Case Study on The Racial Discrimination in Sport

In this case study, we have young Billy Simmons who is an extremely talented tennis player. Growing up, the Simmons family played mixed doubles, various combinations of singles, or just hit for fun at the Forest Hills Country Club, which is predominantly white. The Simmons family is the only African American family a part of the county club. As Billy got older, he became a repeat age-group winner and ended up becoming the club champion. Billy was only competing against Caucasians, and he started to realize that a lot of them, along with their parents, were racist and unethical. He began to hear his first racial slurs by the parents of the boys he was competing against and some of his opponents cheated on line calls to gain unfair advantages. All of this was very new to Billy, and this caused his performance to drop. The more his performance and confidence went down, the more the parents and players used racial slurs and cheating on line calls. After having a discussion with his father, Billy had learned that he had also faced the same issues while playing intercollegiate basketball. Through great focus and determination, Billy returned to top level performance and achieved a top 10 ranking in the state of Georgia. It was Billy’s passion to enroll at University of Southern Georgia because they had a top-rated tennis program. He received many college scholarship offers from other schools, but he still decided to attend the University of Southern Georgia anyway. Billy heard rumors that Coach Vines never had an African American player on his tennis team and people heard him making derogatory comments about African Americans players on other teams. Despite the rumors, Billy still wanted to play tennis for USG. On the first day of practice, Billy arrived at the tennis courts early and talked to Coach Vines about trying out for the team. After a weeklong tryout where Billy outshined the rest of the players, he was not chosen to be a part of the team. Billy called his father who then talked to Coach Vines. Dr. Simmons then took it a step further and setup a meeting with the Athletic Director, Bruce Holcombe. Dr. Simmons strongly felt as if Billy had been discriminated against based on his race. This case study decision will be viewed from the eyes of Bruce Holcombe while making counterarguments on the behalf of Coach Vines.

There are a couple of unethical issues that need to be addressed, but the main unethical issue is that Coach Vines has discriminated against Billy based on his race and not his performance. As a result, Billy will not able to be a part of University of Southern Georgia’s tennis team. Since Billy was clearly one of the best players at weeklong tryouts, we know that he didn’t make the team based on his performance. Another unethical issue is that people have heard that Coach Vines has made derogatory remarks about African Americans on other tennis teams that they’ve faced. These issues mainly challenge the values of integrity, fairness, and character respect. Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, or moral uprightness. Coach Vines is clearly not displaying integrity because he’s not being honest as to why Billy didn’t make the team. Billy is clearly one of the best players, and he still didn’t make the team. Fairness is defined as impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination. Coach Vines has never had an African American player play for him and despite how good Billy was Coach Vines still decided not to place him on the team. Coach Vines has shown that he isn’t impartial when it comes to players of color, despite their physical ability. How can someone who isn’t better than Billy possibly make the team? Character is defined as the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. Coach Vines has clearly shown us that he doesn’t have good character. He cut Billy based on the color of his skin and not his performance. Also, it’s rumored that people have heard him making derogatory comments about African American players that they’ve faced. A man of good character would never do or say these things, especially around his players or coaches. Some questions that could be asked pertaining to the issue could be “Why can’t Coach Vines be more tolerant of African Americans and accept them for their value to the team instead of their physical appearance?” “What kind of history does Coach Vines have that makes his perception about African Americans the way it is now?”

There are a lot of ethical questions that need to be asked to everyone who is involved. Why was Billy not placed on the team if he was clearly one of the top players? Why hasn’t an African American player ever played for Coach Vines? Is Coach Vines setting a good example for the University of Southern Georgia’s tennis program? Did Billy have a good attitude when weeklong tryouts took place? Was Billy ever late or missed a day during weeklong tryouts? What criteria does Coach Vines use to select his players? Did Dr. Simmons jump the gun when accused Coach Vines of discriminating against Billy based on raced and not performance? All of these are questions that need to be thoroughly examined because there may something extremely important that we all may be missing. Coach Vines clearly disregarded ethical decisions when he decided to cut Billy. He didn’t have sound reasoning, principled statements, or rational arguments when he made his decision. Also, he made his decision based on how he felt and feelings cannot dictate judgement because they are not always rational. Coach Vines also didn’t display the criteria of good moral reasoning. He showed that he wasn’t free from bias, fraud, or injustice, he wasn’t consistent with past and present actions, and he wasn’t careful of all moral and non-moral decisions. There is one ethical theory that is clearly displayed which is egoism. It is the belief that all people act in self-interest. Coach Vines cut Billy based on the color of his skin and didn’t care how good he was. Because of Coach Vines personal views about African Americans he made a decision that was going to make him happy and satisfied.

The stakeholders in this situation include Coach Vines, Billy, Bruce Holcombe, Dr. Simmons, the tennis program, and the University of Southern Georgia. They all play a vital role in this situation. Coach Vine’s decision affects Billy and Dr. Simmons because they strongly believe that Billy was discriminated against based on his race and not his performance. If Coach Vines is found guilty of discriminating against Billy based on his race, he could get fired. Billy is directed affected because he’s always dreamed of playing tennis at USG, and that might not be able to happen, especially if Coach Vines proves he wasn’t discriminating. Bruce Holcombe is affected because he now has to intervene on Billy and Dr. Simmons behalf to see if discrimination is the reason why Billy didn’t make the team. Dr. Simmons is affected because he is intervening on Billy’s behalf, and this is a very serious accusation that can’t be taken lightly. The USG tennis team is affected because they may or may not have a good season depending on whether not Billy is placed on the team. The University of Southern Georgia is affected because their athletic program can possibly face a potential lawsuit. It would also raise further suspicion about other unethical practices that are possibly going on with other athletics at USG. No one likes to be tied to a school that clearly has a bad reputation. The key stakeholders are Billy and Coach Vines. Coach Vines is a direct stakeholder because he has the potential to lose his job or get suspended if it’s true that he didn’t choose Billy solely on the basis of his race. Also, Billy is a direct stakeholder because he will be directly impacted whether he makes the team or not. He’s always had a passion to play tennis at USG, and if he’s not able to play, he’ll be absolutely crushed.

Coach Vines may indeed have justifiable reasons as to why Billy didn’t make the team. First, it was never stated whether or not Billy had a good attitude or if he was respectful to Coach Vines. Billy’s attitude could have been extremely cancerous, and he could have been very disrespectful towards Coach Vines. It doesn’t matter how great of a player you are. If you are disrespectful to your coach and your attitude is bad, that is a very justifiable reason as to why you will not be placed on the team. Coach Vines probably didn’t want to take a chance on Billy influencing the rest of the players on the tennis team regardless of how good he was. Second, Billy may have thought that he was so good that he didn’t have to show up to every tryout during the week or may have showed up late to every practice. During tryout, coaches have specific rules in place to help weed people out. If Billy was showing up late every day or missed a couple of practices, this is also another justifiable reason as to why he didn’t.

From the view of the Athletic Director, Bruce Holcombe, I would fire Coach Vines if I found out that he discriminated against Billy based on the color of his skin and not his performance. If Billy attended all tryouts during the course of the week, was never late, and had a good attitude, there is no reason as to why Coach Vines didn’t place him on the team. That type of behavior on any level is never acceptable, and he has possibly put the University of Southern Georgia in a position to be hit with a serious lawsuit. As a coach, it is your responsibility to make sure you are fair and have integrity. This definitely makes the school look bad because they feel as if this is going on with other sports. I would personally apologize to Billy and his father and do my best to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. I would even allow Billy’s father to be on the search committee to find a tennis coach who has good morals and values. Again, this is never acceptable on any level. If Billy showed up late, missed practices during the week, or was disrespectful and had a bad attitude, I would have to stand behind Coach Vines. Those are justifiable reasons as to why you didn’t select a player to be on your team. It doesn’t matter how good of a player you are if you can’t follow simple rules, respect the coach, show up on time and attend all required tryout practices. If those things took place, Dr. Simmons and Billy would have to respect Coach Vines decision, and Billy can tryout for the team next year. I’m all in favor for what is right.