To Help Eliminate Sexual Violence, These Teams at Saint Mary’s Are Pioneering a Program for Coaching Leadership, Equity, and Respect
Men’s Rugby and Soccer use the mentoring role of coaches to give players’ tools and perspectives to foster healthy relationships and build communities built on mutual care.
This year, in an effort to help eradicate sexual violence on campus and foster communities free of violence, the Saint Mary’s Men’s Rugby and Soccer teams adopted a new program called Coaching Leadership, Equity and Respect (CLEAR). Rugby coach Tim O’Brien and soccer coach Adam Cooper readily agreed to pilot the training when Megan Gallagher of the Campus Assault Response and Education (CARE) Center and Dr. Cynthia Cutshall of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offered it to all SMC athletics teams.
Gallagher and Cutshall trained O’Brien and Cooper in implementing the curriculum, which includes 12 weekly modules designed to educate male-identified athletes about respect, healthy relationships, and consent. Athletic coaches play one of the most influential roles in the lives of their athletes, and CLEAR leverages the coach-athlete relationship to teach young men healthy relationship skills.
O’Brien and Cooper integrated the lessons into their practices, facilitating conversations amongst their athletes. Both have reported that the program has been enormously successful, allowing male athletes to talk about things directly relevant to their lives and experiences at SMC.
“I found the material to be quite timely,” O’Brien said. “The group was very engaged in each module, and the discussions were quite thought-provoking, open, and honest. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the program.”
Awareness and Accountability
SMC Soccer Team Captain Louis Sterobo ’23 came to Saint Mary’s from Denmark. “The CLEAR program helps our team distinguish what appropriate relationship behavior is, while creating a safe environment for our team,” he said. “This helps us feel more comfortable in keeping each other accountable for our actions, both in our relationships with others and each other.”
First-year soccer player Owen Benson ’26 played soccer in Spain before returning to the Bay Area. “The CLEAR program is helping us break down harmful stereotypes of what being a man is,” he wrote, “while also developing our relationships with the important people in our lives.”
Joseph Marchant ’22 is an All-American rugby player and has captained the SMC Rugby team. He said the program “gave us a platform to reflect and consider some really important topics that too often go ignored or unacknowledged. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to listen to my teammates, and I feel that I came away from our discussions with a much deeper understanding of who I am, and the person I want to be.”
Co-Captain Inoke Waqavesi ’23 found that “the modules were eye opening and allowed each of us to reflect as young men growing up in a culture that desensitizes the issue surrounding sexual assault. We were able to be vulnerable with each other as we discussed various topics surrounding the matter [and] it has allowed everyone including myself to learn and become more aware.”
Creating Healthy Families and Communities Free of Violence
CLEAR was developed by health and social justice nonprofit organization Futures Without Violence as part of their effort to “create healthy families and communities free of violence.” The curriculum was initially written for middle and high school-aged male athletes and called Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM). Later, it was adapted for college-aged athletes, with the new iteration named “CLEAR.”
Data have shown that the program reduces rates of sexual violence, and athletes who complete it find that all of their relationships—including those with friends, partners, parents, and teammates—are enhanced by their participation. The UC-Berkeley Men’s Gymnastics team and the Berkeley High School Mountain Biking team have also implemented CLEAR and CBIM. Futures Without Violence has trained coaches in CBIM worldwide, reaching athletes in Tanzania, India, Ecuador, South Africa, and Australia.
Gallagher and Cutshall are hopeful that more SMC athletic coaches will opt into the program next year. Coaches who want to bring CLEAR to their teams just need to complete a two-and-a-half hour training and integrate 12 weekly, 15-minute conversations into their practices or team meetings. Futures Without Violence makes things easy for coaches by providing all of the materials, including a simple card series that walks them through the weekly discussions.
One crucial goal of this program is to help eliminate sexual violence at SMC. And as students take their experience at Saint Mary’s with them into the wider world, the program can provide tools and perspectives to carry that work forward.
LEARN MORE about CLEAR by contacting Megan Gallagher at mag7@stmarys-ca.edu or Cynthia Cutshall at cac13@stmarys-ca.edu.
READ MORE about events Saint Mary’s hosted in April 2023 as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.