RSL Academy Utilizes RISE Program To Promote Racial Equity & Equality

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Real Salt Lake Academy, alongside Major League Soccer and other professional leagues around the world, is utilizing a program to help promote racial equity and equality.

The RISE (Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality) Program is a multi-week leadership program that provides players and coaches perspective on what it takes to be a leader in the community.

"That's leadership. That's the type of action & inclusivity that you want to see."

How the @RSLAcademy is using the RISE program to be leaders in the community and take action to promote respect, equality and understanding.

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) February 26, 2021

“Using sport as a vehicle for change we’ve been able to identify the causes of these problems and the implications they carry in people’s lives and then find and enact the solutions to these problems,” RSL Academy Director of Coaching Arnold Rijsenburg explained. “Using the RISE program has allowed for internal reflection for all involved and has helped set the course to make positive changes and gain new perspectives into the lives of one another and the people we’ve surrounded ourselves with.”

Rijsenburg was adamant about doing more within the club as it related to diversity and identity. He made it a priority to speak with the next generation in the hopes of guiding the community, and subsequently, the world forward. Rijsenburg is optimistic that the increased time spent working on leadership will provide confidence in oneself “to have those difficult conversations and use their voices for good.”

“To acknowledge what the root cause of the issue is the first challenge,” Rijsenburg said. “To have the maturity to seek out the answers how to solve these social issues is the next challenge. Through this program those involved have become aware of more social issues that they didn’t know about and then began to address how to solve them. By speaking about these issues to better impact the world around them you can already see the impact that this conversation has had on our program.”

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