Close your eyes for a moment and picture just about any youth sport. Now shift your gaze to the sidelines and scan for the coach. More often than that, I bet most people will a man. Am I right?
Don’t blame people's imagination for being sexist, because statistically speaking, men are far more likely to be on the sidelines. Truth is that for the most part, in organized youth sports, men make up about 75% of all coaches. Which is a shame in my humble opinion because women represent a great untapped resource in youth sports. Indeed, while it’s true most youth coaches are men, it turns out that in many ways (sorry fellow men), after having spent 27 years in organized sport as a coach, while has included watching countless games, I truly believe that in many ways, women make better coaches. I think it is true of youth soccer, the sport I know very well, but I can imagine it being true in a range of sports. In this post I will share why women make great coaches as well as some of the impediments (real and imagined) that are standing in the way of more women joining the coaching ranks. First some facts, despite the explosion is growth for girls organized sport and it wider mainstream visibility, the number of women participating as coaches remains stubbornly small and, in some cases, shrinking.Overall, as I said above, if we look across all sports, women make up about 25% of the coaching ranks but let's be honest, if you look as some typically male dominated sports like baseball, football and hockey for example, I am sure the number is much lower. Why are women, who are so intimately involved in just about every other aspect of their children’s lives, such rarities in youth coaching ranks? Since organized sport for women was far less commonplace (and often deemed less important) even a generation ago, many women feel ill-prepared to coach a sport, particularly one they may not have played. Ironically just as an aside, however prior to the growth of girls or women's sport, there tended to be a higher percentage of women coaching girls ( or woman). However as female sport has become better structured, more widely accepted and with better salary potential, more men see it as a possible career option. But that could be another entire post on its own ( well actually I have written few about them, you can look back at those via these links. opening-doors-for-women-in-coaching.html more-women-in-coaching-revisited.html why-cant-women-coach-mens-sports.html Anyways, back to today's topic...... so as I was saying when feel less prepared to coach certain sports. Is it a confidence thing, or is because they have been made to feel less prepared... chicken, or the egg? So why are females less willing to take the leap and get into coaching ? Some of this is attributed to the ‘confidence gap,’ a well-known habit of men to feel more self-confidence – deserved or not – than women. On many men's teams, especially at the higher competitive levels, the truth is that often times the weakest player on any roster often feels just as confident as the team’s best player. That if they are not playing it is simply due to a set of circumstances out of their control. As someone who has only coached women throughout my career, I can stay with confidence that for women, it’s not like that. But the truth for youth coaches – particularly with kids under the age of 9 or 10 – is that mastering the complexities of a sport is far less important than understanding how to be a good teammate, learning a sport’s fundamentals, working well with others, sportsmanship, etc. Coaching goals for that age group should always been to focus on the basics, ensure the kids are actually developing a love for the sport, and put each player in a position where they can excel. It’s always about supporting and nurturing each other. As the saying goes, a team is only as strong as its weakest link. The confidence will come. From my time as coaching course instructor, I often dealt with male coaches starting out whose primary focus was building winning dynasties who would dominated the U8 league. Female coaches often came with questions about how to interact with the players, have to ensure they learned to love the sport etc. This is not stereotyping on my part but pulled some my actual experience. In terms of learning (and teaching) those fundamentals? Many youth organizations (not to mention the Internet) offer a variety of support services and training materials for new coaches. And there are plenty of coaches – male and female – who are glad to help out newcomers. Women can want to win as badly as any male coach. but their priorities often are to ensure the kids are enjoying themselves, are learning the basics, and feel they are contributing to the team. And because women usually are more patient and lower-key than their male counterparts, their players are apt to feel more confident and less fearful of making mistakes. One thing that I truly believe about female coaches at the youth levels, women are naturally more inclusive in their decision making they’re more likely to be bring a humble, open-mindedness to learning from others, ultimately making them better coaches. The decisions are based less on ego and how the team's success will reflect on them and more about making sure everyone has a great experience. For youth sports, less is in my humble opinion, crucial. Coaching can be intense, especially with parents barking from the sidelines, league rules, club rules, rules of the sport, overzealous competing coaches, and a gaggle of kids looking to you for guidance in the heat of competition. But the truth about youth sports is that everyone is a bit anxious or intimidated when they first get started – even those big, barking men who, you know, have big-barking-men reputations to uphold. Most women coaches happily discover that their young charges do quite well on the field or in the gym precisely because they are coached in values like teamwork, sportsmanship, and having fun. I think that a very important factor about coaching youth sport, is being organized and consistent ( ok that might be two things). Coaching needs to be planned out, structured and well explained. Sorry once again guys but overall, I think women have us beat on this one. Unfortunately, sexism and stereotyping do still exist. My wife, a very accomplished player in her own right, got into coaching at the very elite club level. She spent one season as an assistant coach to one of the pioneers when it came to building girls teams ( a male it should be said) and then took over the team the next year. She had a very successful year, winning provincials and coming home from nationals with a silver medal ( exactly the same results as the team the year before) However I vividly remember many times a competing coach coming over to her male team manager to shake hands after a win. I remember the club's technical director calling our house after every game to ask how the game went or give feedback about what he has seen at a game if he had attended. My wife once asked him if he did this for all the club coaches and his answer was quite shocking " coaching comes much more naturally to men so I don't need to follow up with them". However, none of the other teams, all coached by males, come close to my wife's team in terms of results... Just saying ! So prevalent is this attitude and so often do coaches, game officials, and parents presume virtually any nearby male is coach. I was coaching the U15 and U17 provincial teams at that time and because I attended games ( some of my wife's players were in the provincial program), my wife was often told it was great to have my help with her coaching... but I never got involved. The good news is that such stereotypes are starting to crumble, particularly as women coaches demonstrate just how good they can be. And while there no doubt are some Neanderthals out there who still believe women don’t belong on the sidelines, most parents in youth sports are open to women coaches. Indeed, many youth clubs are desperate for volunteers and are happy to accept anyone willing to coach, including rookie women coaches. Leagues often offer coaches’ clinics and other forms of training, and the Internet offers a treasure trove of videos and coaching resources. With so many women not involved in coaching, as I said, it's an untapped market for resources. One important thing about women in coaching to keep in mind, women who coach are teaching all kids – boys and girls – to accept women in leadership roles, helping to reverse and eradicate those outdated stereotypes. It’s difficult to think of a life lesson more important for young minds. Some women worry that players (and their parents) won’t respect them in the role of coach the same way they would a man. But the reality is that most kids are accustomed to seeing all adults as authority figures, not just me. Meaning that a woman who steps onto the field or court with a clipboard, a whistle, and a will to coach will quickly earn the respect of her players. Kids are very perceptive, if they see a coach in front of them who cares about the team, who is committed to helping them improve and enjoy, they will respond. And that’s a big pointer: at the end of the day, kids want to have fun (we call them ‘games’ for a reason). As for disrespectful parents? My advice is to treat them the way any coach would: “tell them to butt out and let you do your job. Good news is that clubs and leagues also have rules for dealing with problem parents. An ideal world would be where the parents stay out of it and just celebrate their kids for what they are doing rather than their mistakes or what the parents perceive as mistakes. One of the best things about coaching is watching kids develop and discover their strengths – parents should celebrate that instead of always demanding more. For millions of boys and girls, coaches often play an enormously important role in their lives. Meaning that women coaches have a chance to play an important role in our culture that ripples far beyond a playing field or gym floor. By the age of 14, for example, girls begin abandoning sports at twice the rate of boys. And given all the risks we now know about kids who don’t play sports, many experts wonder whether that is in part because they see so few women in coaching roles. Many studies show found that women managers (and, by extension, coaches) bring a more participative, androgynous, and transformational leadership style. Men, by contrast, will often adopt a top-down, command and control style. The result: girls coached by men are less likely to become coaches, thereby creating a cycle of male-only coaching. But girls aren’t the only ones adversely affected by male-only coaches. I think women coaches are equally important for boys. Without women coaches, boys are denied the ability to see women operate in leadership roles that males most respect, that is to say in sports related activities. This has deep implications for our society as boys grow into adulthood, work with, and decide whether to empower women. If being a positive female role model for girls and boys alike isn’t enough to get women off the fence and into coaching, what might? How about the fact it’s fun? I fell into coaching by a set of circumstances but as I developed and my coaching career progressed, I came to realize that there are so many rewards. I got into coaching because of my future wife, but eventually I came to enjoy coaching and all the experiences it brought me. Like sharing my passion for the sport and watching the athletes grow and develop as human beings. That kind of experience isn't gender dependent. Girls and yes even boys need strong female role models. Youth sports is one area of society where this can and should very easily happen and we owe it to female to open doors so they have the chance to become coaches. From experience who stop, don't because of the coaching itself but because of all the barriers male dominated society throws at them. Besides, sincerely, I am secure enough in my own skin to accept that women will make much better youth coaches than I might.
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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