Why are there so few female head coaches in travel ball?

[Sue Trubovitz, Turbo]

for those with skills, college experience and a great head on their shoulders being paid to coach at the college level is a career goal for today's female athletes.

no real comparison between travel ball coaching and college coaching. Tho that is an option now for female softball players.

[GIMNEPIWO]

I think in general you see more female HS coaches than you do male coaches because there are more female teachers than male teachers ... Teachers are usually what is available for that position because the hours work around the 'in school / out of school' schedule.

I am of the opinion that many (but not nearly all) women coaches have difficulty separating coaching from friendship. I think the reasons are obvious how it may be easier for them to fall into that trap. That is not to say men do not do that also ... Until recently I had a male assistant who fit this 'want to be your friend' model ... But I believe this friendship model is more tolerated at the HS level than the travel ball level.

https://theartofcoachingsoftball.com/co ... d8e2f4de32

[Sam]

They aren't very good.

[Rebelwithkidz]

I'd say you don't see young women for the same reason you don't see young men coaching Travel, most at that time in their lives are trying to establish themselves in their career and as adults and therefore have very little time or money to devote to coaching a travel ball team.

The reason you don't see older women is because many typically don't have the same freedom in their jobs that many of the travel ball dads have either financially, or in the type of career they chose. In addition older women are typically married, have other children to care for and keep the household running ( cooking, cleaning, shopping, helping with homework etc) after coming home from a full time job.

My daughter has had a younger woman as a head coach, with young women assistants and they were tough as nails on the girls but due to just starting out in their lives couldn't keep the team going.

Currently she has a older woman head coach who has been around the travel ball world a long time and is approachable but all business. In a subtle, hard to describe way she's a lot tougher than the male coaches my daughter has had. Maybe part of it is that she is a perfect example of who they aspire to be in their softball journey and they have to rise up to her example?

Anyways, that's just a softball moms 2 cents.

[Sue Trubovitz, Turbo]

Well said Rebelwithkidz.

[jonriv]

I certainly hear what everyone is saying(busy schedule, family etc..) but those challenges are not just for Moms. All of those issues can be said for Dads too, but why is there still such a disparity when it coms to coaching. There seems to be no shortage of female cheerleading and dance coaches(I'm sure the same time,work and family issues exist). At this point in timeshare are almost as many Women with successful and challenging careers as men. Less than 30% of Moms are stay at home. There are at least tow generations of former female softball players with kids at softball age-where are the Mom coaches? Just trying to figure out why?? It just seems counter to social trends and changes that have been going on for almost half a century.

Here are some thoughts(I'm sure there are more):

Is it social inertia? Dads have always been the coaches and the Moms(despite having their own careers) are still expected to take on more of the household duties?

Is there a "male infrastructure"(program directors, coaches, umpires etc) that make it intimidating or difficult for a Mom coach to get involved or where by habit the past and current leaders tend too recruit other Dads by habit?

Is there an actual or perceived "old boys network"?

I do not know the answer

[jonriv]

I was talking to my daughter about this subjected were trying to figure it out. We looked back at her former coaches>

Travel:(Northeast)

All five of her travel coaches were male
One assistant coach was female(was a college all-american in the early 1990's)

From what we could recall she played against 5-6 teams during that period with a female coach

High School

3 years with a male coach

1 year with a female coach(another college all-american played in late 1990s)her Senior year

1 assistant Female coach her freshman year(former college player in her 30's)

as mentioned there were many more female high school coach in her league

College Coach was a male, but all the assistant coaches were female


For what it is worth my daughter said she preferred male coaches.


I also came across this article which seems to suggest that the issue is in other Women's sports as well:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/c ... /23917353/

BTW

[Sue Trubovitz, Turbo]

Times are changing

good or bad is not a gender

enjoy your softball Adventure.

[jonriv]

Sue I guess you did not read the attached article. There are fewer female coaches now then there were when title 9 was passed over 40 years ago, why?

Also, there may be more female travel coaches ( numerically, but with the huge increase in the total number of teams I wonder if the actual percentage of female coaches teams has increased-just don’t know

As far as equal pay, I think it really depends on industry and location. I think if you take out silicone valley(all tech) and entertainment the comparison is much more even

My wife and daughter are both in finance and are compensated the same (based on performance and production) as their male counterparts. In fact the ceo/chairman of my daughters company is a woman-so I guess times have changed

[Sue Trubovitz, Turbo]

we know with certainty women are more involved in our entire Community now then in the past.
if you're paying attention you will notice there are many female college coaches under the age of 30 that are recruiting players at tournaments.

enjoy your softball Adventure.