“Our vision is to paint a huge Black Lives Matter roadway on the campus,” said head women’s basketball coach Jessica Mannetti. “It will have a collaboration of students, any students, that want to come be a part of it, to add something to what they believe is important.”
A visual representation of the Black Lives Matter cause is one of many of the initiatives that the Sacred Heart University women’s basketball team believes can become a reality this spring.
The team’s first initiative toward social justice came in Dec. 2020 when the team unanimously decided to kneel during the National Anthem, according to the Sacred Heart women’s basketball Twitter.
“As a group, we collectively thought that it would be best for us to kneel, just to be in the presence but also take a stand against what’s going on,” said senior guard Jayla Davis.
Assistant coach Ashley Prim, a former Division l athlete at St. Joseph’s University from 2009 – 2013, believes social media has gradually elevated the conversation and importance of social justice since her playing days.
“It is more prevalent today because there is more access to social media. There are more cameras, and the world is seeing everything that is going on,” said Prim.
The Northeast Conference (NEC) also took a role in combating social justice issues by introducing a new campaign called “NEC Champions for Change,” according to the NEC website.
The campaign’s main goals are to address the issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. as well as formulate ways to take action against these issues, according to the NEC website.
“I think our conference has done a tremendous job,” said Mannetti. “I don’t know what more they could have done, just because the content they produce from a media standpoint and a support standpoint is tremendous.”
As they take on the issues of systematic racism, the women’s basketball team hopes to also tackle the issue of sexism and the inequalities that come with being women in sports.
“The more we talk about it, yes, people may get sick of it, but the more you talk about something the more people are like, ‘I need to do this,’” said Davis.
Senior guard Adrianne Hagood believes that one of the most important parts of being vocal about social issues such as racism and sexism is having a good support system, which is heavily present on the women’s basketball team.
“Our team is very close, we talk a lot in our group chat that we have, almost every day,” said Hagood. “People are very open; they feel comfortable talking to anyone on our team about any issue that is going on.”
This support also extends from the coaching staff.
“I think our coach does a very good job with women empowerment,” said Davis. “She has taught us over our past four years, we are very strong women, and we don’t need to settle for anything.”
The team hopes to plan a Black Lives Matter rally this spring, but COVID-19 will be a deciding factor. Regardless, the message of social justice for all races, genders and sexualities will continue to be promoted by the lady Pioneers.
“Who we are is going to define who we are in the future, especially what we support,” said Prim. “We have to start somewhere, why not start at home.”
