I run we just negotiated
a contract with this league
to be their research arm,
which we're very excited
about because we'll begin some
of the first concussion work
very specific on women athletes
because it's not out there.
Women athletes and
concussion, this is going
to be a huge area
for us to tackle.
Right? Did you get it?
Tackle [laughter].
OK. So anyway I bring this up
because on Saturday night I'm
at one of their football games.
There are 31 teams throughout
the country by the way.
Women's tackle football, and
they're an organized league.
Semi-pro. I'm at one of the
games in Durham, North Carolina
on Saturday night, and the
CEO is a friend of mine,
and she's also a player
for the Carolina Phoenix.
So I'm sitting there,
right, listening, half time.
This music comes on.
We all play music
at half time, right?
You should have heard the music.
One of the first conversations
I'm going to have with her
when I go home is
what are you doing?
That language was, this
is a women's league,
a women's tackle football
league, and the music
that was happening at half time
was all violence against women.
So we have to be
aware of these things.
Right? Think about
this, empowering women,
women who tackle each
other, 300-pound women
who tackle each other.
This is an amazing space
for empowerment issues,
but at halftime we're
playing music that is violent,
and it's derogatory
towards women.
So this is a big societal issue.
But because of where we
sit, we can change this just
by changing our framing language
and just by changing the words
that we use when we
communicate to our athletes.
OK? Some research suggests
that sexual violence is rooted
or roots in power
issues and entitlement.
OK? This is the case
too for sport.
Right? We know about power
and privilege in sport and how
that may lead to increased
levels of folks feeling
like they're sort of
untouchable in these spaces.
OK? So power.
This is one of the things that
the sexual violence research has
in common just with
sport in general.
Why language?
So we know sexual violence is
a problem, but why language?
Why is that the road
we chose to go down?
It's one of the most
fundamental aspects of coaching.
Think about when you coach.
Raise your hand and remind
me how many of you coach.
Think about when you coach or
when you've been coached, right?
More hands went up for that.
How much would you
have gotten done
if your coach wasn't
talking to you,
instructing you,
or directing you?
I can give you a hint.
Not much. I had this
experience last summer.
Through the U.S.
State Department,
we worked with the University
of Tennessee in the Center
for Peace Sport, sorry I'm
going to mess up their name.
Yeah. So we worked with them and
Sarah, and we brought in a group
of female Pakistani
field hockey players.
They stayed on the UNCG campus.
I have no idea how to
communicate with them.
So I thought to myself
this is going
to be a really great
challenge for me to work
on my non-verbal coaching.
Well, that's true, right,
this idea of demonstrating.
But when you're trying to
explain tactics and things
like that to people, you
kind of do need to have,
you need to know how
to speak to people.
So I got, this was a
great lesson for me
that language is a
critical aspect of coaching.
Demonstration is only
going to get you so far.
If you're trying
to teach tactics
and the reason why you have
to move into that space,
you got to be able to talk.
The Pakistani female athletes
that we had UNCG last year
through the U.S. State
Department Empowering Women
grant, thank goodness
they already knew how
to play field hockey
because I'm not really sure
that they would have
learned much from me.
Language. Powerful yet
often overlooked in terms
of possibilities
to create change.
It helps to create
the culture of a team.
Right? How many of you
that have participated
on athletic teams had
like a keyword or saying
that represented your team?
It was like your team motto
or your team slogan,
something like that.
It creates a culture.
Right? It creates the
culture of your team.
Language also establishes
a tone.
And language of course can
be verbal and non-verbal.
OK. So we've got sexual
violence is a problem, language.
How do we get to these coaches.
We had this running list in that
first year that we were working,
probably 30 things on that
list that we could have done
with this grant for these
coaches in North Carolina.
We chose language because it's
the most fundamental aspect
of coaching.
And it's the thing that
can be fixed immediately.
OK? So how does language now,
I'm going to put those
two slides together,
how does it contribute
to sexual violence?
Some statements lead
us to believe
that women are weak
and men are strong.
Also some allow us to believe
it's OK for men to have power
over women, which may include
influence and persuasion,
physically overpowering someone,
and confusing the boundaries
about what is right and wrong.
It allows us to think that
sexual violence is not serious,
normalized, and it
allows us to think
that if sexual violence
happens then it is something
that the woman did to bring it
on herself, which is not true.
Right? This was our
curricular outline.
So we took that information,
and we said, OK,
we need to break this down.
Right. Coaches are
applied people.
They are practitioners.
We need to give it
to them straight.
How are we going to do it?
We developed a curriculum
that had three sections.
What coaches need to believe,
and that goes back
to this right here.
You need to believe
that this is a problem
and that you have the
ability to fix it.
We need to know what
coaches need to know.
Right? So if you hear someone
on your team use
derogatory language
when they come off the
field or even on the field,
how do you address it?
What do you say?
How do you fix it?
Right? How do you say that's
really not what you meant
to say?
What I think you
meant to say was this.
OK. And what they
need to be able to do.
Recognize those skills,
not allow it, not use it,
address it when it happens.
OK. All right.
So these were our
curricular objectives.
In the short term we wanted to
develop an educational program
for coaches and increase the
role that they could play
in stopping gender-based
interpersonal violence among
their athletes.
For us it was changing
their language.
Our long-term goals were these.
And you'll notice that
these are in red right here.
This is where we
collected our data.
Did our program work?
Did we make a dent?
Are we now seeing that coaches
feel better about being able
to do their jobs and that they
know how to use instruction
and not derogatory language to
motivate, challenge, instruct,
and teach their athletes.
OK? So we wanted to
enhance the leadership,
through our training
enhance the leadership role
that North Carolina coaches
can play in reducing this kind
of violence, expose, examine,
and reduce the tolerance
of this, not allow it,
and reduce this use
of language by athletes.
OK. Those were our
three main objectives.
So we went into these trainings,
first the pilot training,
made the adjustments, and then
we went in the summer of 2012
and gave the first real
sort of presentation of this
with the revisions that
have been passed to us
from the coaches from
the summer before.
So these are where
our three big areas.
Did we teach what we said
we were going to teach?
Right? That's the foundational
question of anything.
Did we teach what we said
we were going to teach?
The results, how many
of you think we did?
Yes, all of you raised
your hands [laughter].
We did. We did.
We found that our coaches
learned what they needed to do
in their language to
reduce gender-based violence
and how it normalizes itself.
Here's some quotes.
Change can happen.
We can trigger it.
Collectively we must be willing
to stop this type of language.
So you see they're
starting to assume the role.
We've said it's a problem.
It's a societal issue.
Athletics though is
not, we frame this
as that athletics is a space
where inherent leaders
naturally come to the top.
That being said, if you
agree with that coaches,
then you are the perfect
people to change this culture.
OK. So we can see
that they're starting
to assume ownership
of this information.
And they're going to make
some changes around this
and their team and
their environment.
Several coaches just told
us, "I can stop this.
This doesn't have to
be set on my team.
I can stop this."
OK. Our athletes are
always watching us.
Be careful with our
words and be willing
to communicate differently.
I can take this information and
pass it along to other coaches
in my school and my districts.
So they're assuming ownership.
That leadership role that they
were looking for, they got it.
We said to them,
you're the coaches.
Coaches by their very
nature are leaders.
Don't you think?
They are. What are you
going to do about this?
OK. The next one, how can we
get this tolerance that happens
of the normalization of
this language to stop?
Coaches, what are you
going to do about this?
If you're the leaders, what
are you going to do about this?
So they go through
our whole program,
and then this is what they tell
us, "I will tell other coaches
when their language
is inappropriate."
OK. "I will use the
examples that were presented
in this training about
how to correct language."
They learned phrases
that they can use
to stop the language
when they hear it.
They can redirect language and
teach athletes about violence,
the violence in their language.
The athletes may not be aware.
OK. So I want to stop right here
and give you one really
concrete prime example.
And one of the things,
one of the biggest things
about doing this kind
of work and talking
about this is you have
to know who is sitting
in front of you, right?
So what I'm about to
say, it's offensive.
This is data that we collected
from the North Carolina coaches.
And we have found that
it is particularly true
with the lacrosse
culture in North Carolina.
A lot of times when
athletes, lacrosse athletes,
and other athletes, not just
lacrosse, I'm not picking
on lacrosse, but we
found this with a lot
of lacrosse coaches
were reporting this.
When we talk about this
idea of their language,
and their athletes may
not be aware of it,
here's a perfect example
of the normalization of one
of the most heinous,
sexually violent acts
that someone can experience.
Players coming off the
field, coaches going
into the locker room
and saying, "Man,
we're getting raped out there."
How many of you have ever
heard coaches say this?
Normal, right?
What does it really mean?
If your coach is in the locker
room with you at halftime
and they say, "Man, we're
getting raped out there."
What does it mean?
We're losing.
Yeah. We're losing.
Why wouldn't you just say,
"We're getting out, you know,
we're losing [laughter]."
What are you going
to do about it?
Right? Why do we have to take
one of the most horrendous acts
of sexual violence and bring
it into our locker room,
and it happens all the time.
Kids coming off the field
because they've been taking
out the game, throwing
their sticks on the ground,
and saying, "Man, I just
got raped out there."
You ask an athlete, "Well,
what does that mean?"
What it means is that
someone was playing, you know,
they figured out how
to play you on defense,
and you can't get
around them, right?
Problematic.
These kids don't even know
what they're saying because if
in fact they had just
gotten raped out there,
I think that going into that
locker room would have been a
heck of a lot different
for them.
They have no idea that
what, it's normal.
It's become a normalized
part of the culture.
It's not appropriate.
Right? This is a problem.
Other coaches said when
they could examine, expose,
and reduce this kind of stuff,
if you hear it, acknowledge it
and do something about it.
Our curriculum breaks
it down this way.
What do you say to stop it?
What do you say instead of it?
How do you teach the
athlete about it?
Number three, how do
you affect athletes?
How do you now as
a teacher, right,
so let's say you're
a math teacher.
You're teaching kids
how to add and subtract.
They leave your classroom
in second grade.
Now they go to third
grade, and they have
to be able to multiply?
They're going to take what they
learned from you in second grade
with adding and subtracting
because you need to know how
to do that when you
multiply, don't you?
How are your athletes going
to take what you teach
them and carry it along?
Change it.
Right? So you go to the coaches
who are the role models, right?
Coaches are role models.
You go to the coaches,
and now you say,
"You have to make an impact.
You have to make sure that
your athletes are taking this
with you, taking this with them.
What they learned from you."
So this is your next big thing.
How are you going
to get the athletes
to acknowledge this and use it?
So the coaches told us until you
teach athletes to sit and talk
about this, they may
not be aware of it,
and they just will accept
it as normal language.
You have to teach athletes to
be responsible for each other.
Don't use this language
as a motivational tool.
It is clearly not.
It is sexual violence.
OK? So this is what,
so we really felt,
I felt good about
this curriculum.
I feel good about what the
coaches learned from it.
I feel good about it.
They got what we wanted them
too in the hour workshop
when they were in front of us.
OK? Now some of the other
things, because if we go back
to this slide you may remember
these were the three areas we
were really focused on.
But then all of the sudden I'm
going through all this data,
pages and pages,
300 pages of data.
Right? I'm going through it.
It has taken me a
year to go through it.
All the sudden, so I have
my areas set up, right?
These three areas all set
up on this big Excel sheet.
I'm impressing myself as I add
more things to the Excel sheet.
Right? But then all of the
sudden I have this column
over here that's
starting to develop.
And right now at that moment
last winter I was calling
it outliers.
And so when I took a harder
look at it this spring,
they weren't outliers.
What I figured out is
that they learned more
than we had intended and that
these outliers were clumping
into these four areas.
Definitions of what sexual
violence actually is.
They were learning
about challenging norms.
How do you challenge
norms of sexual violence
and sexually violent language
within an athletic culture.
They were learning
the prevalence of it.
How many of these coaches are
actually talking like this?
And they also learned
that it's a problem.
So we took these other areas.
And so what I've got to do
now is that's what I mean
by qualitative, how many of you
are qualitative researchers?
Just when you think
you're done, you go,
you're like, "This
is spectacular.
I'm going to present this.
I'm going to write about it.
This is great."
Guess what I'm going to have to
spend part of my summer doing?
Going through all of this now.
But isn't it great, you
know, when you really look
at it, isn't it great?
Those coaches took
more information away
from that one hour than we had
planned for and what we taught
that what we planned
for with our objectives
and what we had intended
to teach them.
You can't ask for
more than that.
Imagine if students in
your classroom did that.
How great would, like they
did the reading [laughter]?
Right? Tell me something
you learned in the reading.
It's a victory, isn't it?
Raise your hand if
you're a faculty member.
If the students do your
reading, and you have some kind
of bonus question on the quiz,
what did you learn
in your reading?
You feel pretty good about it.
Right? They learned.
They got it.
They get it.
I'm so happy.
OK. So this is now
a next step for me.
Right? And by the way,
did I mention this is the
first time I've ever presented
this data?
So I'm very excited about it.
Maybe I'll come back next
year, and I'll show you think.
OK. Curricular efficacy.
OK. So here's the big thing.
Right? You have coaches
for an hour.
You give it to them,
and then what happens?
They go away.
How do you know if it sticks?
In the moment they can
give me an evaluation.
"I learned this,
this, and this."
But when they leave
me, they leave us,
a year later are
they still using it?
Right? This is a big problem.
But it is the problem
with all issues
around curricular efficacy.
OK. So we did a little bit
of follow up with them.
They don't respond.
What's the number one reason
why coaches won't respond
to follow up?
I'm too busy, which
we get a lot.
I get it. So how do we know
if they're using it out there?
Two years after the fact, a year
after the fact, how do we know?
This is a work in progress.
The bottom line is I don't know.
Can I tell a granting
agency and put my IRB
for my research plan I'm
going to follow up with them.
I'm going to send
them postcards.
I'm going to do this,
this, and this.
Yes. Will it get approved?
I hope so.
Will those coaches
send it back to me?
No. Maybe not.
Maybe 24%.
Because what I don't
write in my IRB
and what I don't tell
my granting agency is
that at least 70% of
these people are going
to respond a year later.
I have no control over that.
Right? I can't do that.
We'd be, I mean, I'd be digging
a big old hole for myself.
So it's a work in progress.
We ask the North Carolina
Coaching Association
to do a little bit
of follow up for us.
What we found was that
74% of the coaches
who attended our last formalized
workshops before they went
online, they reported that
they were using part or some
of the curricular training
when they worked with athletes.
The most impactful learning
goal that was reported was
that coaches were now able
to recognize sexually
violent language
and that they had
higher levels of efficacy
when addressing the language.
But we also don't
know how often.
So if you're coaching the swim
team and you hear something
and you address it,
but then you go out
and you coach the baseball
team and you hear something
and you don't address it,
I mean, what do you do?
Right? Because a high
portion of these coaches,
47% are coaching
more than one sport.
It doesn't carry over.
Does the language culture
of that team matter.
Right? So I might be
more comfortable talking
with my swim, but not with
my baseball or softball team.
I'm not going to talk
to them about this.
They're not those kind
of, they can't hear that.
Right? So we don't know.
This is a really hard
part about this research.
We also know that the North
Carolina High School Athletic
Association is collecting some
information on athlete violence,
athlete sexual violence
in North Carolina,
but it's perpetrator based.
So, you know, if an
athlete commits this act
and a person goes
to the Coalition
for help kind of thing.
So we're getting a little
bit of that, but the efficacy
of this it's a work in progress.
And if anybody has any
suggestions about programs
that you've developed and how
you've handled this, you know,
we definitely, I would
love to hear about this.
I would love to talk
to you about that.
OK. So this is where we are.
Comments? Questions?
Yes?
[ Inaudible Question ]
Oh, really?
Thank you very much.
I really like it here.
I've never been here before.
And I had a great time,
I met these two nice
people last night at dinner.
It was great.
I've loved it.
It's been great.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
OK. I hope I [inaudible].
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah. Yeah.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
I think your, you raise,
yeah, you raise a good point.
And so, and you're right.
You're absolutely right.
One of the challenges is, for
me, if I could do that I would.
See, what I've also, I didn't
talk about this, but the coaches
that come to the
trainings every summer
in North Carolina are different.
So if all of you came in 2012,
you wouldn't come back in 2013.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah. I agree with you.
I agree. Well, and we know
this is, as more light is sort
of shed on this that it is
a problem, the next project
that we're taking on with the
same foundation in Winston Salem
that focuses on social
justice is, one of the things
that I didn't mention in this
presentation is an analysis
of the data also
strongly indicates
that sexual violent language,
sexually violent language
that was being reported
is also homophobic.
It's very homophobic in nature.
And so the next project
that we're starting
on the fall is developing
a curriculum that's similar
to this, but addressing this
idea of homophobic language.
I don't know what will overlap.
I'm not sure, you know, but we
have got to address this use
of homophobic language in
sports the same way that we use,
not we, they, people
that live outside
of our worlds use sexually
violent language to challenge
and motivate athletes
specifically around masculinity,
we cannot also allow that to
happen with homophobic language.
It's not appropriate.
And like I said, I work
with high school athletes,
so contextually I can
make a strong argument
that this is inappropriate.
It's an extension
of the school day.
This should not be going on.
I coach field hockey.
I'll tell you a story.
I coach field hockey.
I've coached field
hockey forever.
I love high school field hockey.
If I could make a
living doing it, I would.
Let me tell you, we were on
a trip going to Asheville,
North Carolina to play
a field hockey game.
It's just three hours
from Greensboro.
I get to the school and find
out the coaches have
to drive the vans.
>> Oh that's [inaudible].
>> It did.
So I'm like, OK, I'm
going to drive the van.
Well, it's one of those,
there are three coaches,
three vans going to
Asheville, three hours,
play a field hockey game,
turn around and come home.
So I'm driving down the road,
and it's one of those vans
that has like the DVD
players in the back.
And I hear the players in the
back, I've known them forever,
like I coached them since they
were in middle school, right?
They're watching this show.
And in the show,
like I can't see it.
I can only here it.
Well in this show
this girl gets raped,
and I'm like what in the world.
So I turned it off, and I
said, "What are you watching?"
Gossip Girl.
Well, I've never seen that show.
I watch The Big Bang
Theory, and I go to bed.
So they're watching Gossip
Girl, and I'm like OK.
So I turn it on for another
minute just to listen.
Well, that episode
ends, and I'm thinking,
"What am I going
to do about this?"
Three episodes of Gossip Girl?
No. So in the next episode, the
girl who got raped falls in love
with the guy who raped her.
This is me.
Eject. Right?
Because the DVD is in the
set where I'm sitting.
And they all freak out.
And I'm like, I try, I'm
having this conversation,
"You would not, what
are you watching?
This is not appropriate."
"Well, it's just, it's fake.
We know it's not real."
I said, "It doesn't matter.
This is a school-sanctioned
trip.
You're in a van that is
owned by this school.
Do you really think I'm going
to let you watch this nonsense
as you prepare for
a field hockey game?
No way." Well, and I have
a really good relationship
with all of them, right?
I turned on that
satellite radio and listened
to Barry Manilow the
whole rest of the way
to Asheville [laughter].
I was like you're not going to,
no one is swear at each other,
no one is going to get
killed, and no one is going
to rape each other in this song.
Trust me. When you know what
happened was the other vans were
so stacked with equipment
and other players,
they wouldn't get back
into my van to come home.
So I had to switch vans to
drive all the equipment home.
Fine with me.
But I did kind of feel bad,
but they didn't get it.
And so the next day, well
when we got back to practice
on Monday I said,
"Do you understand?"
Some of them did.
Some of them didn't.
And I've been, OK, to make
the story worse I went
to the athletic director.
I said, "[Inaudible],
what are you doing?"
If you are going to monitor the
music that is played at warm up
and halftime and have these
kids turn in the lyrics
to these songs to make sure that
it's not offensive or violent,
you have to do the same
thing with what they're able
to watch on these trips.
You can't be listening to,
you know, this great music
at halftime, but then be able
to watch a girl get raped
in an episode of a TV
show in the back of a van
on a school sanctioned trip.
It doesn't make any sense.
So I went on this huge
campaign to get like parents
and other people to
donate like nice movies,
movies that don't have
violence in them and movies
where women aren't
going to get hurt
and other people aren't going to
get hurt and they're not going
to swear at each other and
things are not going to blow up.
You know? Like Matilda.
Do you all know that movie
Matilda [crowd yells].
That was my idea.
Listen, they still
have not adopted,
but I really believe
this is true.
It's an extension of the day.
So because I work in an athletic
environment at high school,
and that's my focus, if I
were to have this conversation
in a professional environment,
in a collegiate environment,
it would be a different
conversation, wouldn't it?
It would. College you could,
I mean I could definitely
make the case for it I think,
but high school it's
a slam-dunk.
Right? What other
questions do you have?
Yeah?
>> Do you, I know that
you said you focused a lot
of your study in high school.
What about the elementary level?
>> Not. No.
I've not ever, I've done
some work with youth sports,
and I've done a little
bit of research
around volunteer training for,
or training for volunteer youth
coaches, youth sport coaches
but nothing like this.
No.
>> [Inaudible] I
feel like if that,
obviously you watch what
you say more than you would
at a high school setting
and college setting,
but a lot of it even
[inaudible].
>> Oh sure.
>> So, and it's kind of
hard because, you know,
they might know that language
as being normal at home.
>> Right.
>> So when you're like
[inaudible] that's not right,
and then they come
home [inaudible].
>> You're right.
And you're right.
That normalization that
comes from other places
and the kids bring it
with them, you're right.
I mean it's a huge
challenge, right?
But you raise a good point.
I've never thought about doing
it in a youth sport environment
like that or, you know,
a recreational environment
like that.
But it sounds like
there might be a need.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Well, OK. Yeah.
I don't know how to say this.
Can you turn that think off?
No. No. I haven't.
I did. I used to do
sport parent education.
And what I basically
have determined is
that you can't change
a person's value system
in a 45-minute workshop.
And the people who don't come
to those workshops
they need it the most.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah. And I know that there
are youth sport organizations
in the country that
take that approach.
You know, in terms
of teaching parents
about sports personship
and, you know, [inaudible]
and Florida soccer leagues
with silent Sundays
and things like that.
I think, you know,
those ideas have been,
they've been instituted
in different places
around the country for sure.
Could you do the
same thing with this?
Sure. You absolutely could.
I think the biggest
challenge that you have
with sport parent
education period is
that parents sometimes
have different agendas
for why their kids
are participating
that may not meet the mission
of the league or the coach.
Right? Or the values of
the coach or the league.
And I think that those
conversations are extremely
difficult to have especially
if people have other ideas
about what should be going on
for their kids in those spaces.
I, it is so nice that
your department chair said
that I could come back.
There was a time when I
was never invited back.
And that was sitting
with a bunch of a group
of sport parents when I became
the least popular person
in the room when I was asked
to give a talk for parents
about the byproducts of
youth sport participation,
and I started my talk with
this, which was a mistake.
It was a rookie mistake.
I'd never start a
conversation like this again.
But I said in front of all these
parents, packed auditorium,
I thought [inaudible].
I started my conversation
with this, "Ninety-percent
of your kids, ninety-percent
of them are not going
to play college athletics."
[ Crowd Yells ]
Exactly. Right.
Huge mistake.
Huge mistake.
I know. Right?
>> I'm in that 10%
>> I'm in that 10%
>> I'm in that 10%
>> Listen.
It was a horrible,
horrible mistake.
Listen. I was still
a doctoral student,
so I had a lot of
learning to do.
I am going to chalk
it up to that.
I will never start a
conversation like that again.
They stopped listening to me.
Some of them left.
In hindsight, 15 years later I
probably would have been like,
"What?
She doesn't even know my kid."
You know, "How does she know?"
But, I mean, so I don't know.
And ever since, and I've
tried to do things with them
since then, but I do know that
parents have their own ideas,
thoughts and values,
and a 45-minute workshop may not
get done what you really need
to get done in there, right?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Can I do what?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Well, that was actually a talk.
It was like a formal talk.
I was just going to talk
about like the byproducts
of youth sport participation.
Kids are going to
be more cooperative.
They're going to be better, you
know, all these types of things
that they, you know, that in
the late-90s those are the
conversations that we were
having around youth sports.
Right? Any other questions?
Yes?
[ Inaudible Question ]
Right. I don't know.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Right.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Sure. You raise, I
mean, a great point.
And I'm starting this in
a state that, you know,
had an opportunity to allow
for gay and lesbian couples
to be married last November,
and they voted it down.
Right? So this is, you
raise a great point,
but we've got to, I don't know.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Right.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Not yet. The only thing that I
know is that a lot of the data
that we collected, the
statements, they overlap
with homophobic language,
and it's problematic.
So, you know, some people say
well if it overlaps, you know,
just add it on to this.
It's a different, it
needs to be talked
about a little bit differently.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Right.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Right.
[ Inaudible Comment ]
And that's taught
through the culture.
Right? That's taught.
And so that's where,
I mean, you have to,
but actually this goes
back to your point, right?
Do you start it younger
with youth sports
because that's taught
very, I mean, my nephew,
my nephew is playing football,
and I had to wonder
what's he going to learn.
Is he going to learn,
what's he going
to learn besides how
to tackle somebody?
>> [Inaudible] a lot of them
drop out because they don't,
they don't enjoy it because
if they're not [inaudible]
as the other people they
feel like they don't fit in.
>> Right. Is my time up?
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yeah.
>> [Inaudible] This afternoon.
>> And tomorrow [applause].
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> [Inaudible] filling
out your surveys.
And thanks so much for coming.
