Ben Rodriguez was at the annual Black Student-Athlete Summit in 2019 when a thought dawned on him.
"This is great, but does anything like this exist for people that look like me?" Rodriguez remembered thinking at the summit in Austin, Texas.
As a Puerto Rican who grew up in New York, played football at Stony Brook and is now associate director of major gifts at Georgia Southern, Rodriguez did some research and couldn't find any Hispanic or Latinx equivalent to the summit.
"And that's when I started to reach out to a bunch of people across the industry," he said.
That's also how the Latinx Association for Collegiate Athletics Administrators and Student-Athletes was born. LA CAASA, a play on the Spanish word for "home," is meant to be exactly that for Hispanic and Latinx administrators and college athletes.
Launched this summer, LA CAASA's mission reads: "Encourage, inspire and empower Latinx/Hispanic student-athletes and administrators to pursue opportunities in collegiate athletics by providing spaces for conversation, resources for knowledge and networking opportunities for growth."
A shorter version?
"We want to grow representation," Rodriguez said as a guest on the NCAA Social Series podcast episode that focused on Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated Sept. 15-Oct. 15.
According to NCAA research, about 6% of all student-athletes are Hispanic/Latino. Only 2% of directors of athletics and head coaches were identified as such. Considering the U.S. population is more than 18% Hispanic/Latino, Rodriguez knows there's plenty of work to be done.
"I remember walking into a locker room and seeing our white teammates on one side and our Black teammates on the other side and me being Hispanic … not knowing really where to go," he said. "It puts you in a space where you don't know where exactly you fit in. That feeling has followed me to the boardroom. Walking in, you don't really see people that look like you."
LA CAASA, he hopes, can be a small step to big progress.
Rodriguez's idea started with fewer than 10 college administrators in various roles at schools across the NCAA coming together for a common goal. Liz Reyes, assistant director of student-athlete development at Illinois, was one of them. She emphasized that there is strength in numbers and growth is important moving forward. LA CAASA hopes to continue adding members — those interested can reach out at LACAASAInfo@gmail.com or through a survey available on its Twitter page — to further enhance its reach and resources.
"We're each gaining some confidence in our respective roles," she said. "As simple as it may sound, it's so great to know that there's a group that directly relates to how I feel and possibly my mindset and how I view the world, just to know that group exists gives me some confidence, gives me some push to keep moving forward."
According to NCAA research, about 6% of all student-athletes are Hispanic/Latino. Only 2% of directors of athletics and head coaches were identified as such. LA CAASA aims to raise those numbers through its work. Anyone interested in learning more about the group or joining can reach out to LACAASAInfo@gmail.com or through a survey available on its Twitter page.
Some of LA CAASA's future goals include providing professional development opportunities for administrators and spaces for student-athletes to share their experiences. Additionally, the group aims to improve education and awareness of NCAA opportunities among Hispanic/Latinx high school student-athletes. Ultimately, LA CAASA hopes to hold a conference like the Black Student-Athlete Summit as early as summer 2022.
"We don't have anything like LA CAASA in college athletics," said Shamika Kentish, one of LA CAASA's original members, director of compliance and championships at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and a former track athlete at Seton Hall. "I'm hoping that it will help empower other student-athletes and administrators who identify as Hispanic or Latino, to bring them to the forefront and bring our culture to the forefront and help other people understand and embrace us, as well."
Importantly, Kentish added, LA CAASA comprises people with a wide range of Hispanic/Latinx backgrounds — from Rodriguez's Puerto Rican heritage to Kentish's Afro-Latina Panamanian background to Reyes' Mexican roots.
"We all look different," Kentish said of the different Hispanic/Latinx populations. "It's so diverse but what connects us is the fact that we love and embrace our culture every day."
The group is also open to those who do not identify as Hispanic/Latinx — allies like Nikki Grafnetterova, a scholastic coordinator at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and former student-athlete who competed in field hockey and lacrosse at Wilson.
A native of the Czech Republic, Grafnetterova completed a doctorate in education in 2019. Her dissertation focused on the experiences of Latinx athletes who are first-generation college students. A natural fit for the group's purpose, her research was included as part of LA CAASA's presentation at the virtual convention for the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals during the summer. Part of her research highlighted the need for a group like LA CAASA, as many Hispanic/Latinx student-athletes she talked to did not know there were others from their area or with similar heritages.
"They don't know about each other, so we need to see more role models because that's going to inspire the future generations to become athletes. Same with administrators," Grafnetterova said. "I hope this group becomes much bigger and it becomes so visible that it's going to help others find their way to the NCAA as administrators, staff or athletes."
Rodriguez echoed Grafnetterova, that the visibility of Hispanic/Latinx successes in college athletics is vital to LA CAASA's mission. Personally, he aspires to become a director of athletics. He said knowing other Hispanic/Latinx administrators who have reached that level, such as Desiree Reed-Francois at Missouri or Irma Garcia at St. Francis Brooklyn, has given him hope.
"If I didn't see people who looked like me, perhaps that would be discouraging, perhaps that would make me say, 'Oh, it's not possible,' but it is possible," he said. "I look at them and say, 'It's possible. Let's go get it.' Then, when we do get it, let's be intentional about educating the folks coming after us and getting them up there."
Rodriguez and LA CAASA presented the group's mission and related research from its members at the most recent convention for the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals.
