Behind the Whistle: Beyond the Stripes

This story initially appeared on Behind the Whistle, the official blog of the IWLCA, and is being republished with permission from the organization. Joan Sitterly is the Executive Director of the CWLOA.

Like all areas of society, it is important for sports officials to have an awareness of racism.

While we deal with many different issues as officials, we feel that this issue merits increased focus presently, as we unfortunately have been experiencing a rise of racist incidents in and around our game. These incidences have served as the impetus to undertake the enormous task of educating over 800 officials. The CWLOA joined forces with A Long Talk to undertake the difficult conversation and prepare officials with strategies to confront racism.

Each year, officials must complete several required educational sessions, as well as pass the CWLOA rules test.

In 2023, the CWLOA Leadership added the requirement of completing this two-part series on racism. Up to this point, over 500 officials have taken part in the experience. 

Here are some comments from officials who have completed the series:

“A Long Talk was an intense but eye-opening experience. Though long, A Long Talk used real video and documents to educate us about Black history that is missing from our textbooks. A Long Talk put these historical facts in context to show how we got to the present day, which is necessary to foster understanding and move forward. Although I thought I was pretty aware, I learned many things I hadn’t heard before. A Long Talk really hit home that it takes all of us working together to end racism and, if you are not actively engaged in helping, you are part of the problem. It gave real tools for guiding difficult conversations.  Overall, a very powerful experience.”  — Linda Thayer, National Elite Official

“A Long Talk provided me the opportunity to learn about and become more aware of history than I have been exposed to because of the materials that they offered us before the meetings. Although I have been in other “race awareness/racism” workshops and professional developments, these meetings were so much more impactful and meaningful especially since men of color ran them.  Listening to their experiences and topics of discussion were “real” and a strong reminder that we all have more that we can do and improve upon to handle racism in all areas of life.” — Jodi Michna, National Elite Official

The goal of this experience is to improve officials’ awareness of not only dealing with racism both on the field and in their everyday lives but also improve their understanding of and sensitivity toward other marginalized groups. We, as leaders in the women’s lacrosse community, should be part of the solution.