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A number of anti-transgender bills were proposed in the United States during the first half of 2021, with several becoming laws. The passing of these bills has made it increasingly difficult for trans people to gain access to lifesaving, gender-affirming healthcare and to participate in sport based on their gender identity rather than their sex assignment at birth. In light of these new laws, sport organizations such as the NCAA have made statements promising to support trans athletes. While these statements may promote awareness, in order for trans athletes to compete safely and openly throughout their collegiate careers, the NCAA must create policies and implement effective practices centred around trans inclusion. In this chapter, I (Estel, they/he) share my journey as a transgender student-athlete at an NCAA Division I university during the Spring 2021 season. During my collegiate athletic career, I felt both grateful for the chance to row and fear and frustration due to discrimination. Through memory work and participant case analysis, my co-author and I outline the ways that transphobic myths may have influenced my interactions with administrators, coaches and athletes throughout my collegiate athletic career and negatively impacted my wellbeing and performance. We also identify specific ways in which NCAA policies on trans inclusion are outdated and do not align with their expressed commitment to the well-being of trans student-athletes; we provide recommendations for changes to these policies. Further, we recommend trans-inclusive practices NCAA member institutions can implement to create an inclusive and empowering sports environment.

The authors focus on using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a lens through which to analyze the holistic welfare development of Black male student-athletes, namely their identity development and overall college and career readiness. The authors contend that if structured and delivered well with the appropriate supports, athletics can be more of a mobilizing mechanism for Black males versus an exploitive one. Specifically, athletic identity does not have to be exclusive, but rather one aspect of the student-athletes' multidimensional sense of self. To this end, the authors outline specific research, practice, and policy recommendations that address the unique challenges of Black male student-athletes in K-16.

This chapter takes a panoramic view to explore the lives of collegiate Black men. We begin with brief reflections from our own experiences to position ourselves to and alongside Black men's lives and college years. After setting the stage through our own reflections, we explore the literature on Black men's lives during their college years and pay particular attention to their social statuses, campus engagement, and health and well-being. Two critical components in many Black men's collegiate experiences are how they are projected in wider US society through deficit-based perspectives and repositioned away from educational success. We interrogate these realities and advance a discussion on ways to improve the conditions, environment, and understanding of their college journeys and possibilities. We conclude with recommendations for research, practice, and policy.

This conceptual work synthesizes the experiences of Black men who are collegiate athletes and introduces new theoretical considerations on the formation of their leadership identities in predominantly white institutions. This scholarship focuses on historical understandings of how race and gender influenced the creation of the current Black man in collegiate identity. This work expands on Du Bois' (1903) concept of double consciousness, Fanon's (1952) views on Blackness, and Bertrand Jones and colleagues' culturally responsive leadership learning model (2016). Collectively, the three frameworks highlight the significance of leadership in the development of Black men who are student-athletes. The conclusion includes implications and recommendations for future research as we work to support and develop Black men beyond their athletic identity.