Beyond The Court: Tarale Murry reflects on Black History Month

Tell us about your experience being?a PHD student at the University of Michigan while being an Assistant Coach for the Calgary?Surge this summer.?

Humbling. On its own, a PhD program challenges many parts of a person. It can be a rather isolating experience even amid collaboration; especially if you are unable to make the right connections with the right people and community in the right way at the right time. My experience prior to achieving candidacy included many days and nights in my grad office searching for articles, reading and highlighting those articles, and eventually typing up 10-page essays and 20-page articles. Similarly, coaching possesses its own unique set of challenges for balancing collaboration and isolation. Before I arrived at Michigan, I had the opportunity to coach professionally in Saint John, New Brunswick, where I learned that coaching required more time, deeper concentration, and quicker critical thinking than I understood going into it. resulted in many nights after midnight reviewing film, scouting, and planning for practice, games, and individual development sessions. Independently, coaching and a PhD program have been enough to make me reevaluate the rationality of my choice to pursue them when I did.?

Summer 2023 proved that I’d embraced irrationality and accepted the challenge of getting it done. On average, my days began at 4AM and ended at 11PM. I think I maintained this schedule until July. The reality was that I knew the amount of time that went into doing the work of an assistant coach well. So, I found myself spending less time revising papers and responding to feedback on my candidacy portfolio, and more time making sure I showed up for Coach Nelson Terroba , the team, and the Surge organization.

Tell us about the role basketball?has played?in your life this far.?

Basketball, along with my parents’ emphasis on education, are foundational to where I am now. I think being a good student AND an athlete made me competitive enough to earn admission into many schools despite not being recruited by their athletics program. Basketball is how I met Coach Nelson Terroba . It was a part of my undergraduate experience at the University of Texas at Austin. It was a part of my graduate school experience at Texas A&M University. My experience in basketball inspired my research interest that I now pursue at the University of Michigan. Basketball has played a pervasive and foundational role in my life.

What does Black History Month mean to you personally??

Black History Month means self-reflection, appreciation, vision, and perseverance. Because my social media algorithms include accounts and posts that celebrate Blackness in the United States as well as internationally, Black History Month provides an overflow of collective intentionality to remind, educate, inspire, and empower people. Black History Month means that I have history in my family that I would like to remember, celebrate, and draw from as I build upon my family’s legacy through my own journey.?

Name a person who represents Black Excellence to you and explain why.

AunRika Tucker-Shabazz is Black Excellence. Her journey, her story, her research, her history, her experiences, her visions, her insights, her intelligence, her comedy, her labor, and her humanity as a Black woman in the United States, to me, is Black Excellence. Black Excellence may be witnessed by everyone, may be noticed by no one, and may be experienced by a select few. AunRika influences her environment, challenges and changes cultures, and models ways of relating with care, curiosity, and creativity. Black Excellence exists every day and everywhere. AunRika and Black Excellence go hand-in-hand, as does each Black person who has lived, is living, and will live.?

How can organizations better celebrate diversity and inclusion, not just during Black History Month, but throughout the year??

By integrating and celebrating the intersections of identities that comprise diversity and inclusion along the lines of race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, etc. Moreover, by allocating time, planning, and resources towards recruiting, training, and developing a diverse and inclusive workforce and culture.

How do you hope to contribute to the broader conversation around diversity and inclusion???

As a Black man, one way I hope to contribute to the broader conversation around diversity and inclusion is by completing the PhD program at the University of Michigan, then transferring the skills I develop during the PhD program to other organizations, industries and pursuing opportunities where the identities I hold may be underrepresented.?

What advice would you give to others aspiring to achieve success in their careers?

Create caring connections, collaborate critically and consistently, and cultivate creativity and curiosity towards enhancing diversity and sustainable inclusion.