Granada girls program is breaking ground
The next time you are at a soccer match, any soccer match at any level, take a look at the home team’s touchline. Then look at the visiting team’s touchline. What you will find missing is women in coaching positions.…
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Continue ReadingThe next time you are at a soccer match, any soccer match at any level, take a look at the home team’s touchline. Then look at the visiting team’s touchline.
What you will find missing is women in coaching positions. Coaches for male teams, be it high school, club, or beyond are almost exclusively men. Coaches for female teams, well, you’ll see quite a few men there as well.
Granada High School (Calif.) girls head coach Tessie Wagner-Pease is doing what she can to put an end to that dynamic. The Matadors have an all-female coaching staff, from varsity down to freshman.
“It feels great to have an all-female staff coaching young women,” Wagner-Pease said. “Many of them have never had female coaches before, and even one of our new young frosh coaches said that she never had a female coach playing through her young competitive U18 years.”
The Matadors staff consists of head varsity coach Wagner-Pease, assistant Amanda Cleveland, assistant/keepers coach Carolyn Sanchez at the varsity level, Kim Habiger is the head coach for the JV team and is assisted by Tegan Tinoco while the freshman team is led by co-head coaches Mia Volpatti and Brianna Marquez.
These seven are leading the charge, and whether they realize it or not, are making a statement that coaching is not just a man’s world.
“It is definitely one-sided and to me, that’s just a shame,” Wagner-Pease said. “I’m seeing more women out there, but it’s not where it needs to be.”
An issue that Wagner-Pease sees, and other female coaches may see as well, is that some women get pushed out of the coaching job as they move up from coaching youth players into the higher levels. They have to deal with things that men don’t, such as player and parent issues, respect from officials and opposing coaches as well as support from organizations and administrations.
“When I was a player I always had the respect of my teammates, other players, and refs,” Wagner-Pease said. “But as a female coach, it is a much harder bridge to cross to get that respect.”
However, more female coaches will only beget more female coaches and with that, hopefully, the bias and bigotry will become a thing of the past.
“I think with more women coaching there will be better acceptance and support of women coaching,” Wagner-Pease said. “Seeing is believing. If they see female coaches, female players think they can become a coach.”
Wagner-Pease didn’t begin her coaching career as a crusader. It wasn’t her mission to infiltrate the good ol’ boy coaching ranks. She simply wanted to coach after a playing career that ended with a very successful four years at St. Mary’s College. She even broke through and coached boys at the club level. However, after a while, she noticed the inequity.
“I used to not pay attention to it as much, but about 6-7 years ago I realized I had an obligation to make a difference,” Wagner-Pease said. I needed to support other female coaches and I have intentionally made it a priority to mentor and help support women coaches and players. In my 20 years of coaching, there have not been enough women role models coaching club and high school.”