BSA SUMMIT: ‘SPORTS WON’T LAST FOREVER’
7/11/2024 11:03:00 AM | Football, Women's Basketball, Acrobatics & Tumbling, Student-Athlete Center for Excellence
Baylor sends eight student-athletes to conference in Los Angeles
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Even at 19 years old, heading into his third season at Baylor, running back Richard Reese knows that "football is not going to last forever."
One of eight Baylor student-athletes represented at the Black Student-Athlete Summit that was hosted by USC on the Los Angeles campus in late May, Reese got the chance to hear from "athletes that have been through what we've been through."
"They let us know that sports are not going to last forever," Reese said, "so you've got to find something to do after sports. That was something big that I took out of it, just knowing that football for me is not going to last forever. Even if you go to the NFL, you're going to have to retire at some point."
Led by Christal Peterson, Assistant AD for Character Formation, and Character Formation Coordinator Malcolm Givens, the Baylor contingent also included football's Brendan "Bama" Bett and Kaian Roberts-Day; Sarah Andrews, Jada Walker and Yaya Felder from women's basketball; and Mariah Polk and Layla Alexander from the acrobatics & tumbling team.
"It was a really cool four days just to be out there with them," Peterson said. "A lot of things are just centered on support and knowing that there are connections within the divisions, within the institutions. This year, they focused a lot about the DIB (diversity, inclusion and belonging) space. Just seeing what the policies are, or even the legislation that's out there, because a lot of folks did not know what was going on, especially in Texas."
Andrews, coming off a Sweet 16 trip with the women's basketball team, was part of a panel discussion led by rising senior forward Aaliyah Moore of Texas entitled, Sweetheart vs. Villains: A Memorable Season in Women's College Basketball.
"We were all front row for that one, the whole group," Walker said. "We want to be pretty and portrayed like (a sweetheart), but then there's the villain side of it where players speak up and do other things that not everyone likes."
Givens said that can be "a very edgy topic."
"The public wants them to be a sweetheart and play nice," he said. "But when they play hard and there's a hard foul, and they show emotion, then the public looks down on them. So, what's the line between the sweetheart and villain? They also talked about how we can even the playing field between men's basketball and women's basketball."
One of the sessions that Bett attended at the Summit talked about "being a pro" in everything you do.
"As an athlete, you think you can go hard on the field and hard in the weight room. And that's how you can be a pro," Bett said. "You've got to be a pro with your sleeping habits, be a pro with your eating habits, be a pro in school. That's what's going to separate you from other athletes."
"Bama," who's going into just his second year of college, said he learned that it also takes leadership – even when you're one of the youngest.
"You can't just go out there and do your own thing and expect everybody else to follow in behind you," Bett said. "You've got to be a pro in that world as well."
While Bett, Reese, Walker and Andrews all have pro aspirations, Polk said she knows "there is no me continuing to flip" after the A&T season ends next year with hopefully a 10th-consecutive NCATA national championship.
"I strayed from the rest of the group and went to a lot of executive leadership sessions and things like sports law, sports administration and even behind the scenes of sports, like player development, recruiting and operations," said Polk, a biology major and Vice President of Baylor's Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
"I think it was great to just learn how people have worked their way up, because I know for me, Acro is going to end within the next year. I learned that leadership requires you to not only be vocal but to be a people person, understand everybody's story and to work well and allow them to collaborate with you. Learning how people lead is going to be great going into this next year as my second term as vice president."
From the administrative side, Peterson said her "cup was filled" at the BSA Summit.
She said that DIECE, whose mission is to discuss, evaluate and create tangible solutions that drive intentional growth toward increased diversity and inclusive excellence within college athletics, made sure that "not only are we talking about how we support our student-athletes, but they are doing professional development, checking in with us and seeing what fills your cup."
"Hearing sessions on how we can support our student-athletes and just hear their voices," Givens said. "And then also, being a Black administrator, understanding how to challenge our Black student-athletes and our white student-athletes. And then, pushing them to do more, experience more."
One of the executive leadership sessions that Polk attended was led by four Black males, "and I think that's amazing. They're all billionaires and millionaires," she said.
"So, that says it can happen, and it's possible for people of color," Polk said. "What I would have loved to see more of is black women also in that conversation, because I think it's hard to be a woman and it's harder to be a Black woman. Just including women in that conversation would have been great, or great to see that it's possible, because I know I want to go into executive leadership of a college athletics department. And I think to see that it's possible to get there would have been great."
While Baylor brought eight student-athletes to the 2024 BSA Summit, Peterson said the hope is to spread the word and send more next year.
"My freshman year (at Kentucky), I was the one person that went (to the BSA Summit)," Walker said, "so I had to experience that by myself. I would like to see us spread more awareness for more people to go, especially the younger athletes that are coming in now, so they experience (the BSA Summit) that freshman year instead of your senior year."
Baylor Bear Insider
Even at 19 years old, heading into his third season at Baylor, running back Richard Reese knows that "football is not going to last forever."
One of eight Baylor student-athletes represented at the Black Student-Athlete Summit that was hosted by USC on the Los Angeles campus in late May, Reese got the chance to hear from "athletes that have been through what we've been through."
"They let us know that sports are not going to last forever," Reese said, "so you've got to find something to do after sports. That was something big that I took out of it, just knowing that football for me is not going to last forever. Even if you go to the NFL, you're going to have to retire at some point."
Led by Christal Peterson, Assistant AD for Character Formation, and Character Formation Coordinator Malcolm Givens, the Baylor contingent also included football's Brendan "Bama" Bett and Kaian Roberts-Day; Sarah Andrews, Jada Walker and Yaya Felder from women's basketball; and Mariah Polk and Layla Alexander from the acrobatics & tumbling team.
"It was a really cool four days just to be out there with them," Peterson said. "A lot of things are just centered on support and knowing that there are connections within the divisions, within the institutions. This year, they focused a lot about the DIB (diversity, inclusion and belonging) space. Just seeing what the policies are, or even the legislation that's out there, because a lot of folks did not know what was going on, especially in Texas."
Andrews, coming off a Sweet 16 trip with the women's basketball team, was part of a panel discussion led by rising senior forward Aaliyah Moore of Texas entitled, Sweetheart vs. Villains: A Memorable Season in Women's College Basketball. "We were all front row for that one, the whole group," Walker said. "We want to be pretty and portrayed like (a sweetheart), but then there's the villain side of it where players speak up and do other things that not everyone likes."
Givens said that can be "a very edgy topic."
"The public wants them to be a sweetheart and play nice," he said. "But when they play hard and there's a hard foul, and they show emotion, then the public looks down on them. So, what's the line between the sweetheart and villain? They also talked about how we can even the playing field between men's basketball and women's basketball."
One of the sessions that Bett attended at the Summit talked about "being a pro" in everything you do.
"As an athlete, you think you can go hard on the field and hard in the weight room. And that's how you can be a pro," Bett said. "You've got to be a pro with your sleeping habits, be a pro with your eating habits, be a pro in school. That's what's going to separate you from other athletes."
"Bama," who's going into just his second year of college, said he learned that it also takes leadership – even when you're one of the youngest.
"You can't just go out there and do your own thing and expect everybody else to follow in behind you," Bett said. "You've got to be a pro in that world as well."
While Bett, Reese, Walker and Andrews all have pro aspirations, Polk said she knows "there is no me continuing to flip" after the A&T season ends next year with hopefully a 10th-consecutive NCATA national championship.
"I strayed from the rest of the group and went to a lot of executive leadership sessions and things like sports law, sports administration and even behind the scenes of sports, like player development, recruiting and operations," said Polk, a biology major and Vice President of Baylor's Student Athlete Advisory Committee. "I think it was great to just learn how people have worked their way up, because I know for me, Acro is going to end within the next year. I learned that leadership requires you to not only be vocal but to be a people person, understand everybody's story and to work well and allow them to collaborate with you. Learning how people lead is going to be great going into this next year as my second term as vice president."
From the administrative side, Peterson said her "cup was filled" at the BSA Summit.
She said that DIECE, whose mission is to discuss, evaluate and create tangible solutions that drive intentional growth toward increased diversity and inclusive excellence within college athletics, made sure that "not only are we talking about how we support our student-athletes, but they are doing professional development, checking in with us and seeing what fills your cup."
"Hearing sessions on how we can support our student-athletes and just hear their voices," Givens said. "And then also, being a Black administrator, understanding how to challenge our Black student-athletes and our white student-athletes. And then, pushing them to do more, experience more."
One of the executive leadership sessions that Polk attended was led by four Black males, "and I think that's amazing. They're all billionaires and millionaires," she said.
"So, that says it can happen, and it's possible for people of color," Polk said. "What I would have loved to see more of is black women also in that conversation, because I think it's hard to be a woman and it's harder to be a Black woman. Just including women in that conversation would have been great, or great to see that it's possible, because I know I want to go into executive leadership of a college athletics department. And I think to see that it's possible to get there would have been great."
While Baylor brought eight student-athletes to the 2024 BSA Summit, Peterson said the hope is to spread the word and send more next year.
"My freshman year (at Kentucky), I was the one person that went (to the BSA Summit)," Walker said, "so I had to experience that by myself. I would like to see us spread more awareness for more people to go, especially the younger athletes that are coming in now, so they experience (the BSA Summit) that freshman year instead of your senior year."
Players Mentioned
Tumbler/Base
/ Acrobatics & Tumbling
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
Base/Tumbler
/ Acrobatics & Tumbling
RB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
G
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