Making Sports Inclusive

In SEASON 4 of Pushing The Edge with Greg Curran:

• What do inclusive Physical Education and Sports environments look like?
• How can we make Physical Education (PE) and Sports classes more safe and welcoming?
• How does sexism, racism, ableism, and homophobia affect our participation in Physical Education and Sports?
• Why does diversity matter in Physical Education or Sports? Why should it matter to schools and sports organisations?
• How are individuals and communities reclaiming and re-making sports environments – making them more welcoming for all?

Listen to Pushing The Edge: The Sports Season

• Episode 38: Having a Voice & a Sense of Belonging in a Soccer Club with Ramon Spaaij (Show-notes)

• Episode 37: Tackling Homophobia & Transphobia in Footy with Angie Greene (Show-notes)

• Episode 36: Changing Sexist, Racist, Homophobic & Transphobic Cultures in Sports Clubs with Ryan Storr (Show-notes)

• Episode 35: Supporting Culturally Diverse Youth through Sport with Sue McGill

• Episode 34: Making Sport Accessible for People with Disabilities – with Sam De Leve

• Episode 33: Teaching Physical Education in a More Inclusive Way – with Grant O Sullivan & Loretta Konjarski

• Episode 32: Making Sport Safe, Comfortable & Inclusive for LGBTI People – with James Lolicato

• Episode 31: Making Footy More Welcoming – with The Outer Sanctum (Kate Seear & Nicole Hayes)

• Episode 30: Making Sport Welcoming for Refugees and Migrants – with Michelle Hage

Inclusive Teaching & Learning in Health & Physical Education

• Check out the SlowChatHealth Blog by Andrew Milne and Justin Schleider which provides a refreshingly open exploration of Health and PE-related issues for teachers.
  • This is a blog that sees students as they truly are, encompassing diverse genders and sexualities, and tackling a range of other important issues affecting youth today.

Inclusive Sports Media

• Chicks Talkin’ Footy – Talkin’ Australian Football
• The Marngrook Footy Show – Indigenous Australian Football League tv show.
• The Outer Sanctum Podcast – My favourite podcast. It spotlights issues relating to diversity in AFL footy, with voices not normally heard in mainstream sports media.
• Women in Sport Podcasts List (compiled by Danielle Warby)

Diversity & Inclusion in Sport – Articles

Gender

• No, female trans athletes do not have unfair advantages – Katelyn Burns
• AFL footy by and for women: our rules, our game, our story – Nicole Hayes
• Tackling gender in women’s AFL – SBS TV (Verna Leigh, a transgender player with the Newtown Breakaways Women’s AFL team)

Race & Indigeneity

Warning: These articles contain images of deceased people

• Aboriginal cricket pioneer Faith Thomas – I’m still the fastest woman bowler ever – Russell Jackson
• Koori knockout – a colourful meeting of mobs united by Rugby League – Patrick Skene
• Footy has become a redneck wonderland – Francis Leach (Adam Goodes and racism in AFL)
  • Refusing to play the race card in AFL – Chelsea Bond
• The Noongar Warriors – Celebrating Indigenous AFL History (Warning: Contains images of deceased people) – Konrad Marshall

Cultural and Linguistically Diverse Communities

• Mary Daw aims to emulate her big brother Majak in the Australian Football League (AFL) – Chloe Booker
• Afghan Refugee Zimra Hussain finds passion in AFL – Allyson Horn

LGBTIQ

• No, female trans athletes do not have unfair advantages – Katelyn Burns
• Young men remain alarmingly homophobic, study finds (Homophobia in sport) – Miki Perkins & Rachel Browne
• Football’s fight against homophobia might have reached a tipping point –  (Soccer) – Emma Kavanagh, Adi Adams, Daniel Lock
• AFL Pride Game exceeded our expectations (Celebrating LGBTI inclusion in football)
• It’s Not About You – a personal tale of the effect of homophobia & transphobia in football – Matt Johnson
• What the Pride Game means to me as a queer woman  – Roz Bellamy
• Tackling gender in women’s AFL – SBS TV (Verna Leigh, a transgender player with the Newtown Breakaways Women’s AFL team)

Podcast Episodes

• Social Justice in the classroom with Physical Education & Health Teachers – Justin Schleider and Andrew Milne

Sports-related Activism

• Sit on hands or take a stand: why athletes have always been political players – Daryl Adair
• The importance of activism in sports history – Patrick Salkeld
• Why I declined to sing the national anthem at the 2015 AFL Grand Final – Deborah Cheetham
• Why I kneel: Freedom of expression includes the right to protest (link to Colin Kaepernick)
  • Colin Kaepernick’s protest is working – Josh Levin

Diversity in Sport – Organisations & Initiatives

• Access for all abilities – Australia
• American Association of Adaptive Sports Programs 
  • Includes great information on existing US programs and resources for integration and coaching of disabled student-athletes
• Disability Sport and Recreation – Australia
• Proud2Play – Australia
  • “For anyone who ever thought there was no place for them in sporting environments, Proud2Play is here to show you there is.” James Lolicato
• Stand Up Events – Australia
  • Challenges sexual and gender discrimination in Australian sport
• Stonewall UK – Rainbow Laces (tackling homophobia in sport)
• The Huddle (North Melbourne Football Club, Australia)
  • Targets young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds offering a range of programs including holiday programs, study and career support, digital storytelling, and leadership programs.
• USA National Federation of High School Associations
• Western Bulldogs Football Club Australia
  • Offers a range of community-focused programs

Inclusion Toolkits, Programs & Guidelines

• Change Our Game – Victorian (Australia) Government initiative seeking to improve girls’ and womens’ leadership and participation in all sports.
  • Includes examples of community-based change (“stories of change”) and many practical resources to drive change
• Disability Rights: Inclusion and Sport – Australian Human Rights Commission
• Including Intersex People in Sport – Organisation Intersex International Australia Ltd
• Making your sport inclusive, safe and fair – Play by the Rules – Australian campaign
• US Department of Education Legal Guidelines on Inclusion in student sports
• US Government page on Americans with Disabilities Act – Check out the myths and facts section.

Videos

• Muslim Girls Break Down Barriers – SBS News
• “Assmaah Helal from Football United talks about the inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse people into sport at the 2016 Diversity and Inclusion in Sport Forum.
  • For more information go to http://playbytherules.net.au“

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Sam De Leve and Grant O Sullivan for their resource suggestions.