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Diversity Discussion!

Welcome Everyone

In chat say one thing you enjoyed this week

If you feel comfortable, please rename yourself to include your pronouns next to your name.

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Who are we ?

We are a group of highschool girls from GURLS year 2 program located in the Bay Area . We decided to focus our service project on creating a safe space within our teams to discuss racial diversity.

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Purpose: Improving Team Culture

Understand barriers towards diversity/inclusion in Ultimate
Discuss attainable goals and improvements for your Team’s Culture
Understand your role in creating a safe/inclusive space on Ultimate Frisbee

Outcomes:

Feel free to use this format to try and hold this discussion with your teams
This is a beginning/idea and we are going to ask for feedback at the end!

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Agenda

Introductions(for presenters)10 minutes total

Introduction breakout rooms (for participants)--

Expectations/ norms (5min)
Barrier-info Slides (5min)
Affinity Breakout rooms (20min)
Affinity recap (10min)
Addressing Diversity Barriers as a group (10 min)
Closing and Feedback

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Expectations/ Discussion Norms

Free of judgement
I Statements (try not to speak for groups of people )
Share the mic
Encourage in the chat
Respect speaker
What is said in this space stays in this space
Take what you learned and how you feel out with you

Breakout rooms: Try to keep your camera on, and be thoughtful about what you share with the larger group from your discussion.

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Barriers: Brief overview

Accessibility:

To create an inclusive space, it is important that our program is accessible to players from a large host of socioeconomic backgrounds.

Examples: Scholarship programs, carpooling and travel arrangements

Team Culture:

Attitudes + actions the team takes ( on and off the field)

Microaggressions:

Saying offensive/

hostile/uncomfortable things that hurt marginalized members of the team

Harmful Ultimate Stereotypes:

Ultimate is a white sport played by upper-middle class men.
Assumed heightened athletic ability of players of color

What are the effects of these stereotypes?

How can we work together to create a more inclusive culture?

Accessibility: Diversity has multiple components. It’s a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and we need to make programs accessible to all players.

What are ways your program can be more accessible? Whether that is by setting up carpool rides, promoting team scholarships or team practice/tournament locations and time.

Team culture: We must create a culture that makes everyone feel safe and supported.

Micoagressions examples- black players assumed to be fast,

Ultimate is usually stereotyped as a “white sport” because the majority of players, coaches, and faculty involved are white. The problem occurs when youth players in the Ultimate community describe Ultimate in this manner, which can be discouraging to youth players of color who are interested in the sport.

Our goal is to redefine Ultimate so it can be more appealing and welcoming to young players of color.

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Internal:

-How all other levels are manifesting in us.

-Individuals’ interior Landscapes

Interpersonal:

Interactions between people

Institutional:

Organizational, Culture and Structure.
Where Structural & Interpersonal meet in Real Human Beings.

Structural:

Holds institutions in place
Historical and Over time

Cultural:

Norms, Assumptions, Standards and Messages .

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Why do we have Affinity Breakout Rooms?

A tool for us to use to lean into the discomfort, be open minded, and make what’s uncomfortable a bit more comfortable.
We all are unpacking different experiences and relationships to our race/ our perceived race

Try to keep your camera on, and be thoughtful about what you share with the larger group from your discussion.

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Introductions: Affinity Breakout rooms

Name/ What school + team are you on
Racial/ethnic background + Most prefered term ( mixed, etc)
How long have you been playing ultimate?
Why are you interested + what are you looking to gain from this discussion?

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Affinity Breakout Rooms: White Players

There is no pressure to share something you are not comfortable with sharing.

How did you first get introduced to ultimate and what drew you to participating in this event?
How do you think diversity /lack of diversity impacts your team’s culture?
How do you think your race/ethnicity has impacted your experiences in ultimate?
If you are comfortable, share any experiences or things you have noticed about ultimate’s culture that you would like to change?

(i.e., Team culture and stereotypes/stigma )

Can you think of an example of a team you feel has done a good job of promoting diversity?

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Affinity Breakout Rooms: Players of Color

There is no pressure to share something you’re not comfortable sharing

How did you first get introduced to ultimate and what drew you to participating in this event?
How do you think your race/ethnicity has impacted your experiences in ultimate?
Have you seen or experienced microaggressions in an ultimate setting (practice, tournament, etc.)? How did you react?

How do you think microaggressions can be stopped?

Why is it important for you to see diversity in team culture?
Any other thoughts about inclusion/ your experiences?

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Internal Reflection

Sit and reflect on your experience in the breakout rooms.

What did these discussions bring up for you?

What did you learn?

What do you want to explore further?

Is anything you would like to share with the full group?

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Share out:

What is something that stood out do you from your discussion?

Something new?
An experience?
Some ideas for improvement?
How did this conversation feel?

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Addressing Diversity Barriers: Full Group Discussion

Brainstorm: What factors can you think of in your program that might contribute to lack of diversity?

Address: What can your program do to eliminate these factors?

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Sustainability with Racial Equity Work

Use these slides to help facilitate your own team discussions
Continue to read articles/educate
Establish clear expectations on your team at the beginning of the season
Make a groupchat with members of your team

(Have a person on leadership be designated as the culture/diversity )

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Additional Resources

Color of Ultimate: - https://www.afdc.com/the-color-of-ultimate-atl/

GURLS: http://www.gurlsprogram.org/

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Color of Ultimate Discussion Questions

What athletes of color do you look up to and why?
What do you wish allies of PoC would do more or less?
How did you first get introduced to ultimate and what drew you to participating in this event?
What does community mean to you, and what values do you want in your community?
How do frisbee communities compare with other sports’ communities you’ve been a part of?
Do you feel welcomed and included either in the disc golf and/or ultimate frisbee community at large? Why or why not?
How do you self-identify racially, and how has that identity affected you? What do you feel can be done to improve the ultimate community?

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Articles and resources

Discussion of spirit of the game and race

https://ultiworld.com/2018/03/12/ultimate-race-spirit-game/

Article about the experiences of black players

https://ultiworld.com/2021/04/05/black-players-sharing-their-experience/

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Feedback

Quick Google Formhttps://forms.gle/SJWKFg5iMZFoqdLR6