News — Sports

In Detroit, Michigan, a group of girls from Cass Technical High School is braving the odds to be one of the best girls’ lacrosse teams in the state.

Cass Technical High school, a public magnet school in Detroit, has an elite list of alumni including former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Diana Ross, and Big Sean. The school, however, lacks sports options for girls.

Girls are disadvantaged to the point that there are only three sports for girls in a school with about 2,400 students. And when a lacrosse team was formed as recently as 2019, it was just for the boys.

Two girls, Deja Crenshaw and Alexia Carroll-Williams decided to advocate for an all-girls lacrosse team but that did not come on a silver platter. First, lacrosse is not a game that most Blacks would naturally opt to play, let alone Black girls. But that did not stop them from putting up a fight.

Only about 3% of women in college play in the predominantly White game, which is traditionally a Native American game, just like hockey.

“Lacrosse is something that you don’t usually hear about in urban cities. It’s really important that we give people the opportunity to play a sport that they may not have ever heard of,” Crenshaw said.

Thanks to Crenshaw and her colleagues, school authorities allowed the coach, Summer Aldred, to start a girls’ team in 2020. More than 30 girls turned up for the first practice. The odds were stacked against the girls’ team from inception as the school did not provide funding.

Aldred used her local connections to rake in some donations. A Cass Tech alumnus also donated $10,000, which set the ball rolling for the team’s first tryouts. 55 girls turned up and the team was optimistic about what was to come for them, but COVID-19 struck the world.

Everything the girls and Aldred had planned froze when schools were shut down. A year later, in March 2021, only 15 girls came for practice when schools started opening. Some parents were hesitant to let their girls out in public because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, recruitment was slow.

When things finally picked up for the girls’ lacrosse team at Cass Tech, the 18-member group, with 14 of them being Black, lost their first six games. The team regrouped and re-strategized and won against Avondale High School with a scoreline of 13-6.

All that the girl’s lacrosse team at Cass Technical High School wants now is an opportunity to play a sport they have grown to love and to bridge the diversity gap. Assistant coach Christianne Malone, who has played lacrosse since the 6th grade as one of a few Black girls, said the game has still not attained the level of diversity she would expect, The Guardian reported.

“It’s still not nearly as diverse as it could be by this point in time. Twenty years later, it’s almost the same demographics as it was when I was first playing,” Malone said.

For Zahria Liggans, the senior captain and team goalie, “It’s OK to step into these spaces where there might not be a lot of you because you can open up a channel for somebody else, for people who look like you.”

A high school sports announcer and former youth pastor who was heard using a racial slur on girls of a basketball team for taking the knee during the national anthem has denied he’s racist, blaming his utterances on his diabetes.

According to CBS, the incident occurred during an Oklahoma 6A State basketball match between Norman High School and Midwest City on Thursday. In the recording, Matt Rowan is heard launching into a racist tirade when the girls of the Norman High School basketball team take the knee when the national anthem is being played. Rowan was unaware his mic was on.

“They’re kneeling? F**k**g ni**ers,” Rowan is heard saying. “I hope Norman gets their ass kicked. F**k them. I hope they lose. Come on Midwest City. They’re gonna kneel like that? Hell no.” Norman went ahead to win the game.

Rowan released a statement on Friday apologizing for his comments and blamed his meltdown on a spike in his blood sugar level.

“During the Norman High School girls basketball game against Midwest City, I made inappropriate and racist comments believing that the microphone was off; however, let me state immediately that is no excuse such comments should have been uttered,” he said.

“I will state that I suffer Type 1 Diabetes and during the game my sugar was spiking. While not excusing my remarks it is not unusual when my sugar spikes that I become disoriented and often say things that are not appropriate as well as hurtful. I do not believe that I would have made such horrible statements absent my sugar spiking.”

A parent of one of the girls on the Norman basketball team told KWTV the incident took a toll on his daughter and Rowan’s comments were a reflection of the abuse people of color have to endure.

“It’s just a sign of the times, it’s more of the abuse and things we have to deal with as people of color. Instead of looking at what the real issues are a lot of this negativity is just based off of hate,” he said. “She’s not taking it very well. Me and my wife just try to tell her keep her head up, just pray and try to concentrate.”

Following the incident, Norman Public Schools released a statement announcing they had severed ties with Rowan and his company.

“We fully support our students’ right to freedom of expression and our immediate focus is to support these girls and their coaches and families, particularly our Black students and coaching staff,” NPS Superintendent Dr. Nick Migliorino said.

“It is tragic that the hard work and skill of this team is being overshadowed by the vile, malignant words of these individuals. We will do everything in our power to support and uplift our team and everyone affected by this incident.”

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) also released a statement condemning Rowan’s comments and announced they had “immediately cut ties with the third-party production crew that was involved.”

“The thoughts expressed in no way represent our network, and we are outraged that they found their way into the production,” the statement said.

“The NFHS Network firmly condemns racism, hate and discrimination. We also deeply apologize to the students, their families, and the entire community for having such ignorant and hurtful comments expressed during the broadcast.”

The statement added: “As an organization dedicated to empowering students and young people through high school sports and athletic programs and making their achievements accessible to all in their communities and beyond, this incident is a direct violation of our mission as a company.”

Rowan’s production company, OSPN Live, has since been removed from the network’s website, CBS reported. Another company that reportedly sponsored Rowan’s company also announced they had “officially severed ties” with him in a tweet on Friday.

For those who have insisted that organized sports and politics have no intersection points, the claim has rested on a spurious, almost uneducated conception of politics as the domain of those who make themselves available to be voted for.

Recently, the Swedish soccer star and former LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic took a dig at athletes who make it a point to voice their opinions on political matters, singling out Los Angeles Lakers’ Lebron James for criticism.

“[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like it when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time. Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football,” the 39-year-old soccer star had said.

To this, James responded after a Lakers game. He defended his stances as well as his understanding of politics, which Ibrahimovic seems to understand as an occupation of politicians. James made the point that politics is not an aspect of our lived experience that gets to be detached from anything else. All of our experiences are happening in a political space.

The NBA champion told the press: “I preach about my people and I preach about equality. Social injustice, racism, systematic voter suppression, things that go on in our community. There is no way I will ever just stick to sports because I know with this platform, how powerful my voice is.”

It is not the first time James or any other Black American athlete has had to defend their political stances against those who think that sports happens outside any understanding of politics. Colin Kaepernick in the last few years comes to mind and he will not be the last. But what if those who attack politically-conscious athletes are only attacking out of bad faith and not necessarily ignorance?

And if they attacked out of ignorance and are then served a response that clarifies matters, are they not acting out of bad faith doubling down? Ibrahimovic, who has created a stern and stubborn reputation on and off the soccer pitch, certainly did not see the lessons James and others gave in their responses to him.

Even after James had brought up Ibrahimovic’s own lamentations about how his Swedish identity is constantly under question due to his Muslim Bosnian roots, the soccer player would not be taught. He subsequently resorted to a bizarre bifurcation of racism and politics.

“Racism and politics are two different things. We athletes unite the world, politics divides the world. Everyone is welcome, it has nothing to do with where you are from, we do what we do to unite,” Ibrahimovic doubled down. It seems inconceivable to believe that Ibrahimovic does not comprehend that “where you are from” is a matter of political identity.

Ibrahimovic has enjoyed and endured a 21-year soccer career that and he is a man who has been called upon many times by global organizations as well as his country to act as a goodwill ambassador, among which included ending child hunger. It is baffling that a man who has had many conversations to this extent with diplomats and politicians does not understand social justice’s place in the realm of politics. Only two conclusions can be drawn from this confusion – it’s either Ibrahimovic is acting out of bad faith or he has learned nothing from all of his work over these years with UNICEF and others.

When Laura Ingraham of FOX News came for James a few years ago and told him to “shut and dribble”, at least, it was clear she was only bitter that the most famous active basketball player in the world did not support the politician she adored. She had no qualms when under athletes voiced their support for Trump.

But it is James who has to advice himself and stop responding to these attacks going forward. They will not die down and no amount well-intentioned responses would help. Bad faith and and determined ignorance can be inexhaustible spirits.

Renee Montgomery put her WNBA career on hold in 2020 to use her platform to fight against social injustice. Lebron James’ tweet on putting “together with an ownership group for the Dream” on January 6 became a pivotal moment in Montgomery’s career. It was that tweet that made her realize being part of an ownership group could be a real possibility.

A light bulb went off in the former Atlanta Dream player’s head and she responded to the tweet, saying she was in. With the assistance of WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, Montgomery, knowing very well no one can be a player and an owner in the WNBA, announced her retirement earlier this year to pursue her new career path.

She has now made history as the first former player to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA franchise, being a part of the three-member investor group to purchase Atlanta Dream after the sale was officially approved.

Former Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who infuriated WNBA players and many Blacks with her vocal opposition to the league’s social justice initiatives, was forced to sell her 49 percent stake in the team after they wore ‘Vote Warnock’ T-shirts supporting her opponent.

“We need less – not more – politics in sports,” wrote Loeffler, who added that the Black Lives Matter movement was “a very divisive organization based on Marxist principles.”

The approved owners of the team are real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener, who is the founder of Northland Investment Corp. in Massachusetts, Suzanne Abair, president of Northland Investment, and Montgomery. Even though Abair will take the reins with the leadership of the team, Montgomery says she will play an active role with Abair.

The former player, who is also a member of James’ More Than a Vote campaign, a group of Black athletes and artists with a stated priority of “combating systemic, racist voter suppression by educating, energizing, and protecting our community” knew it was about time she took her activism to the next level by making sure Black people are well represented in the leadership of the team.

James congratulated Montgomery for the ownership of the Dream after retiring from the league, playing for 11 seasons’ two WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx in 2015 and 2017.

“I think it’s great that Renee has stepped up after she retired from playing the game to continue having an impact on the game,” WNBA commissioner Engelbert said Friday.

“I’ve seen her strong work ethic. I’ve seen her advocacy and knowledge of the game and I’m sure that’s going to be an asset to Larry and Suzanne and a huge benefit to the team.”

The 34-year-old was an All-Star with the Connecticut Sun in 2011 when she set a career-high with her average of 14.6 points per game. She was the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year in 2012, according to reports.

Montgomery, who is in her first season as a studio analyst on Atlanta Hawks which airs for Fox Sports Southeast, plans to continue working in that capacity. “Breaking barriers for minorities and women by being the first former WNBA player to have both an ownership stake and a leadership role with the team is an opportunity that I take very seriously,” Montgomery said.

In 2018, Rwandan launched the ‘Made-In-Rwanda’ initiative to boost the production and consumption of local products. A number of local and international entrepreneurs responded to the initiative to open local industries and companies.

One of such persons is Allen Simms, who took his sporting venture to Rwanda. The African American is the founder of Impano Sports, a company that provides African-inspired quality sports apparel designed specifically for athletes, runners, and the active lifestyle community.

Although Simms took advantage of the Rwandan government’s Made-In-Rwanda policy, his venture started when he traveled to the East African country to identify and coach young talented athletes. While in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, he noticed that many of the athletes had limited access to quality sportswear and that was how Impano Sports was founded.

Simms is a former track and field athlete. He competed for Puerto Rico in 2007 after switching allegiance from the United States in 2005 before changing back in 2008. He emerged as the national champion in 2007 and was ranked 15th in the world. In 2004, he was the champion in the triple jump of the USA Indoor Champion. Also, he finished fourth at the 2003 Pan American Games and eighth in the long jump at the 2007 Pan American Games.

He was an athlete at the University of Southern California and a coach at Cornell University. “There at Cornell I was training a bunch of spoiled kids and I wanted to make an impact with my coaching so let’s see what’s going on in Africa,” he said in a Shoppe Black interview.

Simms aims to empower Africans to be independent and bring out their creative juices. Part of his agenda is to encourage the youth to discard the second-hand ideology. It is a known fact that across Africa, there is a high demand for second-hand clothing from Europe and other developed nations. To try to reverse this, Simms produces quality sportswear for the local and international market.

The former athlete recently praised the Rwandan government’s effort to develop the fashion industry. “They make it very comfortable to live here as a foreigner. They have a nice system in place to set up a business,” he said.

Simms obtained his bachelor’s degree in multimedia technology from the University of South California in 2005 and a Master of Art in Liberal Studies and a graduate certificate in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2014. Also, he holds IAAF and USATF coaching certificates in athletes majoring in jumping events.

Sybil Smith, Ed.D is Black history personified and her name will forever go down as the best swimmer in Boston University history. She currently holds the seven unbeaten records in the school’s history and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1993. The former athlete is also the first African-American woman swimmer to be named a first-team Division 1 All-American and still Boston University’s only All-American swimmer.

Smith is the mother of US Open Champion Sloane Stephens and among the many unsung heroes in Black history. She broke barriers in a white-dominated sport at the time. According to goterriers.com, no individual has raised the bar with honors as Smith did throughout the first 19 years of swimming at Boston University.

The California native graduated in 1988 from the College of Arts and Sciences and her reputation as a stellar swimmer preceded her. At the school’s Fanueil Aquatic Center, her seven records are on full display.

She raised the bar so high, raking in four individual and three relay records in four years. She set standards many swimmers aspired to attain. 

In her junior year, Smith became the first junior to win the University’s Mildred Barnes Award, given to the Outstanding Woman Athlete. Then again in her senior year, the stellar swimmer won the very same award again cementing her name in history as the first Terrier to win the award twice.

Smith worked exceptionally hard throughout her swimming career in Boston. She qualified for the NCAA three times and never lost a single race in dual-meet competition, attaining an astonishing 80 consecutive dual wins in her four-year swimming carrier.

“Some of my closest friends on the team had rationalized my accomplishments by saying, ‘You’re so lucky that you don’t have to work that hard,’ and, ‘[Swimming] is so natural for you.’

“Their words hurt, but I transferred to my pain into a personal mission and became the first All-America swimmer in BU history.”

The 54-year-old was named the Outstanding Swimmer at the Eastern Championships twice, the first in her junior and then the sophomore year. The climax of her swimming streak with the Boston Terriers was in her final NCAA Championship in 1988, finishing sixth with a school-record time of 56.02 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke.

For being a part of the top eight performers in that competition, Smith became the first African-American woman in US history to be named First Team Division I All-American and remains Boston University’s only All-American in women swimming.

However, Smith’s influence extends beyond her athleticism even though it will always be part of her legacy. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard graduate school and is a psychologist using her platform to empower Black and ethnic minority youths. The three-time Olympic trial qualifier was an assistant swimming coach at Harvard.

According to her daughter, her mother earned her Ph.D. while on the road with her as she also worked her way up in the tennis world.

Smith is the executive director of the Sloane Stephens Foundation where she leads the tennis, education, and mental wellness programs in the Compton Unified School district, one of the most historically underserved communities in the country.

The foundation has been able to help most of its students graduate high school and some have moved on to higher institutions bringing about generational changes to families in these communities. Smith is vested in these children and cares for each student as she does for her own, Stephens said.

Former National Football League player Marshawn Lynch has announced the launch of a “premium, crafted cannabis brand-platform” named Dodi Blunts, which are 24kt diamond-infused blunts.

According to Forbes, Lynch is entering the cannabis business with “Oakland’s premiere craft blunt.” Dodi Blunt’s first product, THCa diamonds-infused blunts, is slated to go on sale at Bay Area dispensaries beginning next month. The blunt is made from an organically grown Zkittles marijuana strain curated by Lynch and his friends.

Lynch is also giving back with the launch of the product by becoming partners with the Last Prisoner Project.

According to the Dodi Blunt website:

“We are devoted to getting social equity “right” and creating opportunities that The War on Drugs annihilated for Black and Brown people. ESPECIALLY in Oaktown.

“To do this we are partnering with the Last Prisoner Project here in the Bay Area. The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis-related criminal justice reform. Through intervention, advocacy, and awareness campaigns, the Last Prisoner Project works to redress the past and continuing harms of these inhumane and ineffective laws and policies. We will work together to raise money, build awareness, and drive significant, lasting change.”

“Dodi has always been a part of my life,” Lynch tells Forbes. “If I was going to have a marijuana company, I wanted to make sure I did it the right way.”

Black women are made of gold and Jennifer King is made of that and more. She is a football history and a shining example to all the little Black girls who dare to dream. King is now the first-ever Black woman to get a full-time coaching job in the NFL. The Washington Football Team on Tuesday added King to their roster as assistant running backs coach.

This announcement comes off the back of her internship during the 2020 off-season at the Washington Football Team under head coach Ron Rivera and running backs coach Randy Jordan.

According to Rivera, nobody is more deserving of this promotion than King because aside from her experience playing football for 12 years, she always puts in the hard work and can connect well with everyone on the team with her excellent communication skills.

“She demonstrated all of the qualities that are needed to work full-time on my staff. She is a hard worker, a great communicator, and a quality person. Coach King is always eager to learn and has shown tremendous growth since starting here last season.”

“Coach King is well deserving of the promotion,” Rivera added. “She earned this opportunity with her hard work. The sky is truly the limit for her.”

Aside from spending time interning in the offseason with the Carolina Panthers in 2018 and 2019, King also worked with the Arizona Hotshots of the AAF in 2019 as an assistant WRs coach and was an offensive assistant at Dartmouth that same year. “I am very pleased to have Coach King back to assist me full-time in the running backs room,” RBs coach Jordan said.

He also reiterated what head coach Rivers said and went on to praise King’s work ethic. “She was extremely helpful last year in seeing the game from a different perspective, and she was a tremendous communicator in our room. I look forward to continuing to collaborate as we move forward in our program and as she moves forward in her coaching career,” he added.

During her 12 years as a player, from 2006-17, King, 36, was a seven-time All-American quarterback, receiver, and safety and with two national championships under her belt with the Carolina Phoenix and New York Sharks, according to NFL.com.

There is a new movement in NFL for women coaching and King is at the helm of this wave together with the first woman to be appointed assistant coach, Lori Locust, who was made the assistant defensive line coach for Tampa Bay in March 2019.

King, Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar made history as the first female coaches to face off during a playoff game. The three were among a record six female coaches on teams to play in the post-season, BBC said.

In a statement on the Washington Football Team website, King said: “It’s a direct testament to those coaches who are forward thinking and opening up the entire pool when they’re looking for people, to hire people to make their programmes better.

“I don’t think it’s an oddity that those play-off teams had so many female coaches involved because those coaches created cultures of growth and inclusion, and those things generally create wins,” King, who also has experience coaching basketball, added.

Jamaican Olympian Michael Frater has opened a medical marijuana dispensary – 4/20 Sports Therapeutic Bliss – in Kingston, Jamaica, to treat career-threatening inquires, the Jamaican Observer reports.

The building of the therapeutic facility was influenced by the athlete’s persistent problems with his knees which forced him to retire five years ago. According to the 38-year-old, doctors could not find a solution to his bad knee after visits to The University Hospital of the West Indies and a hospital in France.

He, therefore, resorted to cannabis treatment which helped him to recover from his knee injury. “I tried it and within a month I was feeling brand new. I started studying about it and I realized that this drug which has been a taboo for most of my life is a miracle drug,” said Frater.

“It’s really a drug that once taken properly with the proper prescription, the medicinal purposes are exponential,” he added.

Frater’s effort has earned applause from Jamaica’s minister of sports, Olivia Grange, who attended the opening of his marijuana dispensary. She used the occasion to urge Jamaican athletes to get involved in business on the island.

“What is important about what you are doing is that you are not just an athlete who at the end of your active career, sit down, fold your arms and wait for something to happen, you have set an excellent example for others to follow,” said Grange.

“I always knew that you were special. There was a group of you during your era of active running that I considered special athletes,” she added, highlighting Usain Bolt’s business ventures.

For more than a decade, Frater represented Jamaica in the field of athletes. The sprinter was a member of the world record-setting 4×100 metres relay team from the 2012 London Olympics.

Marijuana is still a controversial drug even though many claim that it has helped them cope with various diseases and situations. For many years now, such people have been pushing for its legalization. And as more and more states, particularly in America, pass laws allowing the sale of marijuana in some form, entrepreneurs, including celebrities, are flocking into the industry to make some cash.