How Coaching Girls is Different

The growth of female sports in recent years has been fantastic. However, for coaches, girls add a new level of complexity to the job of coaching. Fortunately, the skills required to coach boys are very much the same as those required to coach girls successfully.

The difference, however, falls upon the balance of those skills. In female sports, coaches need to apply more effort to some coaching skills than others compared to male sports. For example, coaching a female team may require more focus on relationship building and confidence and less on competitiveness.

For this reason, coaches can not coach the same way and expect the same results when coaching men and women. You must adjust your coaching style for your athletes, or you risk turning them away from your sport altogether.

“I think sports gave me the first place where this awkward girl could feel comfortable in my own skin. I think that’s true for a lot of women—sports gives you a part of your life where you can work at something and you look in the mirror and you like that person.”

Teri McKeever

Below is a link to an article that discusses the struggles girls encounter when participating in sport and what causes most girls to quit. Alongside this information, this article also provides some valuable advice on where you should concentrate your coaching effort to give your girls the best possible sporting experience.