by Rio Romero, Program Assistant,
National Women's Law Center

You may have already come across the Twitter tweets, Facebook status updates, or sensed a flurry of excitement from old college friends that the Super Bowl of college basketball is just around the corner.

Following the NCAA men’s and women’s recent tournament picks, I, and a frenzy of other sports fans, can begin filling out our tournament brackets and tune in to the plays of some of college hoops' great coaches—Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, Pat Summitt at Tennessee, Roy Williams at UNC, and Tara VanDerveer at Stanford. But what you may have missed under all those March Madness headlines was the announcement of Coolidge High School’s (in Washington, D.C.) new head football coach, Natalie Randolph.

The “gridiron ceiling can be broken,” said Karen Durkin of the Women’s Sports Foundation. Coach Randolph is thought to be the only woman currently leading a high school football team, and one of the few female coaches in a generally non-coed sport. Even in college sports, women coaches in programs like football are few and far between. According to the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, only 2-3 percent of coaches of men’s teams are women, with the majority represented in coed teams such as swimming.

As a young girl who grew up playing team sports from elementary school through high school, who idolized NBA three-point shooter phenomenon Reggie Miller and WNBA star Lisa Leslie, and who once dreamed of being part of an NBA coaching staff, I was thrilled to hear the news.

And despite any skeptics, like the NFL veteran who casted his doubt (via Twitter, I might add) by declaring football as “clearly a man’s sport,” what truly is crystal clear is that Randolph’s leadership qualities and achievements are worthy of recognition and ultimately make her the best fit for the position (a sentiment equally echoed by ESPN and the Washington Post’s own Michael Wilbon, who is also no stranger to breaking down barriers in the sports community).

Randolph’s passion for teaching youth on the field and off as a science teacher, her background as a college track athlete, and her experience in a woman’s pro football league and as an assistant at a local high school will greatly benefit the school and her own athletes. Young boys and girls today with similar aspirations of becoming any kind of coach can look to Randolph as an excellent example and feel confident in their future goals. In the end, that is what makes me most proud. It is a win for the world of sports, and one I will be thinking of as I get my upcoming fill of NCAA basketball action. Here’s to the Coolidge Colts, their new coach, and a successful season!

View Original Post at womenstake.org

• Filed Under:  
• Football, Sports, SportsPLUS, High School, Student-Athlete, Coaching

• Tags:
• sports
• Athletics
• Rio Romero