A powerful new tool for coaches helps them provide support for their racialized players

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

The first time I was ever racially abused was on a soccer pitch. An opposing player called me a slur and I responded by punching her. I was 11 years old.

The ref ejected me from the match immediately but because he hadn't heard the comments directly, nothing happened to the player who racially abused me. She smiled smugly as I walked off the pitch with angry tears stinging my eyes. The experience was humiliating and incredibly isolating. I have talked about this before and speak of it still because the ways in which I felt abandoned by my coach still haunt me. 

Racialized athletes need support and protection with everything from racial attacks to cultural understanding. Yes, we lost the tournament, but I lost any confidence in my coach that day. Had he possessed some understanding of how to handle the situation instead of directing his ignorance and frustration at me, the situation would not have left me feeling so alone. But now, decades later, coaches and athletes will be getting the education and training they need and deserve.

The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) just released an online module dedicated to anti-racism learning. The impetus for this online learning tool came from the CAC, which oversees 65 amateur sports associations. Sports Canada mandates that the CAC provide coaching education to coaches across the country. 

I spoke with Isabelle Cayer, CAC's director of Sport Safety, who explained why there was a shift toward EDI — Equity, Diversity and Inclusion — in the internal organization. The CAC's strategic plan, crafted in 2018, emphasized a gender balance but not