AU Pro Basketball Players Explore Music's Role in Sport at Nashville Panel
Four Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball players engaged with the Nashville community beyond the court during the league’s fifth season, participating in a panel discussion at the National Museum of African American Music about how music shapes their careers and lives as athletes.
Shey Peddy, Rebecca Harris, Dorie Harrison, and Emma Cannon joined Dr. Courtney M. Cox, author of Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball, for “Sporting Soundtracks” at The Roots Theater. The conversation covered topics ranging from pregame playlists, to the role of arena DJs in creating energy for players and fans.
“It was really great to kind of sit down and talk about it, because these are things that just coincide all of the time for every single athlete out there from the time we’re young,” said fifth-year AU player Rebecca Harris. “It’s the hype music, it’s getting in the car and getting ready, putting your headphones on, the way that you wake up–the music puts you in a certain mood to be able to go do what you need to do.”
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Harrison, a member of AU’s Player Executive Committee, discussed the interactive nature of the evening, including a moment where she performed her chosen song.
“I love how when she was asking us questions, she would put our song choices in the background while we answered, so it created a very engulfing experience,” Harrison said. “There were so many times that we went acapella, just like, singing the songs. I rapped my Drake song, word for word. Just really realizing the power of not just sport and music, but just art in general–how it can move you and fluctuate your emotions.”
The panel was part of Playing Beyond the Field, a three-part series examining the connection between music and sport in Nashville’s African American community. The series is organized in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Sports & Society Initiative and the National Museum of African American Music.
