The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

About Coach Pat Summitt: A Legacy of Love

Sarah Hillyer
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

Much like women of the Yishuv prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Head Summitt grew up working difficult manual labor jobs alongside the men in her community due to economic hardships and the rural geography of where she was raised. Although young Pat witnessed no difference between the physical expectations of both genders while working on the farm, she did experience a stark contrast in terms of cultural norms when it came to playing girls’ and women’s sports in school and society at large.

Set against this historical and cultural backdrop, Coach Pat Summitt: A Legacy of Love tells the story of a young woman from west Tennessee, USA who later became a the winningest American basketball coach of all time and a young woman, Khoshi, from northern Iraq who dreamed of playing basketball for her country and becoming the first woman coach in Kurdistan. Although separated by more than 50 years in age, thousands of miles, and a myriad of socio-political differences, Coach Summitt and Khoshi’s paths crossed thanks to the game they both loved so much.

Told through the eyes and voices of young American girls’ basketball players, this short documentary reveals the power of sport to connect individuals, inspire communities, and promote peace between nations. In this conference session, we will compare and contrast the history of women’s basketball in the U.S., Israel, and northern Iraq; discuss the untapped potential of women’s sports to promote peace, diplomacy, and gender equity; and analyze the power of storytelling as an effective strategy to influence minds and hearts in pursuit of justice for all people regardless of our differences and despite our similarities.

Sarah Hillyer
Sarah Hillyer
University of Tennessee
Dr. Sarah wants to live in a world filled with freedom of movement, innovative ideas, thoughtful people, and inspiring books, films, and creative media projects that tell the real-life the stories of everyday sporty heroes creating a more just, equitable, and free world. As an educator and consultant with more than 30 years of experience, she’s worked with the U.S. Department of State, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committees, Islamic Federation of Women’s Sports, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, PGA of America, Women’s Tennis Association, Google, Procter & Gamble, Saatchi & Saatchi, LA, dozens of National Paralympic & Olympic Committees, (and more) creating programs that use the unique attributes of sport and physical activity to create innovative social movements and promote peace around the world. In 2011, Dr. Sarah was named the Georgetown University Sport and Peacebuilding Post-Doctoral Fellow – a fellowship sponsored by HRH King Abdullah II of Jordan. In 2012, she launched the University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace, & Society housed in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. The Center was recognized by then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as the sole cooperative partner of the State Department to create a global initiative designed to empower women, girls, and persons with disabilities through sport. Since 2012, Dr. Sarah and her team have worked alongside more than 1,000 women, men, and youth from 80+ countries, impacting tens of thousands. In 2018, ESPN named the center’s partnership initiative with the U.S. Department of State and espnW as the winner of the Stuart Scott Humanitarian Award. Dr. Sarah received her doctoral degree in the Sociocultural Study of Sports from the University of Tennessee in 2010. She holds a master’s degree in Sport Psychology from Murray State University and a B.A. in Sports Administration from Liberty University. She was a division I NCAA basketball player at Virginia Tech. When she’s not using sports to change the world, you can find her spending quality time with family, playing one-on-one basketball with her nephew, or day-dreaming about what the world will look like when everyone realizes their full potential and unleashes their best selves for the sake of all humanity.








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