1. Coaching the Female Athlete
Stefanie A. Latham, Ph.D.
Follow me @stefanielatham
stefanielatham@yahoo.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stefanie-latham/44/899/65

2. No they are not just like the
boys!

3. There is a difference!
• Coaching Education has not kept
up with advancements in women’s
athletics

4. Percentage of Women's Teams Coached by
Females
100.0% 90% PLUS
90.0%
80.0%
70.0% 58%
60.0% 54%
47% 46% 44%
50.0% 42% 39%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
1972 1978 1984 1990 2000 2002 2005 2010
Acosta & Carpenter, 2002

5. High School Athletic Participation
3,960,517 3,879,214
Girls3,666,917
4,000,000
3,500,000
Boys 3,046,997
3,000,000 2,806,998
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000 294,015
0
1971 2001-02 2009-2011
2010 National Federation of State High School Associations

6. Back to is there a difference…
• Not many coaching books or
research articles in academic
journals on gender differences in
athletes

7. Differences
• Initial thoughts are we are just like
them, we can do anything they can
do…….

8. Can they (we)?
• Maybe, but we just do it differently
• Different ways to success…

9. Quote from dissertation data
• You know how girls can hate their female coach, but they
probably wouldn't ever hate their guy coach like they would
their girl coach? He could be as rude as hell and we'll be like,
"it's just his personality", but if it’s a girl coach we're like, "Oh
she has something against me or she hates me"…Like male
coaches can be really rude and mean and we can get over it,
but when female coaches are that way, you pretty much just
think they are assholes, and you can’t get over that… My AAU
coach [who she said was male] was kind of like my high school
coach was, like I described earlier, but everyone still thought he
was a good coach. But my female high school coach who had
the same personality, no one thought she was a good coach.
They both knew the game really well and knew the skills and
stuff and they both had kind of the same personality, but my
guy coach was still thought of as being a good coach, I guess
we just didn't take his crap so personally. (Michelle)

10. Physical differences from
previous literature
• Women are:
– Are shorter
– Are lighter
– Have more fatty tissue
– Have less muscle mass
– Have less hemoglobin
– Have lower blood volume
– Have small stroke (heart) volume

11. My recent follow up study
• N= 40 so far….not published, work in
progress
• Qualitative interviews

12. Key Findings
– Males participate to compete and for
status
– Females participate to compete and
have fun
– Mentioned having fun a lot, males
didn’t
– Females prefer male coaches
(consistent w/precious literature), +
feedback & reinforcement

13. Based on my research,
coach them this way…
• Have a positive coaching style
• Expect and appreciate constructive
feedback

14. How to coach them
• Tell them when they do something right
• Yelling at them doesn’t usually
work…there is a continuum though
• Constant negative feedback will cause
them to tune you out!

15. Feedback
• Ask them questions….
• Know their expectations early
• Ask them what motivates them
• Ask how they want to be coached

16. Feedback
• Use post season surveys on your
effectiveness to coach them/team
• Use captains/team leaders

17. Using video tape as feedback
• Know they are very critical of
themselves
• They know what they did wrong
• Only successful when used to point out
positives or team results
• Show them examples of excellent
performances

18. Encourage
• Praise them (notice them)
• Convince them of what they CAN do
• Sell them on themselves
• Be the salesperson that helps them
perform up to their potential

19. Sandwich really works

20. Let them have a SAY
• Ask their opinion
• Use their Feedback!!

21. Pressure Situations
• Don’t individualize pressure
• Put the pressure on the team not the
individual
• If she fails she let herself down, the
coach, the team…and she's devastated
• Others think you are showing
favoritism

22. Competition
• Are males more competitive?
• Discuss

23. Competition
• No, The focus is on different things
• Males view competition as an ego
enhancer, see it in terms of W/L

24. Competition
• Females value effort, friendship, the
teamwork, individual improvement and
mutual gain
• Pitting them against teammates might
not work…discuss separating personal
feelings for teammates from
competition

25. Practice
• They need to socialize before practice
• Let them talk and do social warm up
drills
• Allow them to gossip during warm-up,
stretching, setting up
• Don’t take it that they aren’t focused

26. Practice
• Explain what you expect from them
today
• Have incentives to inspire working hard
and being competitive
• They like and need competitive drills –
don’t spend countless hours in skills
practice

27. Chart Results
• Verbally appreciate all roles
• Post performance charts that grade
effort, grades, heart, desire, honor roll,
nails and glue, not individual stats
• Discuss individual stats privately
• Post team stats

28. Teach them to Forget
• They blame themselves and get down
on themselves
• Coach should help raise self-esteem
and get her to forgive herself for poor
performance
• Coach should tell them why they are
pulled from a game, or why they aren't
getting PT
• Help them forget the negative by
focusing on what is + (or even past +
results)

29. Coaching Practices Summary
• Create external sources of fun (away
from your sport)
• Create a fun family environment – use
t-shirts, slogans, traditions, cheers

30. Summary
• Have days of non-traditional practice
• Create a democratic atmosphere
• Allow them to chat before
practice/games
• Explain your expectations

31. Summary
• Don’t be moody – no egg shells
• Create competitive atmosphere
• If you think they aren’t being
competitive ask them why?

32. Summary
• Ask they questions?
• Ask for their input
• Provide external rewards (that are
internally related)

33. Summary
• Chart the performance of the
team
• Privatize individual
stats/performance results

34. Summary
• Tell them what they can do
• Give corrective feedback
• Tell them why they aren't playing
and what they need to do to play
more
• Tell them what they did Right