Saroya Tinker interview
Saroya Tinker on how her experiences growing up not only pushed her more to pursue her sport but led her to become an advocate for equality and fairness among all races in sports:
What got you into hockey as a sport? How old were you at the time? When did you fall in love with the game?
When I was younger, I was into gymastics and dance, but as I was growing up, it turned out that I was too tall to fit on the bars for that age, so I dropped that. My dad grew up in the big hockey town of Scarborough and played the game himself. He had experiences on and off the ice hearing racist remarks against him, so he made it his goal to put his kids into the game and prove people wrong. So, my three brothers and I all played hockey; my older brother played for a little while, the 20-year old played for a bit but now plays basketball, and the 11-year old plays as avidly as I do and is my biggest fan.
Personally, the skating part of hockey was what I really enjoyed, and the hockey part came later. I’ve always enjoyed playing hockey- I’ve always been someone who’s very hard on myself and I want to the best at everything I do. I started to really love hockey around the age of 10 and hone in and focus on those skills because I knew I had the talent and dedication. At that time, I was also into basketball and soccer, and had to decide on one sport to choose, and so the skating aspect is what drove me the most to play the game moving forward.
What got you into hockey as a sport? How old were you at the time? When did you fall in love with the game?
When I was younger, I was into gymastics and dance, but as I was growing up, it turned out that I was too tall to fit on the bars for that age, so I dropped that. My dad grew up in the big hockey town of Scarborough and played the game himself. He had experiences on and off the ice hearing racist remarks against him, so he made it his goal to put his kids into the game and prove people wrong. So, my three brothers and I all played hockey; my older brother played for a little while, the 20-year old played for a bit but now plays basketball, and the 11-year old plays as avidly as I do and is my biggest fan.
Personally, the skating part of hockey was what I really enjoyed, and the hockey part came later. I’ve always enjoyed playing hockey- I’ve always been someone who’s very hard on myself and I want to the best at everything I do. I started to really love hockey around the age of 10 and hone in and focus on those skills because I knew I had the talent and dedication. At that time, I was also into basketball and soccer, and had to decide on one sport to choose, and so the skating aspect is what drove me the most to play the game moving forward.
Along with your family, did you have any support growing up playing hockey?
Yeah, I think I always had my family behind me for support, whether that be my parents or my grandparents. My dad’s black and my mom’s white and both sides were incredibly supportive. Growing up, I did develop some relationships in the dressing room with some friends. However, I realized at a pretty young age that I didn’t exactly fit in in the dressing room. I played for Durham West Juniors, based in Ajax, and in the league I grew up in, I played for the Clarington Flames which is very much set in a farm town. So, in that case, I did not have the best experience; my team was great, but in terms of being in the locker room, I did not have many friends. I had my go-to girls that I would converse with but I always knew that I would not fit into the community being my whole self.
What was the toughest thing about playing a predominantly white sport, with not many minority players around?
I think honestly that the biggest challenge was just finding my place with my teammates. Everyone knew my place on the ice and knew that I was good, but simultaneously I knew that I was being disrespected by the team. I feel like there were two different situations when I got on the ice as opposed to when I left the rink. So for me, the biggest thing was having to stick to myself. I’m usually pretty lonesome, but at the same time I like meeting and making new friends, but that just wasn’t possible with the people I played with.
I found myself code-switching a lot of the time, or talking differently with my black friends that I would with my white teammates at the rink. Whenever I would say something that wasn’t code-switched, it was questioned or made fun of. I realized that I couldn’t be my full, authentic self if I wanted to fit in at the rink. Ultimately, I think that led me to not code-switch but rather just continue to be myself and not care what my teammates thought, especially during my time at Yale.
Off the ice, how would you describe those four years at Yale?
I would describe it as a movie. It was really a huge growth period for me with obviously realizing that that feeling of a community and family was not going to be had within the rink. So, I would desribe it as a movie just because of the Yale setting; I wanted it to be a movie when I got there but I wanted it to be a different kind of movie. It wa very traumautic when I got there, and I usually felt overwhelmed and thought that I didn’t belong in the space.
I think the movie sort of devloped into more of a drama, because off campus and on campus but besides the rink, I had an amazing experience that made me who I am today and made me comfortable talking about these matters. Before I graduated, I never would have thought that I would be speaking of the experiences I had. So, I would desribe it as a movie because being there and experiencing Yale first-hand is a lot different than what people make it out to be.
At what point at Yale did you realize that you had a voice to speak out?
For the first three years, I was definetly in my own bubble regarding the sport and grew to be angry and frustrated at the sport. I think everything changed when I was a senior and freshman Kiersten Goode came in. Ever since our first day together, I realized if I had someone during my first year who could relate to me and my experiences that my journey at Yale would be a lot different. So, I realized that she needed someone- knowing that I needed that someone too made me want to implement my presence more. So, it didn’t come during the first three years and I didn’t really have the desire to make a true change. When Kiersten came in, I was adamant on making sure that she didn’t have to go through what I went through, so I made sure that at least for the time I reamined there, she felt belonged.
What do you feel like your biggest accomplishment is?
I think I’m most proud of using my platform for the greater good and trying to achieve social equality in the world of sports and influence more people to use their voice. You see and hear some athletes use their platform to advocate for a cause, but there are so many more who could do so as well, and it doesn’t just have to be regarding race. You could use your platform for gender identity, or maybe they needed a tutor growing up, so maybe they could implement tutors in communities. There’s just so much we can do as professional atheltes, so I personally am just most proud of using my voice for good and recognizing the spaces needed for BIPOC communities in sports and specifically hockey.
What steps do we need to take to make sure that ‘hockey is for everyone’?
I truly believe that hockey is for everyone. I mean, anyone can lace up a pair of skates and get on the ice. But for hockey to actually be for everyone, it is so much more than that. Starting from the nature of the sport, I think we need to make playing hockey more affordable for communities, and I think that is one of the biggest barriers. But, apart from that, we need to see real change in terms of how the sport is conducted. It has to do with the parents and the coaches. We need more black coaches, we need those parents to be more welcoming of those BIPOC parents in the stands. Even my parents with me being twenty-three years ols still don’t feel comfotable talking with other parents, and this is after a twenty year playing career of mine, with games being played at Yale and on the national team, and even professionally now. So, there’s clearly something wrong in the community within the rink, and for that, it’s necessary to call people out on their nonsense.
There also has to be another way to be able to implement these networking programs and these programs for parents and coaches to talk about cultural sensitivity and the cultural aspects of the game surrounding the BIPOC players. There’s still so much work to do I think, and we have to tell and enforce those who are unaware on what needs to be done.
What advice do you have for minorities to fight through barriers and pursue their athletic dreams?
My advice is to be yourself. Growing up, when I was salty and frustrated at the sport because I wasn’t feeling belonged, I realized that I wasn’t myself. Now, with my mentorship program, I am able to evenly disperse these efforts because I am able to be myself. I am no longer worried about comments being made or any hate being spread. So, I would tell them to put your head down and be yourself, regardless of what others might say or think.