DAYTON, Ohio — The Miami Valley Football Coaches Association hosted its second annual Social Justice 7 on 7, bringing 42 high school teams from across Ohio and Michigan Tuesday in Dayton.
The competition allows teams that wouldn’t typically compete the chance to face off on the field in a friendly seven-on-seven game, before heading to the University of Dayton Arena to work together in a social justice seminar.
The event chair Al Powell, a longtime football coach himself, said he wanted to create a competition that introduces the young players to new perspectives while helping them learn, despite their different backgrounds and identities they can all find common ground.
“You did the work on the field, now you gotta do the work in the heart,” he said.
Norwood High School head coach, Gregory Conwell, brought his students to the event for the first time this year, eager for the opportunity to travel and play against a different competition.
“Some kids have never been up to Dayton, some have never been outside of Cincinnati,” he said.
Conwell said he felt even luckier one of his competitors was a former colleague of his, Chris Mobley, the head coach at West Carrollton.
“He’s a great man and a great mentor,” Conwell said.
The teams got to match up different groups of seven players to see how well they could compete, then when the game finished, the students sat alongside each other in the seminar, learning how each school and community navigates issues of racial inequality.
“Any bit of positivity that we can get on a daily basis, I always tell my kids to go for it,” Mobley said. “Coming here today after the football stuff and going over to UD and being enlightened a little bit more is always good.”
Players from teams across Ohio came together after their games for a seminar
One of the seminar’s speakers was Bryan Miller, a coach and empowerment speaker from Lima. He asked the students to get uncomfortable and honest with each other, in the hopes they can learn to see the world from each other’s perspective.
“I’m asking you, young men, to have the courage to have those conversations and shake some things up,” he said.
While issues of racial inequality and justice may seem divorced from sports, Powell believes anywhere there’s a group of disparate people trying to work together for a common goal, understanding needs to play a role.
The coaches who came agreed, acknowledging that while they want their players to grow as athletes, it’s just as important for them to grow as people.
“The main thing is to get better,” Conwell said.
Next year, he hopes to see 60 teams take part and bring in more Dayton organizations and facilities to further spread out the event and involve more of the community.
