I think what sports organizations, in this case to be specific, professional sports organizations, need to be doing is providing training and education for their players, their coaches, their staff. Everybody needs to know that just because you're providing training doesn't mean that you're going to prevent every incident from happening. It doesn't mean you're perfect. It doesn't mean you're hypocritical if one of your athletes ends up assaulting a woman. It just means that we're doing our best. Everybody needs to do their part and do their best in being part of the solution to these issues, not that there's any such thing as a perfect solution.
In addition, I would say that in my work with professional athletics my focus has not always been on the athletes themselves. The time we get when we work with a professional team is typically so limited, 90 minutes or something; 90 minutes is good, but it's not what you need.
But my thinking is professional athletic organizations have enormous resources in the community. They have brand power in the community. They have such influence. I'm thinking about kids when I'm thinking about professional athletes. I'm thinking about the message to boys that we can say these professional athletic organizations are part of this campaign. What's the message to young men who have big posters of these guys on their walls? When a guy whose poster is on the wall commits an act of sexual assault or domestic violence, obviously that sabotages the idea that these guys are somebody you should look up to. I understand that. But professional athletic organizations can do so much partnering with local domestic violence programs and sexual assault programs. They can provide resources.
Can I just give you one example? If every one of the Canadian franchises in the National Hockey League decided every year they were going to have training at their facility, high school coaches or youth hockey coaches from their region would come to their arena and have a day-long training on the role of the coach in leading young men and women—mostly young men—in sexual assault and relationship abuse prevention. The Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens, the Vancouver Canucks, whatever team it is, are the co-sponsors of this event with, say, a local women's organization, and the coach of the team maybe makes an appearance at the training, or one or two high-profile players. in other words, make it a status thing for the local youth hockey coaches or the high school coaches to come to the arena and be trained. That's a way that professional organizations can use their power and brand to enhance the work that's already being done in the community and engage the coaches. A lot of those coaches, for example, wouldn't show up if it was just organized by the local domestic violence program, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs were organizing it, you'd see a lot more people turn up. That's an example of how professional athletics can play a positive role.