NCAA tourney contender Stony Brook shows ‘You Can Play’
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The warmup shirts on the court match the scoreboard, which is lit up like the rainbow to match the LGBT pride flag.
The America East-leading Stony Brook men’s basketball players are in layup lines as they normally would be, about 45 minutes before tipoff against Binghamton on Wednesday night. The only difference is their attire, shirts which spell out #OUR HOUSE RULES on the front, and You Can Play on the back.
Inside the main concourse, athletes from other Stony Brook athletic teams run booths explaining the night’s theme — inclusiveness and awareness — and offer a pledge that students can sign promising to promote acceptance of all teammates and peers as well as speak out against slurs of any sort in any environment on campus. Many athletes sign their jersey numbers alongside their names on the poster board; others use an iPad to input their pledge.
The visibility extends to the band and dance teams, who also wear T-shirts or pins with pride symbols. One of the tuba players drapes herself in rainbow flag.
It’s Stony Brook’s You Can Play night — well, one of them. This is its men’s basketball incarnation for 2015-16, and the night is part of the America East’s partnership with the You Can Play Project, an organization that works to improve safety and inclusivity for LGBT athletes, coaches and fans. It also hopes to publicize allies and change locker room culture.
The premise of the project is this: If you can play, you can play. Sports should be about skill and effort, not an athlete’s gender or sexual preference. America East, which has nine members, has partnered with You Can Play since December 2012. It was the first collegiate conference to do so.
All nine America East members host You Can Play nights throughout the fall, winter and spring sports seasons. During the winter, men’s and women’s basketball teams participate — the schools’ most visible athletes showing support for the cause. Stony Brook’s team fits that bill, as the Seawolves (18-4) have won their past 15 games and are projected to make the NCAA tournament in USA TODAY Sports’ bracketology.
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“Whether it’s fair or not, reasonable or not, athletes are leaders in colleges, in pros, in high schools,” Patrick Burke, co-founder of You Can Play, told USA TODAY Sports. “People look up to them. People look to them for guidance on various social issues. Having the men’s basketball team (Wednesday) wearing shirts that say, ‘You Can Play,’ seeing a stand set up talking about the America East partnership, having student leaders there providing education on LGBT issues — it’s something that can really transform a culture on a college campus.
“Having the Stony Brook men’s basketball team hosting a You Can Play night, saying we believe in equality, we believe LGBT teammates, coaches and fans should be treated with respect and dignity, they should be able to play or coach or cheer free of harassment, intimidation and degradation, that’ll have an effect on people in the stands, students in their dorms. It’ll have an effect on kids on the campus who don’t even go to the games or don’t even like basketball. It’s a feeling of belonging on campus.”
Burke’s project works with both professional and collegiate teams to educate them on LGBT issues and make videos expressing the importance of inclusivity. Powerhouse athletic programs, from Ohio State to UCLA, have produced videos that are housed on You Can Play’s web site. Including professional organizations, too, Burke estimates You Can Play and various teams have made “well over 100” videos total.
What impresses him the most, however, is when athletic programs (like the America East schools) take the matter into their own hands. No representatives from You Can Play attended Wednesday’s game; all activities and coordination were handled by the Seawolves’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
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Says Amy Huchthausen, the America East commissioner: “Our student-athletes have been leading this effort from the start and I'm so impressed with how they have continued to lead and spread the message of respect each year across all sports and platforms. It's important to them and I'm blown away with how they've embraced this in such a positive and public way.”
Senior Jameel Warney, Stony Brook’s leading scorer, said after the Seawolves’ 76-51 win that he loves promoting inclusiveness by participating in You Can Play night, saying it’s one of his favorite days of the year — besides Christmas, of course. Warney’s coach agreed.
“It’s a great cause, and I’m glad our league has taken it up,” Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell said. “It’s exciting for me and our basketball program because we’re about diversity, we’re about inclusion, we’re about acceptance, all those great things You Can Play stands for.
“If you can play, you can play — I mean, that’s a great saying. We have guys from differnet backgrounds, different countries, guys who have different likes. Guys who are different. If you can play, you can play. That’s all they care about. They’re accepting of everyone, and our university has really embraced this, too.”
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