Should You Prefer a Male or Female Coach or Teacher for Your Female Athlete?
One factor that can be important to consider in some cases with young girls is whether they will do better with a male or a female coach or teacher in sports. Not all girls will thrive with one or the other.
My daughter, for example. Until she started school she had no concept of “girl can do x” versus “boys can do y”. It was wonderful!
Then she started coming home saying that girls couldn’t do certain things, or that some interests were only for boys. Sheer frustration for me! Exactly the kind of thinking I don’t want her to be trapped in.
That’s why I was quite delighted when her first sensei in karate was a woman. No chance for her to resist by saying it was for boys, even though she was one of only two girls in her class. This first sensei was also wonderfully strict with her, and quickly got my headstrong daughter to behave fairly well in class.
We moved, and started both my kids in a different class. She’s doing well in this one, but her male sensei is so far less strict with the students, and it shows in my daughter’s behavior. She wiggles all over the place and doesn’t put in quite the same effort.
How I hope he gets stricter now that she and her brother are yellow belts!
While some of this comes down to teaching style, you do also have to consider whether or not it has anything to do with a male vs. female teacher and how your daughter interacts with him or her. There can be a difference.
Certainly I tend to prefer a female if I am at all concerned that my daughter will start complaining that it’s an activity for boys. Having a woman teach her is a great way to break that objection. Suddenly she sees how much is possible for women in that sport.
On the other hand, some girls really do learn better from men. Just something in their personality.
Overall I try not to care overmuch whether it’s a man or a woman teaching my children, but if there’s a problem sometimes it can be as simple as reacting differently by the teacher’s gender.
Tags: female coach, gender, male coach
