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Diversity Training Program for the College Basketball Team

This paper entails a proposal for five-day diversity training program meant for the college basketball team. The college basketball team comprises a total of 18 male students from all college levels, of ages between 17-24 years. As per the records provided by the head coach, the basketball team has had the honor to mentor players from various ethnic groups who have turned out to be national and even international sport stars. In the current team, the diversity distribution includes: 8 Whites; 6 Black-Americans; 2 Latinos; 1 Indian and 1 Chinese. Therefore, the head coach feels that it is important for the team to undertake a diversity training program to help improve relations and interactions between the team members. By understanding diversity, the team members will learn the importance of valuing and respecting others ethnic groups which will promote teamwork and improve performance.

According to Homan (2015) and Coakley (2017), including team members in designing a training program is key in ensuring full engagement and participation when it is implemented. Therefore, I plan on approaching the team members prior and enquire form them on what they expect to learn or be included in the program. I will also make proposals on what I would like to include on the program and ask for their opinion. The training program will include both theoretical and practical approaches for effective learning. Therefore, the training program will be computer-based meaning that I will require a computer and a projector for effective learning. Further, I will require each member’s email address to enable me to send them any additional information or notes.

The key objective of this diversity training program is to inform the team members on the importance of recognizing, accepting, respecting our individual differences (Alhejji, 2016). Therefore, in order to achieve this, I plan on covering various dimensions of diversity, specifically, race, ethnicity, and social-economic status. From my assessment, I believe that these are the key dimensions pertaining the basketball team. Further, I plan on assessing each dimension by analyzing on how our differences may impact or influence relationships in the team.

 To ensure effective, learning, I plan on including practical learning that will engage all team members. Sherbin (2017) argues that building an inclusion culture from the start to the end is crucial in building a strong team and maintaining good team performance. Hence, I plan on incorporating inclusion activities with an objective of learning what shapes each team member, their perception of themselves and others and confronting stereotypes and bias activities (Cunningham, 2017). These activities will use several case studies related to the topics that each member must participate in and present their conclusions. Also, I will use personal assessment tests as well as group work activities (Thomas, 2017).

Below is a proposal of the training schedule that includes the day, activities and an explanation of the chosen activities.

According to (Coakley, 2017), the sport industry is among the most diverse industries in the world as it includes all talented individuals from all parts of the world. Hence, it is important to ensure that all players understand, accept and respect individual differences to promote team performance. Hence, I believe that the above proposed diversity training program will be effective if implemented. I also believe that the basketball team’s performance will greatly improve and benefit from the program.