NGM Thoughts 01: Feminism and Your Favourite Sports Team
Hi there!
Happy 2018 to you and yours! This year we are undertaking a personal challenge to share some of our reflections around what it means to be a better man in today’s day and age. As a team, we often have long conversations based on our experiences in our programs, our personal lives, or the latest article, video, or podcast that we’ve taken in.
Now, we’re opening up our ‘Thoughts of a Next Gen Man’ to our community. Join us every Friday, give our thought a read, and let us know what you think! We’d love to spur the discussion.
Now, for our first thought.
Why did you start cheering for your favourite team? My favourite team is the Portland Trailblazers and I started cheering for them because of a personal connection I had to a man named Brandon Roy.
Brandon was my camp coach at a development camp I took part in at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA before my senior year of high school. He would go on to become the NBA’s Rookie of the Year and a 3x NBA All-Star for the Portland Trailblazers.
Did I know that the last championship they had won was back in 1977? No. Did I know that they were once anchored by the hippie big man Bill Walton? Vaguely. Did I know that the city would be my favourite to visit for a multitude of reasons some day? Absolutely not.
What I’m trying to say is that you don’t need to know everything about feminism to be a feminist. All you need to do is have a personal connection (a mom? sister? partner? friend?), think of it positively, and cheer for it. The rest reveals itself along the ride as you grow to understand the nuances of what you’re cheering for.
Written by Next Gen Men Co-Founder Jake Stika as part of a personal challenge to share some of our reflections around what it means to be a better man in today’s day and age. Join us every Friday for NGM Thoughts.