Women Coaches

This article is titled Women Coaches Today Working for Change. The author is Pfitsch, Hollis V. It was published in the Melpomene Journal.

Women can succeed in whatever they set their minds to. Women are striving for equality in athletic sports. Women are looking for equal opportunities to participate in sports as well as coach and become officials and administrators. One of the biggest problems in women's athletics is the lack of women in leadership roles. According to this study the number of female coaches has decreased from 90% to 49.4% within the last four years, even after title IX was enacted. 

To increase the number of women coaches, many women who work in athletics make a point of informing their students of the opportunities for female athletes to go into coaching or administration.Women coaches and administrators have started many groups to support women in their careers as athletic leaders and their personal fights for gender equity and to combine their efforts to further the status of girls and women in sports. One group was called Sports Need You, founded by Susan Schafer to increase the number of women coaches.

I think forming groups like this are awesome. Its putting the word out that women are serious about equality within sports and that we're doing something about it.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+6g7eyzd5wFqA68n+9mW9W8xFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

Mia Hamm-Athletic Role Model

For all you that don't know Mia Hamm is a former American soccer player. She played for many years on the U.S. national women's soccer team. She has the record for the most goals scored in international play for females and males. She was a famous soccer player who was a role model and inspiration to us all. She was such an inspiration she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in March, 2008. 

Soccer did not come easy for her. As a young child she had to work hard to where she got. When she was growing up soccer was not offered anywhere for women. Mia had to practice pick up soccer playing with men. She was pushed around and challenged but she held her ground. When she got to the college age soccer was offered at some schools. She was recruited by UNC, which offered soccer for women and was the top college team and still is to this day. This just goes to show how much dedication she put into something she loved and now everyone loves her for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Hamm

Equality in Women's College Sports

This article was titled Studies Shows Hope for Equality in Women's Sports. The source was Women in higher education. It was published February 6, 2008.

Since title IX went into effect the number of women participating in athletics has increased and the number of female coaches has also increased steadily. This year their were 9,101 women teams competing in college athletics, which is the new record. Sports most available to women in college are basketball, volleyball,  soccer, and cross-country. I think these sports attract women the most, which is why they're most available. Their are 180,000 women that compete in college sports to this day. This is mainly because of the legislation being enforced and because of this women are getting covered by more media also. New teams are being established for women and women are being accepted into the athletic society, which is great. If men deny women the right to play, then women are missing learning the life lessons that come along with playing. Women athletics need to see role models in leadership positions and I think this is slowly coming about.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+yoeqTQveoxbtqA68n+6KsxW+xFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html