Change the game: Highlights from the Draw-the-line athletics forum

This Spring, David Garzon, White Ribbon’s Community Engagement Manager, sat down with Chuck Winters, former Toronto Argonaut player, coach, and anti-violence activist to discuss athletes and coaches’ roles to prevent gender-based violence and promote gender equity.

Garzon and Winters began by acknowledging that sports culture, which tends to be male-dominated, can sometimes be toxic. Common belittling comments such as “you throw like a girl” and a group culture that often measures success by how much money you earn and how many women you can be with contribute to an environment that is ripe for sexist and homophobic discrimination. Yet, as Winters argues, change is possible. 

“Coaches have the power to change a life,” argued Winters as he reminisced about the impact some of his childhood coaches had on him. Coaches have a platform and they should use that platform to teach their players how they should treat others.  

​Winters now dedicates himself to harnessing that power to raise his players’ awareness of violence prevention. He invites his players to stop and think about the ideas that they implicitly learned by hearing sexist or homophobic derogatory comments as part of “normal conversations”. He asks them to pay attention to how their words and actions can be discriminatory. He asks them to reflect and be more conscious of their words and actions so that they can change their behaviours. He seeks to foster empathy for survivors of gender-based violence by sharing his own childhood experiences of domestic violence, inviting speakers to talk about their experiences, and by creating partnerships with feminist organizations in his community.
 
​Winters is a strong believer in coaches’ ability to create change and he outlined four simple steps for those who may wish to follow his example.

1. Look at your own behaviour. Are you the example you want others to be? Are you doing everything you can do to be a good model?
2. Make gender-based violence your cause and don’t be afraid to stand up and speak out. Learn more about the issue, whether is has affected you personally or not, and be prepared to step up when you notice problematic behaviours.
3. Find your support. Find out who can help you, who can be allies to help you make the changes you want to see in your environment.
4. Extend a hand and help others change. Offer to connect them with support and resources when needed. Focus on how you can help youth change and embrace gender equality and non-violence.

Winters also had words of advice for colleges and universities to help them tackle gender-based violence. He argues that these institutions should put in place programs to support students and athletes who have had personal experiences of violence so that they can help break the cycle of violence that often reproduces itself from generation to generation. He also argues that they should make gender-based violence prevention their issue and create programs to help athletes understand that sexism and violence are learned behaviours and help them change. ​