Female Coaches
"Behind every successful person, there is one elementary truth. Somewhere, some way, someone cared about their growth and development." Sport coaching has become a major field of employment in today's society. Almost every athlete that participates in sports today has his or her development fostered by a coach. The definition that will be used for coaching is as follows, "a coach is someone who enables the athlete to achieve levels of performance to a degree that may not have been possible if left to his/her own endeavors. Coaching is one of the most difficult jobs to have because they must accommodate the needs of every player, while meeting the parents' expectations. A coach receives little to no respect because it is hard to understand what it is a coach goes through everyday. One must only understand the barriers, obstacles, or blind spots that are in the way that hide the answers from view. This is where coaches and coaching comes in. With their assistance, knowledge, and encouragement, athletes can overcome these problems on a playing field, in a gym, or even in everyday life. In effect, they also act as counselors. Once these skills are mastered, a coach can teach kids to handle life’s pressures and give them the confidence, which helps not only in practices and game situations, but also in the game of life. To understand the concept of being a coach, one must understand the background of the sport they will be coaching. Over the years, women have played a vital role in sports and will continue to climb the ladder of success for the years to come. Women have been victims of several hurtful discriminations and stereotypes caused by the coaching occupation.
Women soccer history, for example, has interesting turns and twists starting all the way in Europe. The urban form of soccer set up by the Football Association in 1863 in London was a male sport played by all ages of men and was popularized as men’s favorite pastime. Some historians mention casual competitions in Scotland and parts of England of soccer matches between married and unmarried women during late 19th century. Some facts point that in Central Europe, competitive soccer was not uncommon. Such games were often played without compliance with the civil and church authorities. One of the popular records of the game comes from the Boxing Day in 1920, at Goodison Park in Liverpool. A spectacular game took place on England’s biggest soccer ground where Dick, Kerr Ladies played with a Lancashire team called St. Helen Ladies in front of a crowd of 53,000 people. It is noted that more than ten thousand fans had to be locked out when the ground became fully occupied. The crowd size on that day was seen as a major threat at the headquarters of Football Association in London. In 1921, the influential central body of the game set a ban on women for playing soccer for an incredible period of 50 years. The repercussions could be seen immediately as this decision crippled women soccer players in a few countries. However, Italy and France established women’s leagues in early 1930s. Women soccer remained latent until World War II. After the war, the graph took an upward turn with Italy establishing its national association in 1950 and Germany organizing the first informal women European championship in 1957. Soccer for women in England saw a decline owing to the ban, which was much criticized for its anachronism all over Europe. By the time the ban was lifted, almost 35 countries had their national leagues and international competition was in its bloom. The first few decades of the 20th century saw women soccer being restricted to casual gym classes, games and college competitions. Unlike men’s soccer history, most women soccer had its prime growth at the college and university level. In 1951, the first women’s league was established in the United States and things changed from then on. The Craig Club Girls Soccer League had four teams and played complete