Woman Coaching Boys V

[BillyMac]

We had a female coaching a public high school boys varsity basketbasll team about 15 years ago in the northwestern part of Connecticut. I believe it was at Litchfield High School.

In the Catholic middle school league, that I officiate in on my free nights and weekends, we have several females coaching boys teams from fourth grade through eighth grade.

A side note, also in the Catholic Middle School league, we have a boy playing, he's a starter, with a prosthetic leg. It takes him a little bit longer to accelerate, and decelerate, than the other players, but otherwise, you wouldn't know he was playing on onewnatural leg.

[swkansasref33]

I officiated a game a couple weeks ago, and the frosh. boys coach was a female... real nice lady too for a change. didnt complain like most of the female coaches i run into... this one was quiet, and when i told her what I saw, she said okay, and dropped it... I almost thought she was a zombie or somethin

[NewNCref]

Originally Posted by swkansasref33

I officiated a game a couple weeks ago, and the frosh. boys coach was a female... real nice lady too for a change. didnt complain like most of the female coaches i run into... this one was quiet, and when i told her what I saw, she said okay, and dropped it... I almost thought she was a zombie or somethin

A Stepford Coach maybe?

[swkansasref33]

hahaha, no, she was a lil on the butch side... but cool as hell. one of those you only run into every so often

[Rita C]

Wow!

There are several derogatory remarks toward women in this thread.

And I'll bet you all can't even see it.

Rita

[Bad Zebra]

I was waiting for that post to arrive. Let's see...so far "butch", "zombie" and this:

"one female doing a boys 13/15 age group".

What else did I miss?

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

I was waiting for that post to arrive. Let's see...so far "butch", "zombie" and this:

"one female doing a boys 13/15 age group".

What else did I miss?

I believe you missed "she was a little manly".

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Rita C

Wow!

There are several derogatory remarks toward women in this thread.

And I'll bet you all can't even see it.

Rita

Yea, most of the guys on this try to be okay with this stuff, they really do. Some do a better job than others. And ya gotta admit, most of these posts are just descriptions of situations and don't contain judgment. But ultimately it's just hard for some of them to see all the details of gender discrimination.

And frankly some of these insults are against both men and women. I think the real problem is in seeing people as one against the other. Why not look for the best coach qualities that can show up in any person, and skip the gender assumptions? I mean, "She was more manly than my partner" Is that a compliment or an insult to either the coach or the partner?? The coach was strong, verbal and aggressive? Those are good or bad things for a coach or official regardless of gender. Why call them manly?

But I run the risk of being seen as a "feminazi" when I speak up. so I don't, unless it's really nasty. Gotta admit, though, it's nice to have another woman on the board regularly these days, Rita. Mostly, gender doesn't matter, much. But when it does, I do feel kinda lonely. I"ve been glad you're around.

[rainmaker]

...and regarding the subject....

I signed up for a camp one summer, when I arrived I discovered that there were only two refs total, so instead of us getting trained we got paid. Two real refs and several college players. It was a boys hs team camp, all games on college sized floors. We did seven running clock games a day, for three days. took a lot of advil. There was one V team there with a woman coach. She'd been coaching girls, but the boys team was losing badly for a couple years, and the team finally requested that she take over. She took them to their regionals or state or whatever for several years, I guess. She and I were the only females on the campus that week (including the dorm we stayed in). It was very... uh, interesting...

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

But I run the risk of being seen as a "feminazi" when I speak up. so I don't, unless it's really nasty.

Never hold it in. There's a very good reason why wimmen should always speak up.


It's true, it's true..........

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Rita C

Wow!

There are several derogatory remarks toward women in this thread.

And I'll bet you all can't even see it.

Rita

Wow! An incredibly derogatory remark toward men in this post. Can you even see it?

[Rita C]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Wow! An incredibly derogatory remark toward men in this post. Can you even see it?

Scrapper and others: That bet is made because these "jokes" are made so casually many take them as par for the course. It's the common way of any bigotry. It is not uncommon for men to look at me with a puzzled expression when I don't think these "jokes" are funny. So when I see those same comments being bandied so casually, I make the assumption that many, if not most, won't even see that they might not be funny.

There was one that you all missed. And I'm not surprised.

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle
The boys sophomore coach at my local school is a woman.


Hey - that's not nice. Oh wait - you mean for real. Sorry.

Last summer I was sole umpire at a senior LL baseball game. The catcher was having trouble with his mask. His coach came out to help him and when the catcher whined a little, his coach said, "Don't be a woman!" then quickly glanced at me and said, "No offense."

I looked at him sternly and said, "Offense taken. I don't appreciate the word woman being used as an insult." Later in the game, he yelled the same expression from the dugout. I whipped off my mask and glared over. He had his hand clasped over his mouth. I told him, "Ryan, you really need to get that out of your vocabulary if you use it that casually." He didn't do it again. And I don't think he will as casually in the future because I handled it well.

So, Scrapper and others, if you find it offensive that I have indicated my low expectations of your sensitivity, please forgive me. Unfortunately, I think that rainmaker and I can tell you that that same low expectation is a defense mechanism we need. I've seen black men use the same type of defense mechanism.

And therein lies the shame of it all.

Rita

[Karin]

Interesting thread.NZ has probably about 1/3 female coaches that coach boys/mens teams.Don't know that its that big a deal to comment on for us.

We have had players from the Northern hemispher who play as imports in our National League who have really struggled with female refs.One guy said"you're cute honey what do I call you"?reply?-Ma'am or ref

NZ is about 50/50 female /male refs.Although in the League only about 1/3 are female.
.The local ref association is run by the women,the appointments,the ref coaching and the NZNBL ref evaluators are all women.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Karin

We have had players from the Northern hemispher who play as imports in our National League who have really struggled with female refs.One guy said"you're cute honey what do I call you"?reply?-Ma'am or ref

I had a guy ask me, "Why do we have a female ref?" It was about a year after Violet Palmer had started in the NBA. I said, "So when you get into the NBA, you'll be used to it." He had to think about it.

PS I have also noticed you around the forum, Karin. Perhaps we've got a trend going? Someone tell Oatmealqueen we would welcome her back, too!

[secondregionbug]

Ft. Campbell, Ky has a lady coaching the mens team, she made the region several years ago and does a good job.