Social Change Interview with D.O. on Struggles with Being a Female Coach in a Male-Dominated Field.

Interview with D.O., History 150 Spring 2022, Conducted by Amy Chicketano, March 23, 2022

Overview of Social Change Interview:

Women have fought hard to be treated equally throughout centuries, especially in the workforce. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits the discrimination of sex in any school or education program. My sister, DO, is a high school varsity coach for 3 sports and a physical education teacher. Throughout my interview with her, I have learned that she is in fact treated differently than men in her field, like many other women. There is roughly 30% of women who coach high school varsity sports compared to the 70% of men who coach high school varsity sports. DO mentions how it is very important to make a good connection with her players in order for them to succeed as a team and any man or woman can make that happen.

Biography:

D.O. is a high school varsity coach.  I interviewed her on the differences between female and male coaches/sports teams.   D.O. is a female, 29 years old, and was born in 1992. She teaches physical education at a high school in New Jersey. She is also a coach at this school for both varsity women’s basketball and varsity softball. She was born in New York and moved to Wayne, New Jersey when she was in the 4th grade. She has lived in New Jersey ever since. In high school, she played both varsity basketball and softball. She got her bachelor’s at William Patterson University for Physical Education. She is one of the few females at her school that coaches varsity sports.

Amy Chicketano 0.00

Thank you again for meeting with me to talk about some issues with coaching and teaching at the high school level, especially with your school. Um, to begin, why did you want to be a teacher of physical education, and what made you choose the high school level?

DO 0:17

When I was in high school, I had a teacher, her name was Miss Bud, and she was my phys ed teacher for the majority of my high school career. And I genuinely felt that she was the only teacher that really put an interest in me. And I know this is probably bad to say, but physical education was honestly my favorite class. And the only class I took seriously because I love sports so much. And I became a phys ed teacher because I wanted to be the teacher that no one else had the teacher that I didn’t have. And I wanted to motivate students and change kids’ lives in a different type of style that not everyone is used to. And I chose high school because I love that you can have conversations with the older heads, real types of conversation, you can be sarcastic, and you could really be yourself and just treat people like adults. When I was doing my student teaching, when I was with elementary and middle school, it just like wasn’t a fit for me. I didn’t genuinely feel the passion that I do in high school.

Amy Chicketano 1:23

Oh, awesome. When did you begin teaching?

DO 1:29

I began teaching in December of 2015. And my first teaching job was actually at my alma mater, at Wayne Valley. So I was a teacher with the teachers that taught me and it was really weird walking into the school. That is that was really fun.

Amy Chicketano 1:54

Um, did you begin coaching the same year? Or was that after?

DO 1:58

No, I started coaching way earlier. I’m the oldest of five siblings and my youngest sibling is 11 years younger than me. So I started coaching her, you, when she was in fourth grade, and I taught Amy softball and basketball when she was in fourth grade all the way up till seventh grade. So I’ve been teaching ever since I was 18 years old.

Amy Chicketano 2:23

Wow. And softball?

DO 2:29

No. I coached basketball and softball since I was 18, but since then I have coached volleyball. And I’ve coached field hockey, and I’ve honestly learned to love field hockey a lot. It’s very similar to basketball, but more with a stick and a ‘weapon.’

Amy Chicketano 2:52

Um, and how would you describe your overall experience with being a coach at the school that you work out currently.

DO 3:01

So being a coach at the high school that I’m at right now, it’s really awesome, because this is my fourth year. And during my first year coaching at the high school that I’m at, Everyone kept saying, wait till your fourth year, wait to your fourth year, that’s when you’re going to realize and when it’s going to mean something. I never knew what that meant. But now that it’s my fourth year, I know what that means. It’s because you created a tradition and respect and morale around your teaching and coaching style which people learn. Learn what you like and learn what you want. So the fourth year is more of like setting your roots and building your ground and having people respect you in a way that they did it really in your first year.

Amy Chicketano 3:46

Yeah, and I would assume that’s because also it’s like your generation of students and fires because it’s like the four years of high school.

DO 3:54

Yeah, it’s really cool. Because high school students and teenagers don’t really trust teachers right away. So knowing that I’ve been with them, for the same amount of time they’ve been in school like I was able to teach the in the senior class right now and I taught the majority of them their sophomore year, so I was able to see them grow throughout the last three years. And this year, I teach seniors as well. So it’s cool to see how they have grown and how they’re like so adult-like now.

Amy Chicketano 4:25

That’s really awesome. Yeah, that is awesome. Um, do you think that there are difficulties being a female coach in an overall male-dominated profession?

DO 4:36

Yeah. I have noticed that ever since my ever since I’ve been coaching ever since I was 18. It’s always been like that, especially in high school. Because when you’re a female, especially working with male coaches, and working against male coaches, the male coaches won’t even look at you. And even the referees, like they just automatically assume that the male is the head coach and the male is the one you have to shake the hand and say hi to when technically, the majority of the time, I’m the head coach. And I have to say, Hi, I’m actually the head coach. Hello, hi. And my assistant that is a male will have to say, Yeah, she is the head coach, and the referees will say, Oh, I’m so sorry. And it’s really awkward at times. In my first year, it really bothered me, it really got to me, and it started to make me upset. But I learned throughout the last few years that I can not let that get to me. And I just need to show the referees, other coaches, especially the males, that they have to respect me, and I can show them that I am the leader. And I’m just as good or even better the majority of the time with my actions, my words, and the way that I’m coaching. Like I won’t say anything now, because I just show them who I am with my coaching style and my philosophy.

Amy Chicketano 6:00

Do you think it’s ever difficult having to prove yourself just because you’re a woman?

DO 6:06

Yeah, definitely. I mean, we have to work 10 times harder than males do. Because I think it’s just the culture. It’s just the style. It’s just what’s been for many, many years, and no one has done anything to change it. I feel like not one person can change it. I feel like my passion and my enthusiasm won’t really do as much they will do. It will do something for me and my students and my student-athletes, but for the world. No, I feel like I have to prove myself time and time again, no matter what accolades I’ll get. And no matter what accomplishments I have, I still feel like I have to prove myself every single day. Because if a female slips up doing something wrong, then it’s really bad. But if a male does it, it slides under the rug.

Amy Chicketano 6:55

Yeah. And did you ever notice, like with your players, if like female sports are treated differently than the male sports, like funding, like school wise?

DO 7:07

Yes, I’ve noticed that a lot of the time myself with traveling to other schools seeing the way that male sports are treated more than female sports. But I will share a story that one of my good friends who is a high school teacher, sued her school for Title IX, and actually was awarded $40,000 to work on the girls’ facility, because the male’s facility was 10 times better. And according to Title IX, they’re supposed to follow that law where females and males are supposed to be treated equally, not just in sports, but in everything else. And girls and females and student-athletes and all that who are represented under that law should be represented equally. And I’ve definitely seen that a lot of the times like more than I can count. Wow.

Amy Chicketano 8:02

Well, when, while you were a player to transfer into players when you played sports yourself, did you have both female and male coaches?

DO 8:13

I did have both female and male coaches. So I was lucky enough to be coached by both different genders.

Amy Chicketano 8:19

And did you as a player notice a difference between the way the team was coached or how the coach was treated? From a player’s point of view?

DO 8:29

I did. Um, I definitely did. I feel like when you are a female coach, you connect better with female athletes just because you are a female. I was very fortunate enough to have an amazing male role model coach. He was the coach of my club softball team. He was the best coach I’ve ever had in my life. He didn’t just care about the wins and losses, he genuinely cared about us as people and getting better at the sport. So he was a huge inspiration as to why I wanted to be a coach. But I want to share a quick story more of this question. Yesterday actually, during our game, you could softball game, there was a male and female coach competing against each other. And you can blatantly see the difference between both of them where the male was completely degrading the female athletes and embarrassing them out loud in public on the field versus the female coach that was motivating and positive and telling the kids that they were doing a great job and they were proud of them. So that’s just an example right then I couldn’t really speak for myself in the past because I was fortunate enough to have good coaches. But I see it all the time being involved in so many different sports with so many different coaches with so many different people. So Yeah,

Amy Chicketano 10:01

And at your school currently is there a lot of female coaches or are you outnumbered by the male coaches?

DO 10:09

We are completely outnumbered by the male coaches by 120%. There are way more male coaches than anything. I think there has to be more female coaches. This also goes in line just with how little teachers and coaches get paid. I mean, it’s a struggle alone to find coaching in general. So I feel like males just step up because that’s just part of their life. But females, it’s just hard to really find those good ones that want that, but they need to make a living too. So just the pay alone with coaches and teachers needs to be more but yeah, very male-dominated.

Amy Chicketano 10:47

While I was doing my research, I noticed that it was like a 60 to 80. statistic with male coaches, to female coaches, and for male sports, only 3% of coaches are women. And at your school, do any women coaches coach male sports?

DO 11:15

No, they don’t. But I will tell you that the football coach was a former NFL player. And he did ask me to coach football. So that was really cool to see. But to answer your question, no, there are no female coaches that coach male sports, but I will say that my school will support it.

Amy Chicketano 11:42

And how do you feel about that statistic? Do you think there should be more females coaching male sports?

DO 11:47

When you said 3%, I was kind of like what? I couldn’t say shocked me because it makes sense. But I think well, there’s okay. Well, for example, the 49ers in the NFL, had a female coach, and she was amazing. And she was the first female coach in the NFL. And there is also a female assistant coach in the NBA. And when the NBA coach who was male got kicked out for a technical, she stepped up and was the head coach. So they’re in the NBA, and the NFL, and there’s already female coaching. And this is the first year old 2021 2022 is the first year that this is happening. So honestly, yeah. Better late than never. But it’s happening.

Amy Chicketano 12:36

Yeah. And do you think the interviewing process is like harder for women trying to get jobs? Like you think the interviewer already has their notion on male or female coaches?

DO 12:52

That’s a really good question. I feel like I couldn’t answer that question with facts because I’ve never sat in on an interview with a male coach before. I will say interview processes are very intense or very long. They are male-dominated. I’ve been on probably 40 plus interviews in my life. And I will say I’ve been interviewed probably 85% male than female. So it’s definitely more male-dominated when being interviewed for the girls’ softball. Varsity job, I was interviewed by only males for a female sport. So I thought that was interesting.

Amy Chicketano 13:36

Yeah, that is really interesting. Well, thank you so much for stepping in to help me with this interview. It was really interesting to see how you feel about the gender roles in coaching and teaching at a high school level.

DO 13:54

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed talking to you too, because I like to express my mind on this because the more people that hear it, the better.

Amy Chicketano 14:02

Yeah. 100% Thank you so much.

DO 14:06

Thank you

Works Cited:

Flanagan, Linda. “How the Gender Gap in Sports Coaching Is Affecting Kids.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 July 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/07/the-field-where-men-still-call-the-shots/535167/

Laura Burton Professor of Sport Management, and Nicole M. LaVoi Senior Lecturer of Social and Behavioral Sciences of Physical Activity. “The War on Women Coaches.” The Conversation, 14 Dec. 2020, https://theconversation.com/the-war-on-women-coaches-116643

Murray, Paula. “The Influence of Gender on Perceptions of Coaches’ Relationships with Their Athletes: A Novel Video-Based Methodology.” The Sport Journal, 8 Aug. 2018, https://thesportjournal.org/article/influence-of-gender-on-perceptions-of-coaches-relationships-with-their-athletes/