Why is Active Allyship Important in Sport?
Active allyship is about addressing systemic change and using your voice for positive change. Within sport, active allyship is extremely important for addressing systemic racism within sport. Specifically, in sport informed/active allyship consists of using the privilege associated with being a non-racialized coach to advocate for and work toward supporting all racialized participants and coaches.
The Coaching Association of Canada’s Anti-racism in coaching eLearning module provided great information on how to be an active ally.
8 ways to be an active NOT performative ally:
- Taking a stand in the fight against racism alongside people who face racism.
- Listening to and honoring what racialized communities say they want.
- Using privilege to educate and not taking credit for the ideas of others.
- Not relying on people who experience discrimination to provide teachings.
- Making space for racialized people to be heard, bringing them into the conversation and hiring them.
- Considering systems, not people, as being in need of fixing.
- Finding ways to correct misrepresentations of whites as the norm.
- Respecting times and spaces created only for racialized groups.
The Coaching Association of Canada also provided ways to be an ally for Indigenous peoples experiencing racism in sport:
- Base your allyship on information from local Indigenous communities and call out racist behavior and practices.
- Go beyond acknowledging the harmful and ongoing nature of colonial processes by actively engaging with Truth and Reconciliation and anti-racist practices that promote healing and celebrate Indigenous communities.
- Participate in critical reflectivity which is key to the decolonization process. Critical reflexivity emphasizes reflection on the dominant narratives, assumptions and perspectives that we understand to be true.