“Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you’ve got a wicked jump shot,” said Greg Gary, the head coach of the Varsity Blues men’s football team, quoting The Notorious B.I.G.

According to Gary, the lyrics — taken from the 1994 track “Things Done Changed” — are still an accurate reflection of the experiences of racialized youth in the inner city.

The relationships between sport and post–secondary education for racialized and First Nations youth was the topic of a discussion entitled “A Hurdle to Success: The Challenge for Pan-American Legacy,” held at Hart House on January 22. The talk was the first in a series of panels hosted by the University of Toronto’s Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office, First Nations House, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, and Hart House in association with TO2015’s Ignite program. The program is being held in the leadup to the Toronto Pan Am Games; panellists included academics, coaches, and racialized athletes.

The discussion worked to dissect three key issues: access to post–secondary education and recruitment processes for racialized athletes, retention once the athletes have been recruited, and possible pathways and challenges to careers as amateur or professional athletes once post–secondary studies have finished.

Ultimately, all panelists agreed that many young, racialized athletes lack not only the financial currency required to enter a post–secondary education program, but also information about post–secondary opportunities available to them, the necessary high school academic prerequisites this entails, and strong support networks. Many universities have begun to increasingly recruit athletes who play on club teams, but increases in registration and equipment costs means that many racialized athletes are not getting the exposure to scouts that they deserve.

“There are a lot of kids putting in their 10,000 hours, but we never see them,” explained Jason Sealy, coach of the Ryerson Rams women’s basketball team.

But even for those racialized athletes who do manage to access post–secondary education vis-à-vis sport, increases in tuition costs mean that many students have difficulties balancing academics, athletics, and employment.

Unlike in the National College Association of America (NCAA), where tuition costs are exorbitant and many athletes manage to get free rides, the maximum athletic scholarship offered by the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) is $4,000. Still, Gary is not sure that the NCAA model is one that should be imitated.

“The NCAA model is designed to exploit. It’s a huge conveyor belt. A lot of athletes go in, but not a lot of athletes come out,” he explained.

He’s right; research conducted by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found there is a 32 per cent gap between graduation rates for white athletes and those for black athletes.

Nevertheless, the panelists were in agreement that the future is hopeful. For professor Janice Forysth of Western University, the answer lies in effective public policy. For others such as Gary, universities such as U of T can expand their outreach efforts into marginalized neighbourhoods and continue to host athletic camps to build community.

“We’re in a good place, but we can do more,” said Gary.