Why are there more good male travel ball coaches then woman

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Interesting topic actually. My daughter who is a senior in college and interested in coaching herself (she and I have been coaching together the last 3 years) talk about this a lot.

Snocatzdad ... good points about the fact that there are a lot more male coaches, that a lot more men than women played youth sports, and that with Title IX the numbers will change some. (Also a good point about women/mothers being busier than their spouses!) Even with Title IX, there are still a lot more boys than girls going out for and playing sports at all levels up through college, though some of this is admittedly due to the differences in the games (e.g., baseball requires more players than softball, football requires huge rosters, etc.). And coaching is also a profession/"hobby" that more males seem interested in, no different than many others in our culture like firefighters, investment bankers, etc., with of course there being many and increasing exceptions.

Another thing that should change over time is that girls will have more female coach role models. My own daughter has a somewhat negative feeling towards female travel coaches because she has seen quite a few who were clearly not effective coaches and, to quote her, "seem to always be dealing with more drama on their teams". We both know that's a broad and unfair generalization, and that it's something that should improve with time as more quality female coaches are seen at all levels.

 

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Another thing that should change over time is that girls will have more female coach role models. My own daughter has a somewhat negative feeling towards female travel coaches because she has seen quite a few who were clearly not effective coaches and, to quote her, "seem to always be dealing with more drama on their teams". We both know that's a broad and unfair generalization, and that it's something that should improve with time as more quality female coaches are seen at all levels.

What I have noticed and again this isn't gender specific is that people that go from playing a sport at a high level (i.e. college )to trying to coach aren't always successful especially when they drop down several age levels (16U-14U) immediately and try to deal with kids the way they were recently dealt with as adults in college. There is more to coaching than skills and drills and learning how to get a group of 5 year olds to work together teaches you something that helps you deal with them as 6 years olds a year later and so on. Not everyone who wants to coach is cut out to be a coach, and a disproportiante number of the female coaches I see are former players versus Mom's that grew up coaching their kids.

I've often wondered if one of the factors that is different is that IME female athletes seem very respectful of their coaches, much more so than there male counterparts who probably are thinking "f$#@ you" coach at least 50% of the time when being told to do something. So when a man starts coaching he expects that attitude at least some of the time, whereas a woman might be shocked that she isn't being respected by her players the way she respected her coaches.

 

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There are several reasons why there are more male coaches, and therefore more male good coaches.

- Back when the current coaches were growing up there were not as many female fastpitch players and therefore less were exposed to the game. Fast forward several years when our daughters have kids and there will be more female coaches.

- Females are still not taught the way males are. There are exceptions with good fastpitch teams and high schools but IN GENERAL the typical female ball player that is capable of being on a high school varsity team is not the same as baseball. The abilities drop off quicker. The reason why are threads to address at a later time.

- Males are still expected to be the coach and not the females. Additionally when a coach is needed the male steps forward before the female does. This will slowly change over the years.

It's a shame, really, that more females don't coach. More and more moms have played collage ball or were even knowledgeable high school players. Being a "good" player doesn't translate to "good" coach as we all know so the females should step forward and have at it. Many tremendous male coaches weren't that good of a baseball player and some of them didn't even play at all. They got involved because a son or daughter needed help and they just did it.

Here is the thing... the average female coach is "better" than the average male coach when you consider rec and travel. The one female that I used to coach with was, and is, a great coach, I learned a ton from her. Throw out the top and bottom and get to the numbers. It think it is this way because there are any males who just jump in and try and yet most of the females are already confident of their abilities.

This whole conversation rolls society, gender differences, etc. into one. The landscape is shifting, but slowly.

 

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Things are changing as the sport continues to grow. You have to remember softball as a high school sport is not very old. I believe the 1st state title game was in 1978, which is only 33 years ago. Through the 80 and 90's the sport continued to grow but over the last 10-15 years it has exploded. Look at the number of female coaches today compared to 10 years ago. Here is another thing to remember player that graduated in 1990 would be around 40 years old. As coaches go that not very old.

This is exactly the reason. In time, women fastpitch softball coaches will surpass the men. Forty years ago when boys were playing baseball most girls were going to their brother's game or babysitting. Thirty years ago some girls were playing spring soccur. Ten years ago the girls were playing softball. It's just a matter of time.

Len

 

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Here's a thought....what's the percentage of good vs bad coaches by gender? What qualifies a coach as good or bad? I've seen a gaggle of bad coaches in both genders.... I'd like to see the BCS ratings/calculation for this topic:lmao:

Lots of good points made in this thread...I'm glad it didn't get to be an ugly one

 

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There are some pretty darn good women coaches at the College level.....

 

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And if coaches are being paid...does this generalization of men vs women coaches measure out the same way?

 

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That answer is simple. Most women never had to (or were allowed to) think for themselves on the field. They always had some overbearing, manipulative, power-hungry coach controlling every move they made. The coach called every pitch. The coach critiqued every swing. What the coach rarely did, however, is properly manage the game while explaining to his/her players why certain moves were being made. In other words, remembering what the whole process is actually about-- teaching the kids how to play the game....

"....The result has been generations of players who become coaches without ever having learned the intracacies of the game. Their parents have spent thousands of dollars on hitting lessons and pitching lessons-- but where can they go for "how to play the game" lessons?

I agree with thetruth08. In my opinion, this is the biggest downfall of too many young, female coaches. They have received plenty of coaching on mechanics, but little to none on game strategy, managing a game and the intricacies of the game.

There are many exceptions as we are forced to generalize, but I've witnessed it way too much for it to be a mere conincidence.

The other tough thing for females may not be a male-female thing, but an age thing. Most female travel and even high school coaches are in their 20s or early 30s and most male coaches are at least in their late 30s. The effectiveness of people in most fields seems to peak maybe in their late 40s/early 50s. Doing any managing or leading of people in one's 20s is very difficult, as maturity and life experiences usually aren't as developed by then.