September 4 – A Female Coaches Advocacy Group has been launched in the US to encourage and promote women into coaching the game. The group is to start at the state level in Colorado and in Southern California with Cal South to create a state network of women in coaching to start dialogue with mentor college women to get involved in coaching.
Founded by Lauren Meehan, who is the Digital Brand Manager and Micro Programs Manager for Rush Pikes Peak, the initiative is addressing the lack of women coaches in the US.
Writing in Soccernation.com, columnist Carrie Taylor, who has held a variety of coaching roles in the US and is director of coaching at Californian youth club Laguna United, says that while the lack of women coaches is widely discussed, no-one has come up with a plan to date to increase the numbers of female coaches.
For Taylor there are some fundamental questions that need to be addressed. Questions that, if widened to a global audience, would make for some very hard and uncomfortable answers for many federations worldwide.
Taylor asks what “the hurdles or challenges that current women in coaching have faced in real life coaching situations?
“Is there a disconnect with coaching education for women or are women not wanting to take coaching licenses for a particular reason, are they intimidated by the environment?
“What can women in the game do to increase the numbers of future females involved in coaching?”
Taylor pointed to the statistics in US women’s soccer to illustrate the depth of the problem.
· National Team Level, 4/7 HC are women, 0/1 fulltime assistants, 0/1 gk coaches are women.
· 1/9 Head Coaches, 3/13 assistants and 1/9 gk coaches are women in the NWSL
· 14% of the WPSL head coaches are female.
· 22% of the W-League head Coaches are female.
· 27% of the Division I soccer teams have female Head Coaches. 48% Assistants/60% volunteers are women.
· 28% of Division II soccer teams have female Head Coaches. 47% Assistants/ 65% volunteers are women.
· 37% of Division III soccer teams have female Head Coaches. 56% assistants/68% volunteers are women.
· 7% of ECNL head coaches are women.
· In Colorado, 20% of the u11-u18 CYS and ECNL teams had female head coaches.
Regional governing body CONCACAF has been a trailblazer in women’s soccer globally and the US has traditionally been a lead nation in the women’s game – both on and off the field. This Friday the regional confederation holds the draw for its Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Miami – the finals to be held in Canada next year.
While the women’s game is taking major steps forward in its national and international profile, Taylor’s column is a reminder that still more work, even in the more developed women’s soccer nations, needs to be done to sustain this development and build the women’s game for the future.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734955099labto1734955099ofdlr1734955099owedi1734955099sni@n1734955099osloh1734955099cin.l1734955099uap1734955099