As women's basketball descends on Tampa, Fla., this weekend for the NCAA Women's Final Four, several people are headed there to engage women's basketball coaches on LGBT inclusion.
From Br{ache the Silence co-founder Nevin Caple:
"The inaugural Br{ache the Silence Friends of Inclusion Social will take place on the evening of April 4th at the host hotel, Tampa Waterside Marriott. BTS will recognize WBCA member coaches who participated in 'The Time Is Now' inclusion video and discuss additional community-building initiatives. The 2-hour networking event is co-sponsored by the WBCA and open to all WBCA member coaches and administrators."
In addition, Caple will work with Pat Griffin, Helen Carroll and others will host roundtable discussions on LGBT issues at the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Carroll is proud to be part of the effort at the Women's Final Four. As a head women's basketball coach she once took UNC-Asheville to a national championship .
"Being ranked last out of the 16 teams vying for the national championship several decades ago, I saw firsthand how the teams respect for every teammate, black, white, lesbian, Christian, gave us an extra advantage in close games with the final outcome bringing home the championship trophy after winning in overtime," Carroll said. "Working for NCLR, I have now been attending the Final Four for the last 10 years and teaching coaches how to strengthen their teams by guiding players to understand the value of real respect of differences- plus, that closeness, does give them extra points in overtime! At least it did for my teams."
Great work from these women in tackling what continue to be persistent issues in women's basketball.
