Women Training to Coach a Men’s Sport

Abstract

Despite increasing female participation in English football (aka soccer), the sport remains rooted in the values and discursive practices of orthodox masculinity. This is exemplified by the English Football Association (FA), which has been criticized for its ineffective responses to addressing the inclusion and progression of women as players and workers within the organization. Female membership in male-dominated organizations is not readily achieved, given the dominance of masculinist discourses and the risks of overtly challenging these. In this study, we explored the discursive management of gendered and/or footballing identities from interviews with participants in an English regional FA’s women-only football coach education program. All of the participants described the peripheral positioning of women in English football. Analysis identified evidence of both collaboration with and resistance to the dominant masculinist discourses in the accounts of their experiences in football, while also reproducing the most valued footballing identities and knowledge as male. We connect this to the complexities of negotiating and managing gendered identities for women in male-dominated organizations. All of the participants described the value and benefits of women-only coach education and the majority noted they would prefer women-only coach education in future.

Barriers, supports and constraints on women coaching in tennis

“…Several existing studies similarly suggest that women coaches prefer women-only coach education. 25–27 If it's female only, they feel they can speak up and participate more freely, and they don’t feel judged. So, whereas when there are males in the course, they find that the males and more dominant and they tend to stand back and not include themselves as much.…”

Strategies and communication skills in sports coaching.

“…Unfortunately, there are still coaches entrenched in sporting cultures in which learning to effectively com municate took place in less than ideal circumstances. As alluded to earlier, communication in sport can still be "culturally entrenched" in "the false notions of masculinity" (Ehrmann, 2011, p. 186), with males and females being confronted with a masculinist discourse that often places unrealistic and unhealthy expectations on how coaches are to identify them selves, behave, and thus communicate in competi tive sport (FieldingLloyd & Mean, 2016). In some coaching circles, one may still witness vulgar gendered insults and other prejudicebased discriminatory lan guage directed toward athletes on the opposing team.…”