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Photo from coachdawnwritesI was flipping through an old Tennis Magazine and came across an article titled "She can play, but can she coach? Why do so few WTA players have a woman in their corner?"I'm sure that I read it in 2008 but after grad school this article resonated far stronger with me. One of the arguments that the article makes is that the evolution of the power game in tennis has resulted in most female players hiring male hitting partners, and like Sharapova, subsequently hiring them on as full-time coaches. Male hitting partners to me makes little sense because if you compete against women you should practice against women. As we saw with Caroline Wozniaki who hit with Novak Djokovic before a big match it completely threw her timing off.

Another argument made is that there is simply a limited supply of female coaches with the rationale being that most women take on the mother role after their playing career is over. Given that the tennis schedule is one, if not THE, longest in professional sports it is hard to juggle a family and traveling 40 weeks in a year. The nature of the playing schedule inherently excludes anyone who wants to have and spend time with their family. What this one page article does not question is why are there no female coaches on the ATP (men's) Tour? Sure there is a lack of female coaches on the WTA but there are NO female coaches on the ATP. Men can coach women so why can't women coach men?

I was at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport annual conference last week and many of the sessions reminded me of why this imbalance exists. The first has already been addressed, coaching schedules of any sport generally do not align well with the role and "expectations" of being a mother. The second point is that women must be extremely competent and highly decorated to even be considered for a men's team coaching position. Many male coaches never excelled at their respective sports and often can no longer compete the way they used to but as a man these factors are often overlooked. For women trying to instruct (young) men on how to improve and excel at what is supposedly a natural men's domain (the domain of sport) women often have to prove their worth (i.e. If you are going to teach a team how to train then you had better be able to squat/clean/bench your body weight). Furthermore, a woman coach of a men's team must also lead them to victory more often than not. It doesn't matter how much you know about the game or how much your team has improved, if the intangibles don't translate onto the scoreboard there will surely be a man around the corner ready to take your spot.

Another significant factor is that women often do not apply to coach men's teams. At the Tucker Centre Conference on Girls and Women in Sport, it was discussed that when men graduate they apply for every coaching job that is available but the women will only apply for the positions with women's teams. Thus, those in administrative positions must make it explicit that women are welcome to apply for all coaching positions.

If competing in a man's world is not hard enough, teaching men about the institution that they have created definitely adds a layer of complexity. Too long has it continued that men are accepted for being men but women are accepted based on exceptional merit. I have a dream, that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by their biological characteristics, but by the content of their character and resume.

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View Original Post at cszto.blogspot.com

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There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi says:

great blog with clear points. Women...APPLY FOR POSITIONS TO COACH MEN! You can do it!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 2:27pm EST

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