Empowering Excellence: Culturally Meaningful Pedagogy Enhancing Black Student Athlete Development

Background/Purpose: The institution of sport plays a key role in the sociocultural construction of Black athletes. The escalating enterprise of intercollegiate sport is inextricably linked to the development of student athletes of color, particularly Black athletes. A growing number of athletic departments conscious of the unique needs and shared experiences of Black student athletes at predominately White institutions have incorporated programing germane to their development. A dearth of research has investigated pedagogical approaches apt for working with Black student athletes in these contexts. The purpose of the present research was to examine athletic department support programing that targets the needs of Black student athletes in order to identify effective pedagogical approaches that foster their achievement and holistic development.

Method: Drawing upon a critical race theory frame, which argues that race and racism play a central role in the functioning of U.S. society, including the mainstream institution of sport, I employed an ethnographic case study design to examine two elite intercollegiate athletic programs’ approaches to address the developmental needs of their Black student athletes. Data was collected primarily through semi-structured interviews with the support staff and students athletes from participating athletic programs.

Analysis/Results: The analytical lens of CRT was utilized to code data and develop thematic pedagogical strategies. The four emergent themes gleaned from research findings include Sociocultural Consciousness, Engaging Opportunities, Comprehensive Exposure, and Adaptive Learning. Sociocultural consciousness illustrates the intent and strategies aimed to elevate student athletes’ awareness and abilities to appraise systemic productions and maintenances of inequity. The theme of engaging opportunities describes how student athletes are introduced to experiences that were perceived to be reserved for privileged majority member populations. Comprehensive exposure characterizes how student athletes become acquainted to a breadth of self-representations. Lastly, adaptive learning represents how student athletes are encouraged to make their knowledge and lived experiences applicable to situational and identity shifts.

Conclusions: Collectively, the research findings illuminate how this case of athletic programs critically consider race as a central sociocultural factor in the lives of persons of color to construct pedagogy culturally meaningful to the welfare and developmental needs of Black student athletes. Current pedagogical practices for working with intercollegiate student athletes of color are vaguely discernable at best. Implications of study findings are vast for advancing supportive pedagogy to be adopted by intercollegiate support service practitioners working with student athletes of color across NCAA member institutions.