Now here is a question that got us a little confused at FCN towers…after we were contacted to comment on a news story which arose in the South East of England on Tuesday, we thought we would pose you all a question – do most young boys want to be coached by a male?
You may think this type of question belongs in the dark ages were women were refused the vote and weren banned from running marathons, but this was a statement given to a female football coach applying for a job as a goalkeeper coach.
Have a read for yourself, and please share your thoughts and the answer to the stamens posed by said male coach “because unfortunately young boys want to be coached by a male goalkeeper coach’.
A Margate football coach has been denied a job – because she’s a woman
A female football coach is fuming after being turned down for a job – because she’s a woman. FA qualified Vikki Childs from Margate approached Just4Keepers South East after the company advertised a vacancy on Facebook. But the 30-year-old was horrified at the response from boss Andy Woodcock.
“I’ve been coaching for the past 15 years, I’ve got so much experience in this field. I could definitely do the job.
‘Just because I haven’t got a penis’
“I actually can’t believe it. I’m being turned down just because I haven’t got a penis. We are all taught the same – he’s not even given me a chance. How does he know I wouldn’t be right?
Summary of Answers:
Aimee Boorman – the boys on our team are very respectful and responsive to my coaching,but their head coach is male
Ginger Hartman – I spent $1500 to get licensed so people will listen to me.I have amazing fams on my teams that support me though
Jazz Hervin – I think it depends on what these male players & conversationist have been opened up to before, which is clearly not much
Jo Watson – I would hope if they’re serious about development they’d want to be coached by the person most qualified and suited to the role?
Karen Atkinson – Too many variants to answer definitive yes or no! Personally have coached many young boys @ our Club;Parents/kids very positive. AndyMurray champion for female coaches at the top of their game coaching men
Evs – Well I’m glad that person feels like they can speak for most boys
Alison O’Riordan – Have only ever coached adult males including former high level soccer and NFL players – now athletics. Coach gender not an issue to them.Only interest is in an effective coach-athlete relationship that improves performance
Louise Capicotto – False, I think boys care more about a number of other qualities that the coach possesses (e.g. knowledgeable)
Wapping Hockey Club – changing entrenched attitudes takes time; successful clubs have a duty to be leaders on inclusion
Coach Emma – well it depends on previous experience, objectives, focus, player ability, reasoning, etc. Every situation is different.
Ezdihar Abdulmula – They may want a male coach b/c they’ve never had a female! And we all need to change that by encouraging women to coach
Louisa Arnold – Definitely False, we just need to keep working at profiling females coaching boys, men, girls, women, young, old…
Rachel Gee – false, kids don’t care it’s adults that think they do. Set a team up from u7s now u12s who have never cared inc me being GK coach
Kimmy – Outrageous
SynergieDi MBE – false . Gender isn’t the issue. Coach needs to work with individuals effectively
Ruth Sealey – Are you sure this is from 2017!? Wow. Quality of coaching surely should outweigh the necessity to even mention gender
Kelsey Fahie – “most young boys want to be coached by a male goalkeeper”, all the more reason to be coached by a female
Kate O’Sullivan – it would be interested to ask the question do young girls prefer male or female coaches?
Womeninsportau – I’d argue that young kids wouldn’t notice, and older ones would only care if they’ve been told sport is for boys/men and that girls/women are inferior ‘stop kicking like a girl’ etc etc
Pamela Bestemen – I coach HS boys and they have no issues with it!
Jess Foster – Have these young boys been asked if they care? Putting your perceptions onto young people isn’t right
Shrophandballfoundry – wow! This is some bold uneducated statement! So not true!
Greg Purkis – I don’t think they would even think about it, they just want to be coached and get better
thisisliezl – Oh wow…but it’s reality. Maybe more so from the bigger “boys”
georgeogier – My daughter plays on a mixed team with a female coach and none of the boys care. What a rocket that bloke is!
coach_lo_loc – Wow???
iaomiawo – Ok, I’d be the advocate of the devil and say that this is *fair enough*… But then why is it ok for men to coach women and girls?!?
meganfmharris – This is a load of crap. I coach senior male rugby in the UK and none of them give a toss that I’m female. The only person that cares here is the guy messaging!
eza_herd – I’m a female goalkeeper coach. And I coach young boys and have done so for the past 10 years. And the only issue I’ve had has been from the parents of these boys not from the kids themselves. And you know yourself when you’re coaching if the kids are responding to you in a positive way or not. Unfortunately this attitude still exists but as we get more educated female coaches empowering young kids to challenge the attitudes of their parents and senior coaches we can no doubt bring equality into the sporting world
Becky Carlson …and they always will with that philosophy.
Vicky Halliden – I have been coaching rugby for almost 3 years. The boys don’t care. And have even given me a nickname. I can only think it’s the parents or an assumption made.
Charles Coan – My experience is that the longer a young boy is coached/trained by a male coach or set of male coaches, the less likely they are to accept training from a female coach. The common practice of male coaches is to attach a negative connotation to anything female. The constant denigrating of the female at most boy’s teams practices is simply astonishing. After a few years of this they are mostly interested in making derogatory negative remarks about female coaches and players. However, if you expose them to females coaching from a young age they are remarkably resilient in shrugging off the negative bullshit they hear from male coaches and are willing-all the way through their playing career to learn from and be trained by female coaches. I do this all the time in our club skills training and the response is terrific. I have 2 young female goalkeepers that help me train all age keepers. My college keepers train boys in camp all the time. Quite beneficial for both parties, I believe. It is tough to break through if the wall has been built too thick to get over, around or through!
