2024 NSLA Professional Learning Community - Session 3: Sport as a Tool for Overcoming Bias

SESSION 3- Sport as a Tool for Overcoming Bias

Covid-19 has only expanded the inequalities of black and brown populations across the US. The challenges we face in the US around inequality are systemic - 400+ years in the making so moving toward a more just America takes sustained efforts and investment over the long term. The US sports community is doing a lot to make an impact around inequality – there are curricula, guidelines, and trainings being created by experts that use sport and physical activity to address these issues. Still though, there is a broader issue at hand – a fear of “the other” and an endemic belief of differences that are not equal. At the heart of this is the way the brain is organized to create bias against someone not like you. This session will provide training on how to use sport and physical activity to counter preconceived bias about someone – it could be race, could be religion, could be ethnicity. Participants will learn how we can use sport to counter the hard-wiring of biases against those who don’t look like you, don’t speak like you, maybe don’t believe in the same things as you.

If any of the three sessions are cancelled for any reason, the make up date will be October 16th, 2024 @ 12pm EST