It's a question I hear constantly this time of year: I hear it from black and white people. Both of my daughters play lacrosse and they are good at it. Their pre-season started yesterday. I serve as one of the co-commissioners of their league. They picked the sport; I didn't. (I was hoping they would have selected my sport field hockey, but they refused to follow in mom's footsteps.)
My town's athletic association hosted a fundraiser with the Harlem Wizards. After the game, I introduced myself and my daughters to a few of the players. When I told one player the sport that I'm in charge of and mentioned that my daughters played; he was surprised.
I thought to myself how this sports stereotyping has " handicapped" black people. Most people assume the only sports we partcipate in are: basketball, track and field, and football.
Thank goodness for modern sports stars Venus and Serena Williams and Tiger Woods (pre-scandal).They helped open up doors and introduce young black children to the games of tennis and golf.
I told my children early that this world has a lot of opportunity and they need to take advantage of it. I wish young black children wouldn't all crowd into the same sports. Realistically, the chances of making it big in college or pro-football get slimmer because they are so many others competing for the same thing. Black people have made great strides in sports or arts and entertainment. It helped paved their way and the road to integration.
I'm happy that my daughters are carving out their own niches. I also know that I'll support their endeavors any way I can.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Tuesday, January 12th 2010 at 9:56AM
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