Is There a Difference?

Is there a difference coaching girls sports teams vs boys sports teams? Research I have conducted seems to indicate that there are similarities across the coaching spectrum that many (but not all) coaches agree upon:

1.     Girls differ in some ways emotionally than boys when they play team sports. 

2.     Girls compete differently than boys. 

3.     Girls should be coached differently in certain, but not all, areas of athletic performance.  

For coaches who perceive that there are or should be differences in the ways that girls and boys sports teams are coached, a fair question is:  Are there real biological differences in the way that girls and boys filter information, communicate and perform as athletes, or are these differences the result of historical social perceptions? 

One topic for which I was not able to find research is whether girls and boys sports teams are coached differently when the team is having a winning or losing season.  Why does this even matter? Simply stated, coaches are evaluated based on their win-loss records.  Who is more likely to be re-hired – a coach with a stellar win-loss record who doesn’t get high praises for coaching style, or a coach who is well-liked by their team but has a dismal season performance?  Want to critically observe someone’s coaching style and philosophy? Observe them during a losing season. 

The driving message of Our Game is that anyone who has interest and capability should be allowed to try-out for a position on a major league baseball team.  The story is gender neutral. It infers the question, what difference does gender make if an athlete can bat .300 or win 15 games per season? 

Perhaps the question isn’t whether girls and boys should be coached differently. Maybe the right question to ask is if girls, from a young age, are given the same opportunity as boys, including encouragement, training, and resources, will this blog’s original question, over time, no longer matter? 

Do I coach my girls volleyball teams differently than boys teams I have coached? No.  I see my responsibilities as a coach to be fair, be a good communicator, train my athletes in their sport, and yes, to win. 

It’s certainly possible that I coach my teams differently than those coaches who stress that girls should, in certain situations, be coached differently than boys. However, in keeping with the message of Our Game, I would rather hold to a coaching philosophy that leans more towards equality assumptions in young athletes rather than differences.