Why Do Women Make Great Youth Sports Coaches?

Of the approximately 4.1 million youth sports coaches in America, only an estimated 650,000 are women.  A recent study in the journal Gender &  Society found an even wider gender disparity, with only 13.4% of American Youth Soccer Association coaches women and only 5.9% of Little League baseball and softball coaches.

The reasons for the relative lack of women coaches are many.  Some see it is the vestige of the sex-segregated sports system that existed before the passage of Title IX.  Anecdotal evidence, including the research in the Gender  &  Society study by researchers at the University of Southern California, shows that many  male athletic directors, whether they be at the college, high school, or club level, still tend to hire, or in the case of youth sports, appoint, other men as administrators, coaches and assistant coaches.  Too many men still hew to the gender stereotype that males are more competent and authoritative when it comes to sports than women.  Most women at the youth sports level simply "go with the flow," with the result being perpetuation of the sharp division of labor in youth sports along gender lines (men as coaches and women as team parents). 

The absence of woman coaches in youth sports has been termed by Scott Lancaster, director of the National Football League's youth football development program and author of Fair Play: Making Organized Sports a Great Experience for Your Kid," one of the "most backward traditions in sports today."   Women, particularly, mothers, are, he says, "the greatest untapped resource in youth sports." 

In fact, there are many reasons why woman, far from being ill-equipped to be good youth sports coaches, actually have natural advantages over men when it comes to coaching at that level and make excellent youth sports coaches:

• Women are natural teachers. As Scott Lancaster observes, "women generally have a better overall capacity to be organized and prepared to provide a quality experience to all kids involved."

• Women tend to be less authoritarian leaders. Women tend to lead by consensus, a leadership style that even boys prefer, rather than employing a more authoritarian form of leadership. Women tend to connect by empathizing and establishing relationships.A mother's instinct to be a calming influence and peacemaker and to want to emphasize how every player is the same, not different, serve her well as a youth sports coach, where playing favorites or allowing teammates to bully or tease other teammates can create a hostile psycholgical climate.

• Women are natural nurturers. Science has proven that women are generally more adept than men at detecting mood from facial expression, body posture, and gesutures, and thus knowing if a child is unhappy. Because they tend to be more emotionally open and have good communication skills, mothers are able to motivate and relate well to players, which is essential if a child is to have an enjoyable sports experience.

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