There Are No Sidelines: How Attending the Athlete Activism Summit Changed My Perspective on Allyship

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Representing UMass Amherst at my first Athlete Activism Summit was an amazing experience!

On June 4-7, 2026, I had the opportunity to go to the fifth annual Athlete Activism Summit in the Poconos, PA. The Athlete Activism Summit is a conference hosted by Athlete Ally, a national organization with chapters on college campuses all over the country working to increase LGBTQ+ inclusivity in sports. I had been looking forward to the summit since we got our Athlete Ally chapter off the ground at UMass two years ago, and it did not disappoint. 

Camp Timber Tops in the Poconos served as a beautiful natural backdrop for the summit.

At the summit, we heard from National Women's Soccer League players like Ali Krieger and Merritt Mathias, went to panels that covered important topics like masculinity in sports and how to support transgender athletes, and shared our experiences in small groups of LGBTQ+ athletes from a variety of different schools. Of course, it was also camp, and we were all athletes, so we played tennis, kayaked, hiked, swam, and did archery. There were movie nights, bonfires, and a big karaoke dance to cap off an amazing weekend full of learning, listening, sharing, connecting, dreaming, and building.

Meeting Ali Krieger was such a cool way to kick off the summit on night one.

The Power of Allyship

During my prior experiences with Athlete Ally, I had always thought the name of the organization was a bit vague. Ally of what? Why wasn’t it called something like LGBTQ+ Athletes Association? But at the summit, I learned that Athlete Ally earned its name because it was founded by an ally.

Hudson Taylor, who led my small group workshops, was inspired to found Athlete Ally and make change in the sports world because he recognized his privilege as a cisgender straight white male athlete. He made supporting LGBTQ+ athletes his life’s work—the ultimate allyship.

It made me realize just how important allies are. As we’ve seen in history, if we’re seeking broad cultural change, it can’t only be the minority group speaking up. But the good news is that it doesn’t take convincing everyone for the culture to shift. 

Hudson shared that “athletes, not coaches, not fans, not administrators, have all the power when united.”

When allies and LGBTQ+ athletes come together, old-fashioned norms in sports cannot continue to exclude and put down queer athletes. Seeing the work that Athlete Ally is doing and meeting other allies at the summit inspired hope in me that this generation of athletes can make change as a collective. Like Hudson says, “Sports culture doesn’t define us, we define it.”

Hudson Taylor, founder of Athlete Ally, shared a lot of inspiring messages at the summit.

Everyone is a Teammate, There Are No Sidelines

Through my work with Athlete Ally the last two years, and indeed before college as well, I viewed a lot of things as black and white—either you’re for us or you’re against us. Maybe this did stem from my experience as an athlete where there are clear binaries of “teammate” and “opponent.” But at the summit, Hudson said something that really stuck with me: “In this work, everyone is a teammate, and there are no sidelines.”

Instead of viewing people who haven’t been as supportive to our cause as opponents, how would my interactions with them change if I viewed them as teammates? In any team, there are people you get along with and people you don’t—but that doesn’t stop you from working together to achieve big goals.

As UMass Amherst Athlete Ally president next year, I was dreading being the person who has to face any backlash that our chapter gets head-on. However, this framing helped me feel more confident. If everyone is my teammate, that means that we all have things to offer each other, and we all need each other to succeed. The path may be rocky, but we’re going to climb it together.

Sam Phillips, a 3x NCAA All-American gymnast, made a point that really brought this home for me. He said that as athletes, we work as allies to our teammates without even thinking. He explained that some people feel like “ally” is a big label that they can’t take on. But to be an ally, you don’t have to start a whole organization to support LGBTQ+ athletes like Hudson—little things like standing up for someone in the locker room can go a long way.

Sam stressed that helping other athletes become better LGBTQ+ allies is not about turning them into something they’re not, but guiding them to tap into skills they already have—empathy, communication, leadership, helping those around you. The principles of sport are deeply intertwined with what we’re working towards.

“You’re already an ally,” Sam said, “let’s bring it out of you.”

I met a lot of amazing people at the summit, including my roommates in Elm cabin, who competed in sports ranging from basketball to water polo to rifle.

Hard Work Takes Time

I had another realization while at the summit. On the track, I work so hard every day, pushing myself while running, lifting heavy weights, doing hours of physical therapy, fueling throughout the day, going to sleep early, doing proper warmups and recovery, working on my mindset and mental training—all for the mere possibility that I will improve my times. All for something that isn’t guaranteed, even if I do everything right.

And when I don’t see immediate results, I remind myself that progress builds over time, and that doesn’t mean that it’s not getting me closer to where I want to be. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have fun training and competing with my teammates, and I love working hard, and I believe in myself even when the results I want don’t show up the next day.

But in my activism work, I get more easily discouraged. If I’m having trouble getting people to come to events or support the struggles of others, I more easily spiral into feeling hopeless about the task at hand. Being at the Athlete Activism Summit reminded me that change takes time, and small efforts add up to big results—not just on the track, but in advocacy spaces as well. 

I began to ask myself: What if I put the same relentless and patient dedication into my activism work as I do in my training? 

At the summit we also met Em Cheramie, a former Nebraska Rifle athlete and UMass Amherst sports management master's graduate.

What I’m Bringing With Me Back to UMass

This weekend allowed me to recharge in a space where I didn’t have to question or select what parts of myself I put on display. It allowed me to gather courage and sustenance for the journey I have ahead of me as president of UMass Amherst’s Athlete Ally chapter for the next two years. It made me want to take risks and engage with people who I didn’t think would be “on my side.” It made me feel grounded in a community that I know will be there for me through every part of organizing—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It also helped remind me how connected we really are, and how much we need each other if we want to make change. Change can never happen in a vacuum—it always happens in community, with people striving, learning, growing, changing, and fighting together.

I’m so grateful for the group of people I got to experience the summit with, and excited to take everything we learned back to UMass.