I played five sports competitively over the course of my first eighteen years of life. In none of those did I ever have a female coach.
When I was young, I probably never thought about it. Or if I did, I probably assumed that men coached boys while women coached girls.
Despite that being closer to the truth, the majority of coaches are men. I'm sure some of that is due women not getting the respect that some of them deserve in that field while some of it is that there simply aren't that many women interested in coaching.
The way I see it, young athletes are likely missing out on learning from women who are not only excellent students of their game but also women who have the unique ability to teach.
I think my hometown is unique in that I feel like my high school has a pretty even split between male and female teachers. In 2011-2012, 76% of teachers were female. Some of my favorite teachers were women. The point here is not that women are naturally better at men at teaching. Some people just happen to be very good at teaching people.
Some of those people also happen to be women.
The reason I wanted to discuss teachers is that coaching and teaching are not so different. If some of the very best teachers are women, I feel as though athletes are missing out on coaches that are well-suited to the position but might not know it or might not be given the opportunity to learn that. Teaching is the foundation for everything we do in our lives, and by the transitive property, coaches are the foundation for sports. Without that foundation, what is the point?
For anyone paying attention to national sports media, you might have heard the name, Becky Hammon. Hammon played professional basketball for thirteen years, during which she was a six-time All-Star and two-time First Team WNBA.
After spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs (leading the Spurs to a Summer League championship as head coach), she will now be interviewed for the head coaching position offered by the Milwaukee Bucks. Interestingly enough, Hammon was also interviewed by the Bucks in 2017 for their General Manager position.
Despite not being one of the finalists for Bucks GM position, there is clearly an interest in Milwaukee in what Hammon can offer a team and for good reason.
Working within one of the most respected organizations in the NBA alongside one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, Gregg Popovich, Hammon has a rather impressive resume (in my opinion).
Of course, she has her doubters. Doubters with very little actual reason to not want Hammon, but doubters nonetheless. A popular concern is how players might react to being coached by a woman. Aside from our discussion about the majority of teachers being women, the fact that she has already lead a team to a championship, and the fact that by all accounts Spurs players love Hammon, it's a valid concern (sarcasm).
Additionally, a quick search on YouTube shows Hammon is not the type of person to put up with any kind of primadonna attitudes.
A more realistic gripe is that Hammon has only coached for four years. More reasonable but also quite a reach. Hammon, now 41, has had basketball as priority number one in her life for roughly 27 years. Anyone who is saying she should spend 23 years as an assistant as Popovich did is ignorant.
Jason Kidd was hired as head coach of the Nets the very same year he retired from the NBA with no coaching experience whatsoever. Anyone who saw Hammon play would know she is just as knowledgeable about the game as Kidd, if not more so.
After all is said and done, don't be surprised when Hammon is hired as the first female head coach in NBA history by the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite them bringing four other Spurs assistants, Hammon is now there for a second interview for a position with the Bucks.
To me, that shows very clear interest in Hammon. Lastly, anyone who looks down on Hammon or the Bucks once that hired is made likely have no clue what they are talking about. They don't know Bec, plain and simple.
