Karsten Moran for The New York Times  Anthony Nicodemo came out to his team at Saunders High School on Monday. A player posted on Twitter that âSaunders just became a stronger team.â  When the soccer player Robbie Rogers and the N.B.A. center Jason Collins recently came out as gay professional athletes, it was hailed by many as a historic time. Barriers had been broken. Attitudes in pro sports locker rooms were being changed.  Jason Collins,Â the first active player in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues to come out as gay, marched in Bostonâs gay pride parade on June 8.  One of the less obvious ramifications of the revelations, though, was a trickle-down effect that Rogersâs and Collinsâs decisions had on gay sports figures at the lower levels. In the latest example, Anthony Nicodemo, the boysâ basketball coach at Saunders High School in Yonkers, said Tuesday that Collinsâs choice to come out as gay ultimately helped him decide to discuss his own sexuality with his players and their families in a meeting this week.  âWhat Jason Collins did was allow a conversation to be opened,â Nicodemo said in an interview. âThat day, I went into study hall, and we had a 45-minute conversation about it. âHow would you feel if one of your teammates came out?â It was really important stuff, and I was blown away by how they reacted.â  He added: âIt was on the tip of my tongue to tell them right then. I almost did. But it just didnât feel right. I wanted to let them process.â  Instead, Nicodemo waited until Monday, and his decision was highlighted in a feature on Outsports, a Web site that covers the intersection of gays and sports. Cyd Zeigler, a founder of the site, wrote the article on Nicodemo and he said that Nicodemoâs experience was not unusual; one of the most important aspects of more pro athletes coming out, Zeigler said, is the effect it has on athletes and coaches who are far from the spotlight.  âLook, there are maybe 6,000 athletes playing in professional sports leagues,â Zeigler said. âThere are 7.5 million athletes playing high school sports. Whatâs going on in high schools and elementary schools is far more important and impactful than the battle with homophobia in pro sports. Jason Collins and Robbie Rogers â this aspect of what they did is absolutely critical.â  Donna Nolan, whose elder son played for Nicodemo previously and whose younger son is currently on the team, said she had no inkling what Nicodemo was going to say when she walked into the meeting. She said reaction from parents at the meeting was overwhelmingly supportive â as was the response from school administrators â and added that there was an immediate discussion about how to handle the situation if an opposing player or parent makes insensitive comments to Nicodemo next season.  âYouâre always going to have people out there who are bigots; itâs inevitable,â Nolan said. âWeâre from Yonkers; whenever we go anywhere, people are already looking at us funny because weâre from Yonkers. So we know there will be comments. And we told the kids that as hard as it is going to be, weâre going to be the bigger people. Itâs part of life.â  Nolan also said that although she understood parents who might prefer that adults in position of authority not speak to children about their sexuality at all â gay or straight â she did not believe Nicodemo had crossed any lines.  âI see that, but itâs not like heâs sitting with them and talking about what he does in his private life,â she said. âHeâs not having a conversation with them about what he does on a Friday night. Heâs just telling them, this is who I am. And for someone who preaches honesty, thatâs important.â  Nicodemo, 35, said he was torn about coming out for years. He told members of his family at different points, but he did not tell his players or anyone else connected with basketball, which has always been his passion.  As a child, Nicodemo said, he was a typical athlete growing up in Brewster, N.Y. He loved sports and, even as he battled confusion and conflicting feelings about his sexuality, he did his best to try to be part of the gang.  âI was a part of the locker room stuff,â he said. âI definitely used words that I shouldnât have, but when youâre growing up and youâre in denial, youâll do anything to try and fit in. I just didnât want to be seen as different.â
Anthony Nicodemo, a gay high school basketball coach in Yonkers, said his playersâ positive reaction to Jason Collinsâs revelation had prompted his own.