I’m Tori.
A Black Woman athlete. A collegiate long jumper, to be precise. Though, I didn’t have the perfect takeoff into sports and its accolades…
I’ve been an athlete since before I could remember. I did gymnastics at five and six years old, tried soccer for a few years, ran track since I was seven, attempted basketball but failed to make my middle school team, and played volleyball for seven years! When it comes to sports, you can say I’ve been around the block.
There’s so much depth and perspective to having these experiences in multiple sports. On the one hand, I feel my variety of sports growing up consistently haunts me in my progress and efforts to become a professional long jumper now. I think, “If only I stuck to this one sport and didn’t explore, I would be amazing,” or, “If only I really took this sport seriously earlier, it wouldn’t feel like such a fight to be as good as I want to be right now.”
These collective experiences are what built me to this moment and this project. The archive of experiences I’ve had in sports feels unreal. From me using humor as a mask to grasp at friendships of my white teammates when I was the only Black girl on my middle school volleyball team to feeling the most athletically challenged and obligated to be my best for my majority Black high school volleyball team. Not even two years later, I completely reprioritized track and became a Division 1 Big East champion in the 100 meters in my freshman season. Sports felt like a realm where I constantly learned about myself. And now, I have a lot to say!
Fast forward to now being able to call myself a School record holder for DePaul University, entering my final year of NCAA eligibility at a new school in a new conference where only excellence is applauded. My experiences and lessons are growing, and I must share them with our younger generation of Black women athletes. For a lot of the things I endured, I had no guide or mentor to tell me how to handle things and how to build identity through them. Heck, when people speak of athletes in conversation and social media, people automatically assume it’s a man juggling a ball of sorts (slight shade, but let us have our moment).
They often see us in our sport, but for some reason, we are less visible than our counterparts. If we are seen, it's through the sociological structures of misogyny, race, and sexuality. These structures blur our identity and image so much that they blind society to who we really are.
Dear Black Women Athlete exists to give a more accurate eye prescription of us to both society and ourselves.
The DBWA project is my way of showing appreciation for the sport and community that means so much to me - Black women. As I approach my final year as a collegiate athlete, I have always known that whether I continue my career professionally or retire after the 2024 track season, I want to contribute more than just my physical abilities.
Also, my canon of experience is just a page of a massive diary of the experiences fellow Black women athletes had in the past, present, and all around the world.
DBWA desires to treasure our experiences to build a more intimate community. We need community, fellowship, and guidance to let our Black Women athletes know we love them and we see them. From the ones like Simone Biles, who we knew was a star from a child to the ones that grind and push until the world feels their passion through their achievements, I see you. I’m determined that the rest of the world will see you, too.
Let it also be known that this space will be a home for all Black Women Athletes from high school to retired, recreational to world-class, DBWA is a hub for all of us. We believe that being an athlete is a lifelong commitment. Sports forever change our lives; they teach us wellness and health if we’re lucky, but they could also be our greatest source of pain and identity crisis if we’re not so lucky. From triggering issues like the harsh masculinization of our bodies to simply how to deal with our natural hair as a constantly sweating being, upcoming Black women athletes need to know there’s a community for them experiencing the same issues each day. In the era of black female athletes like Raven “The Hulk,” Saunders almost had her Olympic medal taken because of her activism at the Tokyo Olympics to swim caps for natural hair being banned in professional swimming meets; the discrimination is suffocating black female athletes now more than ever. Further, it seems the world turns a blind eye to it once large sporting events conclude, but we live with this weight for the rest of our careers. These are things that stay with us throughout our lives. Therefore, there should be a space that forever accommodates that. DBWA aims to give guidance with issues outside of physicality, resources, community, and knowledge to propel our athletes further into success.
Whether it’s your young loved one trying out a new sport for the first time, or you’re a collegiate athlete vying for national championships, join us by following our Instagram page @dearbwa, and sharing with other Black Women athletes in your life. There are no cuts on this team.
Sincerely,
DBWA Founder - Tori Carroll
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