Throughout Black History Month, coaches and staff will reflect on the importance of celebrating Black History Month, inspirations in their life throughout Black history, being a role model and much more. Today, we feature Harvard softball head coach, Jenny Allard.

Q&A with Jenny Allard, Harvard Softball Head Coach

Who throughout Black history has been inspirational to you in your life or coaching?
There are several Black athletes that I have followed, studied and learned from in my career. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Serena Williams.  I had the privilege of seeing Michael Jordan play when I was an undergraduate at Michigan. The Chicago Bulls came to play the Detroit Pistons for a playoff game, and I got to see him compete live. During COVID, we watched highlights from the Michael Jordan documentary, Last Dance, which was powerful. We brought those lessons from his career to our team.

What does Black History Month mean to you?
It means honoring an important population in our history and recognizing their contributions and understanding their challenges.

How do you celebrate and show the importance of Black History Month or Black culture with your teams? 
I think the important thing to do is to honor the celebration and inspire others to reflect on what it means to each student. We have a group of students on the team that is spearheading messaging on social media as part of our social justice initiatives.

Why is it important to celebrate Black History Month as a department at Harvard?
It is important to honor the Black student-athletes that have contributed to the success of Harvard.  It is critical to remember the time when Black athletes were discriminated against and the lengths these athletes went to compete. I love history and when studying for my Master's Degree I took an African American History Class - it was by far one of my favorite classes. I studied the Negro Baseball League and wrote a paper on Rube Foster who was the man behind the league. It was a very inspirational.