Name: Ivy Van Blerkom

Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, 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 (Lrei coach and PE teacher)

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, my group interviewed Luis Hernandez about his work with the City, a basketball program in New York City that works mostly with girls. Luis has worked at various schools and basketball programs throughout New York City. He has worked at a few different private schools and he currently works for LREI and he also is a coach for the City. Luis talked to us about how the City has evolved over the years.

Before Covid, the City offered programs for both boys and girls basketball. Now, the City primarily focuses on girls’ basketball, with only one boy’s team. He told us that the main reason behind dropping boys teams was that girls would stay at the City through highschool while most boys ended up leaving and trying out for a more well-known league. After the boys would try out for a different team, if they did not get a lot of playing time, they would try and re-join the City but at that point, the City would not have spots left. Luis thought that it was a better use of his time to work with kids who would stay with him throughout middle and high school. Luis also told us about the two national championships the City won just a few years ago.