Name: Julian Silver

Social Justice Group: Access, Equity and Inequity in Youth Sports

Date of Fieldwork: January 24, 2023

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Luis Hernandez

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?:

On Tuesday, January 24th, 2023, we interviewed Luis Hernandez, mainly about how he works at a girls basketball program called The City. He has worked in multiple different school sports programs and outside of school sports programs across New York City. The City had basketball programs for both boys and girls before Covid. With only one boy’s team, the City now exclusively concentrates on girls’ basketball. He explained to us that the primary reason for removing boys teams was that girls would continue their high school education at the City while the majority of guys would leave and try out for a better, and more competitive league. If the boys did not receive a lot of playing time after trying out for another team, they would want to return to the City but at that time, the City would not have any openings. Luis believed that working with students who would stick with him throughout middle and high school was a better use of his time. Luis also let us know about 2 national championships that the city had won a few years back.