Whether it's being a voice for others, inspiring youth to find a place in sports or promoting a message of fairness, Northeastern student-athletes use their platform and voice to stand up for equality on and off the field.
When Northeastern women's soccer freshman defender Katherine Marchesseault faced adversity in a game earlier this season, her teammates stood up for her and behind her, making sure her voice was heard and her message was promoted. Now, the Huskies sport "Equality" shirts before each game in support of achieving justice and fairness towards all.
"You know my coaches and my teammates are all huge supporters of us, they were thrilled about the idea of doing the equality shirts," Marchesseault said. "My teammates and my coaches couldn't have been better with responding to what happened, and it really did make a big difference."
Gaby Scarlett, a sophomore forward for Northeastern women's soccer, has used her platform to be an example for younger women's soccer players.
"Let's say there's like a little girl that looks like me; they can make it — they can play college sports if they work hard, even though not that many people look like them in their community for club soccer," she said.
In the future, Scarlett said she wants to see more opportunity and access for younger black and minority athletes and hopes to use her voice to do so.
"Some African Americans want to go on or play the sport at a higher level, but it's too expensive for them," she said. "They are probably good enough to do it, as well, but they just can't because they don't have the money or it's too expensive."
Freshman field hockey midfielder Alana Fields agrees with Scarlett and has begun efforts to make changes in her home community, providing access to lesser-known and predominantly white sports to black communities. She began a program at the YMCA, hosting a beginner field hockey and lacrosse clinic for local children.
"It's going to take work to grow the sport at the grassroots level if you want to have more minority athletes compete at the highest level," she said.
The work is far from over, however, and she believes that more needs to be done to make sure the game is equitable and inclusive, mainly by paying more attention to these communities and bringing the sport to lower-income and minority groups.
"Even taking it to high school and middle school programs, or to be played in PE [can help]," she said. "[We can do] little things to introduce the sport, and in places where these kids are already growing up in rather than taking them out of their environment."
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