The NBA’s Sacramento Kings and NFL’s Arizona Cardinals have added to the recent surge of female coaches in men’s pro leagues. Some people are not happy about having a feminine presence in an otherwise masculine environment.
Nancy Lieberman was hired as the assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, making her the second full-time female coach in the NBA’s history. Not too long after this Jen Welter, who was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals as an assistant coaching intern, became the first female coach to enter the “man’s world” of the NFL.
After the big fuss, it’s fair to say that female coaches don’t merely serve as distractions for the teams as they do for the media and the fans.
It’s still unclear to me why people still use gender role perceptions to disqualify women from jobs in fields traditionally deemed as a man’s world. If femininity was a barrier, I doubt that is women would’ve had the opportunity to serve in the armed forces, as firefighters or on police forces.
Breaking gender barriers such as this one should not only encourage women in all sorts of different fields, but should also go to prove to anyone that anything is possible.
For years, media personnel and sports fans have speculated whether or not a woman could ever join males as professional sports’ coaching staff. Football critics question women’s ability to coach football because they don’t play football professionally. As for basketball, a sport that’s more open to women, critics claim that the “locker room” environment is too harsh for women to be around.
Even if women were more present in football and the “harsh” environment didn’t present such a huge dilemma, spectators would come up with more excuses for women not to coach males in their professional sports. We have to keep in mind that there will always be critics, even in the most ideal situations, and satisfying everyone is a goal that cannot be reached.
What’s missing in this argument is actually understanding what coaching really is. Coaching requires patience, passion, a positive attitude, enthusiasm and a broad vision. Psychologically speaking, women are more likely to master these characteristics than men. Not to belittle men’s role, but we have to be realistic. From a positive perspective, why not have men and women work together to get these teams reach even higher goals than where they stand today?
Welter, who holds a master’s and PhD. in sports psychology, and Lieberman, who has more than 40 years of experience under her belt, are no stranger to the barriers their gender has posed to their chosen career paths. They know exactly how to deal with them and the teams they’re working with seem to accept them as coaches just fine, so what exactly is our problem with it?
A different way of thinking and a new sense of motivation will definitely be brought to the table with the presence of Welter and Lieberman in sports coaching. Who knows? Maybe what the men’s leagues need is to include qualified and motivated women in their coaching staff.
Take the Sacramento Kings, for example. When it comes to their team stability, they aren’t really the best in the league, but they can be considered amongst the league’s boldest innovators. From embracing Indian players to women coaches, the Kings seem to be pushing the NBA forward into a positive future.
As for football, this can be the league’s chance to improve its reputation when it comes to treatment of women.
Welter and Lieberman’s womanhood shouldn’t necessarily be an obstacle in the settings of intense interactions and crude language of male players. Femininity and masculinity shouldn’t categorize human beings as being eligible or ineligible for certain roles. Athletics do not mark an area for men only. While some women may be too sensitive, too fragile and too uncomfortable for an NFL locker room, those traits don’t apply to all women, nor are they the foundation of womanhood.
There are many places that, at one time, were seen as inappropriate for women, like colleges and newspapers. However, if a woman is qualified for the work, then she will do a good job. These situations give our society glimmers of hope that we will one day get rid of the incomplete and shallow image of femininity.
