The Shakerite VOL 91 ISSUE I

ual changes. Some are as simple as creating a new
banner listing each school in the new conference
to hang in the gym. This is not required, but most
schools do so.
Other changes are more complex, such as renewing
scouting efforts. Once teams have been in
a league for some time, they become familiar with
the players, the teams’ playing styles and tendencies.
Once schools change leagues, they are not as
familiar with the new teams and have to prepare
differently.
The league change also
lessens the burden of time for
travel on athletes. GCC teams
include Medina, Brunswick,
Elyria, Solon, Euclid and
Strongsville. Most of those
schools are not close to Shaker,
creating long trips to get
to and from the contest. This
posed a problem on weeknights
when student-athletes
would come home late from
a game at Brunswick or Medina
and still had to prepare
for school the next day. LEL
teams include Warrensville,
Cleveland Heights, Maple
Heights, Shaw, Bedford, Garfield
Heights and Lorain.
Most of the teams in the LEL
are close to Shaker.
Also from a competitive
standpoint, switching from
the GCC to LEL gave an advantage
to all athletic teams,
specifically softball and volleyball.
Switching back to the
LEL also allows Shaker to return to traditional rivalries,
such as that with Cleveland Heights.
The most compelling, and disturbing, reason for
the return to the LEL lies in the district’s statement
about athletes’ social-emotional health. Shaker student-athletes
have reported incidents of GCC athletes
using racial slurs during contests. The district
hopes the switch to the LEL will help to eliminate
“Against other
teams, I get these
kind of looks [from
opponents] looking
at me saying, ‘Why
am I out here?’ or
‘Why am I running?’
They don’t think
I’ve got the chance
to be great.”
DeAndre Hall
Senior Cross Country Runner
these incidents.
But why do Shaker athletes need better socio-emotional
support?
Black athletes, whether they are professionals
in the NBA or NFL, or in high school in the GCC,
suffer from racism and discrimination when competing.
Black athletes at every level have faced discriminination
and racism for as long as they have
competed in sports. For example, in 2019, Oklahoma
City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook
was playing a game against
the Utah Jazz. He was approached
by a fan near the
team bench who made racist
comments toward him.
According to Westbrook, the
fan said, “Get down on your
knees like you used to.” Westbrook
claims that he suffers
abuse every time he plays
there. Westbrook is also on
video reacting to the fan
by threatening him and his
family. Westbrook was fined
$25,000 for “directing profanity
and threatening language
to a fan.” The fan, Shane Keisel,
was banned from the arena
for life.
In 2019, Golden State
Warriors center DeMarcus
Cousins claimed that when
he was playing against the
Boston Celtics, a fan made
racist comments toward him,
similar to Westbrook’s experience
in Utah. Furthermore,
fans at European soccer games have directed racist
chants at Black athletes. In Bulgaria, fans made
Nazi salutes and made monkey chants. In the Netherlands,
a game was stopped due to racist chants. It
is obvious that racism in sports has been consistent
through time. These racist acts show how Black
players are treated while playing in their sport by
fans, coaches and sports organizations.
Spring 2021 THE SHAKERITE 55