On Day 2 of the NCAA's Diversity & Inclusion campaign, the focus is on the power of teamwork and community in creating inclusive environments. After all, inclusion is a team sport! On this day of the campaign, we encourage student-athletes to share how being a good teammate is crucial in fostering diversity and inclusion.
Today the Salem Department of Athletics is featuring two student athletes—Kayla Ogle and Anna Schneider—along with soccer head coach Octavia Saunders. The three were asked a variety of questions and provided the following responses:
Kayla Ogle 2021, Softball
What is your team environment like and what have they embraced into the culture of the team thus far? Whether discussing practice sessions or games, team rules, or strategies for inclusion, student-athletes can explain how their team always strives to work together as one.
If you know the softball team, you know that we can always be found together as one big family. Whether that be eating lunch together in the refectory, studying in the student center, or playing games in Bryant Hall. We truly are one big family and strive to make each of our teammates feel loved, accepted, and included.
Anna Schneider 2020, Volleyball
Explain how being a good teammate is crucial in fostering diversity and inclusion.
Being a good teammate is crucial to fostering diversity and inclusion. The team is unit and there cannot be unity without total acceptance of its members. That means loving and accepting everyone regardless of their gender, sexuality, race, religion, or any other quality that makes our teammates uniquely themselves.
What does teamwork mean to you? Specifically when it comes to diversity and inclusion
Teamwork means gathering and uniting team members in order to lift each other up and highlight what makes us unique. Teamwork is the piece that glues us together and helps us foster a wholesome environment centered on compassion in order to achieve our goals.
Make a strong statement in support of racial equity, can you share what "Black Lives Matter" means to you? In addition, you could highlight resources for anti-racist work on your campus or in your community.
Black Lives Matter shows support for our black siblings who have been discriminated against and persecuted for no reason of their own doing for far too long. It is the recognition that all human beings deserve equal rights and opportunities, and it is the action plan to empower black communities.
Octavia Saunders / Head Coach / Salem Soccer
Salem soccer head coach Octavia Saunders was nominated for the 2020 NCAA Division III LGBTQ Administrator/Coach/Staff of the Year Award.
Saunders wrapped up a solid 2019 season with a 12-6-1 mark, posting the best winning percentage (.631) of any coach in the first two years of their career in Salem soccer history. She guided the 2019 unit to the 10th-most goals (40) in a single-season in program history.
With Saunders manning the sidelines, Salem won six road games in 2019, tying the 2013 and 2017 units for third-most in a single-season. The Spirits reached the USA South Conference Semifinals after posting a 2-0 win over Piedmont on Nov. 2.
Under the direction of Saunders, Salem enjoyed its 10th double-digit win in program history in 2019. Six of those 12 victories came between mid-October and early November with consecutive triumphs over N.C. Wesleyan, William Peace, Piedmont International, Methodist, Mary Baldwin and Piedmont, which earned Salem a berth in the USA South Tournament Semifinal.
Away from the pitch, Saunders' team has made an impact on the Salem community and the Triad overall. The Spirits' soccer program posted a 3.66 GPA in the classroom and logged over 400 hours of community service in 2019-20.
SAUNDERS: First, I'm excited for us to celebrate Diversity & Inclusion week, two very important topics that I am passionate about.
It has been an absolute honor to be nominated for the 2020 NCAA Division III LGBTQ Administrtor/Coach/Staff of the Year Award amongst some great people and leaders within NCAA Division III Athletics. It has been a journey for me to be open in my professional life -- from hiding who I really am so that I wouldn't make people feel uncomfortable, to embracing all parts of myself. I believe that as a Leader, creating a safe and inclusive environment for all begins with me; it is important to be myself and let my players know the real me. My wife comes to support the team at every home game (and most away); not only does she support the program but she gets to know the players and families throughout the season.
Quntashea Lewis, the basketball head coach, and I are the SAAC Advisors for Salem. Even though this is a student-athlete lead group, Coach Q and my roles are to help facilitate, advise and be a staff voice in order to help guide their projects and programming. I really enjoy being a part of this amazing group of young women leaders, seeing first hand their passion for college athletics and their ability to come together to find solutions and ways to enhance our student athletes' experience at Salem. We create an open space where they feel confident to speak up, be representatives for their sports and be leaders on campus for the athletic department. It is a great opportunity for these student-athletes to be involved in and for me to be a mentor to athletes from other sports.
When I am walking around campus, my assistant coach Kaitlyn Barbour will joke and say "You know everyone and say hi to anyone". My Director of Athletics Trish Hughes, calls me a "Bee Charmer" because it is important to me to be someone who lifts people's spirits. I have an open door policy in my office and the athletes know they can come in and chat about anything and everything; it is not just soccer players you will see in there if you walk by.
I am very fortunate in the sense that my family has been so supportive since coming out and have always pushed me to follow my happiness. I understand that is not the case for all the LGBTQIA+ community; for some coming out and being your full self can be challenging, or not an option at all until they can support themselves independently. That is why it is so important that they feel support from others, coaches, teammates, friends etc and I will always be an advocate for my community. I want to say thank you to my wife, Lindsey Sarvis, for being a big reason for my growth over the last 4 years of our relationship. She has shown me that I can be my true self-- to feel confident from how I dress, to how I Coach and that what I give to others is what really matters; the people who matter will accept me for me.