My first sport was soccer. My family is Jamaican so I pretty much grew up playing the national sport, which they call 'football' over there. As I was getting into soccer, I started to fall in love with running. So I played soccer, ran cross-country and ran track all my years throughout high school.

I started my journey in collegiate athletics at Portland State University in Oregon, and that's where I started to figure out my identity. My time there really challenged me and allowed me to be my true authentic self, followed by my transfer to Colorado State University, where I was able to be myself as a whole. All my identities in their intersectionality came together, which was really nice.

I describe myself as a Black Queer (gay) man. I am currently living in Columbus, Ohio, but I went for my undergrad in Fort Collins at Colorado State University where I competed as a track and field student athlete. I got my Bachelors of Science in Health and Exercise Science with a concentration in sports medicine and did a graduate program in Nutrition Sciences.

I was lucky to have my teammates and my coaches who were very supportive and it definitely impacted me a lot. My support system pushed and allowed me to be myself. I know a lot of other student athletes are not fortunate to have that experience.

Granted, there were times where it was very difficult, especially at Colorado State University, which is a predominantly white institution.

I identify as a Black man, and that representation wasn't there. Individuals who identified with that person of color identity were individuals who were often also on sports teams. It was hard as student athletes, we have our different schedules, meeting times and trying to get to know a certain identity, affinity group, was very challenging.

I'm not just Kamal the track athlete, I am Kamal, who has these identities

There wasn't much visibility of queer student athletes at CSU. But I made it a goal for myself to get connected with the LGBTQ+ resource center there because it was a part of who I am and it was definitely something that I valued most about myself.

Navigating these intersections of being a Black queer athlete became more comfortable as I was able to have these conversations with my closest friends and advisors. If I'm comfortable with just having conversations with them, it means that I trust them and they're not gonna judge me for who I am.

I wasn't afraid to be who I am. I'm not just Kamal as a track and field athlete, I am Kamal, who has these identities. So with being that representation, that voice, that model essentially, I just went out of my way to have those conversations and then people started to open up to me and I just made friends along that way. 

Communicating sometimes led to deeper conversations and those deeper conversations were very valuable and allowed for a community. We are humans, we all have our differences and we're just here to support each other and to encourage one another to be our best versions of ourselves at all times. 

That's what allowed me to create that comfortable space — just being able to freely talk and have someone to listen and to connect to. I think that was very lucky for me.

As individuals, we need to be more language-inclusive

There’s this stigma about sports being just specifically male and females. Having spaces for queer and trans people and just being language-inclusive, can help us stay away from saying, ‘Oh, this is a male sport. This is a female sport.’

People should be able to play and participate in any sport that they want to. We need to allow that evolution to happen as evolution happens gradually. What we can do as individuals, is to be language-inclusive and to recognize that we shouldn’t be putting labels by saying "this is more feminine, this is more masculine."

For example, we claim men's basketball and football are masculine sports and about the toxic masculinity in those specific sports. But some individuals in those sports teams do not identify with that masculinity. We need to pay attention to that and be more aware about how LGBTQI+ athletes are actively participating in these spaces so that our participation does not go unrecognized.

Sports can be a space for individuals to separate themselves from the world. At the same time, everything in the world seems to revolve around sports, from the Olympic games on TV to conversations on social media — anywhere you see, sports is there.

Having that representation where we see ourselves and our identities reflected in those spaces will bring light to individuals watching at home, who can connect and think, "Oh, this person identifies as x, y and z. This person is inspiring me.”

I think we’re arriving at a time where once we realize and recognize what our passion is, we need to take it, amplify it, and just move forward with it.