Boston College Football Cancels Practice Thursday, As Players & Coaches Discuss Racial Injustice
Boston College football canceled its scheduled practice on Thursday. The team used the time instead to discuss recent events and continuing racial injustice in the United States.
Head coach Jeff Hafley addressed the racial injustice in the country saying that it is "ridiculous, sad and disheartening." According to Hafley, this began on Wednesday night, when a coach sent Hafley a widely-viewed upsetting video on the situation. This carried over to the morning, when Hafley could tell that coach, and the players, were hurting. He met with the team leadership council and they decided as a group to cancel practice and use that time to discuss the recent events.
It was an emotional experience as players learned from their teammates and coaches, and heard their stories about feeling scared or a family member feeling scared. "It is about about continuing the conversation," Hafley told reporters. "It's about educating. It's about educating other people and carrying on this conversation with other people."
While this was a tough situation, Hafley felt that the team is close enough and trusted each other enough to have those difficult conversations. "I feel like we have a close enough team right now where guys felt comfortable to talk and to share their feelings. And when we broke up into smaller groups, it got even tighter."
This was just another step in the process of working together to address this problem. The program will continue to take steps to do what they can to support the players and their communities. They plan on having outside speakers come to speak to the team, and they will also work with a local school to support those students.
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