As the LGBT sports movement has made tremendous impact through professional sports, the entire sports community became a much more inclusive environment for athletes, staff and fans. In the past year we have seen an incredible change in professional sports leagues as NBA, WNBA, MLB and NFL became significantly more inclusive than ever before. Through such changes, athletes in all disciplines and all levels of play feel more liberated to disclose being LGBT without the fear of consequences. Although major professional sports leagues made an impact on the LGBT movement, college teams are still far behind. UCLA Women's Soccer program decided to break the silence.
UCLA Women’s Soccer Program joined Br{ache the Silence Tour of Champions to offer their support for the LGBT community in Women’s Sports nationally. Br{ache the Silence Tour of Champions invites national champions in Women’s Soccer to create a video where student-athletes have an opportunity to discuss the importance of inclusion of LGBT athletes in sports.
“We are extremely proud of UCLA, UConn and all of the champions who are using their platform to shift consciousness within the community. These institutions are champion caliber programs for a reason,” says Nevin Caple, Co-founder and Executive Director of Br{ache the Silence. “When student-athletes and coaches feel supported, they perform better. Our goal for Tour of Champions is to uplift the voices of young women, create inclusive systems, and give youth a collective of LGBT and ally role models to aspire to be like – knowing they too can be out and an elite college athlete or coach.”
UCLA Bruins Kodi Lavrusky, Zoey Goralski, and Claire Winter share their story in in this beautiful video found here.
Follow UCLA Women's Soccer program here.
