PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- Jeff Capel is concerned about the young men he is the leader of as head men's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, it goes beyond that.
"There's so many uncomfortable things going on in our world right now, in this society, especially here in this country for all young people. Not just black people. But for all young people," Capel said when he joined The Fan Morning Show on Tuesday.
"[I'm] trying to help them navigate through that, trying to help them find their way, trying to help them to stay mentally strong. But also, if you need to be vulnerable, be vulnerable and that's OK."
Capel was really happy and proud for the players in the NBA last week for using their platform and their influence to bring about change. He said the players that chose not to play, even being professional athletes, showed that every single person has the ability to feel.
He followed that thought with this…
"There may be people out there that say you don't need that in sports. I think that's bull you-know-what.
Before I'm a coach, before I was a player, whether it's a doctor or a lawyer or someone that runs a company, whatever you do, you're a person first. For me, I'm fortunate enough that I'm in this position where I can be the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and I'm really proud of that. I'm proud of the people that walked before me that allowed me to be in this position.
But before that, I'm a father. I'm a husband. And I've been a black man every day of my life and there are things that I've had to go through and deal with that other people haven't."
Capel then turned his attention specifically to his team and to other younger people dealing with the many challenges in their lives currently.
"The thing I worry about the most right now is the mental health of young people. Look, it's hard enough for us as adults. But, imagine being a kid, being 18,19, 20, 21 years old again and having to navigate through this. There's no escape from it.
Right now, it's 3 things. It's the pandemic and what that's doing. It's totally changed the way we live in this country. Nothing is normal and there's some fear. You have all the things with social injustice that are going on in this country right now that seem like it's coming to a head. Every day you turn on the TV or you get on social media, you see something of a person of color being killed, assaulted or something. And it's tiring.
Then you have the political landscape that's become so divisive and it's made everything in this country political. So where do they have an escape as student athletes? Normally what their escape would be is their sport and that's been taken away because of the pandemic."
Needless to say it's been a whirlwind for Capel, his staff and his players to deal with day to day. As a result, the program has strived to allow players to feel safe and to feel heard.
"What we've tried to do is give them space and to create an environment where they feel comfortable in being vulnerable. Being comfortable in talking. For us at times it's listening. It's allowing them to vent. It's allowing them to be angry in our environment."
Capel ended by relaying how proud he is of his players' response and sense of responsibility.
"One of the very first conversations we had, this was after the George Floyd murder, one of the things I told them on our Zoom, I was listening to them vent. But just understand you have power. You have a voice, you have a platform. Use it. Don't be afraid to share how you feel. Don't be afraid to demand the change that you want.
I've seen it happen on our campus with a couple of our guys that have reached out and sent emails and joined other students. Not just student athletes but other students on campus in trying to demand change for some things.
I'm really, really proud of them. This generation is the generation I think that's going to help create a lot of change. There's been change throughout, but I think this generation because they understand social media, they understand the power of it, and they're not afraid. They're entitled enough to think that, 'Why can't it happen to me? Why shouldn't it be happening right now?' instead of waiting 20, 30, 40, 400 years for it."
