Gender is commonly addressed in sports, but the focus is always on players – when it should be on the coaches. At all levels, high school, collegiate, and professional, it is more common to see males coaching female sports than women coaching male sports.
Title IX was introduced in 1972. This law prohibits gender discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal assistance. After this law was introduced, money was funneled into women’s sports, forcing universities to increase coaches’ salaries. This increase brought more male coaches to positions coaching female athletics.
Softball is an example of a sport that is easily dominated by male coaching. As of May 29, 2023, 70% of leadership positions in softball were held by men; even though men do not actively participate in fastpitch softball as players. A softball player from Brunswick High School, who prefers to stay anonymous, says that she has [experienced extremely negative tones and felt taken advantage of by her coach.] Another player on the same team has noticed that male coaches tend to make explanations of the sport much more complicated than they need to be. When she came into the softball program as a freshman, she felt unwelcome by her male coaches as they did not take the time to get to know her on a personal level. This tends to be a common observation among female athletes being coached by men.
Female athletes often recognize that coaches of the same gender tend to be more understanding of them as a person, not just an athlete. Megan Connor, a former Division 1 soccer player at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), says, “I played for male head coaches my entire life until college. It’s not that I didn’t feel loved as a human with the opposite gender, but there is a different kind of connection that women have between each other that made me feel more supported and understood.” This same story can be heard by a majority of female athletes.
Female student athletes are dropping out of their sports at an alarming rate.
It is said that by the age of 14, female student-athletes are dropping their sports at two times the speed of male student-athletes.
There must be a shift in coaching to encourage girls to continue their athletic careers and allow young female athletes to continue playing sports they love.
