Should men coach women?

FOr the reasons stated, i think if an equally skilled female coach is available, they are better off coaching girls/women than a male coach. Sometimes that is not the case. I don't know if the problem is so bad that girl runners should be deprived of better coaches in cases where a strong female coach is not available.

Thousands of men are capable of doing it every day. Some crappy coaches are not.

Yes. The OP sounds like he has trust issues with women.

I coached women fo 20+ years. You have to keep yourself above suspicion. No hugs, no closed door meetings, no massages or stretching; girls can be a lot of fun, especially as they become juniors and seniors and understand the ground rules. In some ways they are easier than the boys, I would send out groups on distance days to run for 75 minutes. The boys would run anywhere from 70 to 80 minutes. The girls would come back maybe after 70 minutes and run in circles around the parking lot till exactly 75 minutes.

As a Mom, sister, and daughter, you may be right! Do you not have any trust issues with women? To be fair, though, I think my trust issues are with both men and women.

In my opinion no, but not necessarily because of the reasons stated. Mixing genders for coaching just seems odd to me past moms or dads who are just volunteering/helping out with little league and the like.

lmb wrote:

I coached women fo 20+ years. You have to keep yourself above suspicion. No hugs, no closed door meetings, no massages or stretching; girls can be a lot of fun, especially as they become juniors and seniors and understand the ground rules. In some ways they are easier than the boys, I would send out groups on distance days to run for 75 minutes. The boys would run anywhere from 70 to 80 minutes. The girls would come back maybe after 70 minutes and run in circles around the parking lot till exactly 75 minutes.

this is why i think all else being equal, women should coach women/girls. It is just sad that you should be so careful about hugging. And I get it. But I'll state again that every athlete has the right to the best coach available, and that will very often be a coach of the opposite sex.

You can't look at it as a hassle really, to always need to be protected from false accusations or temptation. Just set boundaries and accept that doing so is a fact of life. This responsibility is far from only required by coaches.

If you view every interaction as sexual then you are the moran.

Not only coaching. Teaching and Office work are in the same category. Women should only work with women and be separated from men. This is a benefit for both sexes.

At first, I thought this would be about the patriarchy in coaching, but then I had to put my LetsRun hat on.

LikeAnsweringQuestionsOnAmazon. wrote:

You can't look at it as a hassle really, to always need to be protected from false accusations or temptation. Just set boundaries and accept that doing so is a fact of life. This responsibility is far from only required by coaches.

Ooh, this is really good perspective! I guess my own life experience and situation affect me a little. My xc coach in high school was wonderful! We all loved him and never in the slightest felt in danger. However, he certainly broke boundaries (in terms of for his own good) that could have been a career ender if one of us wanted to do that to him. Again, we would have never wanted to, but I can see it happening to a coach that has a personality conflict with one of his runners.

sayyestonepotism wrote:

Not only coaching. Teaching and Office work are in the same category. Women should only work with women and be separated from men. This is a benefit for both sexes.

Pretty much all the workplaces I've had that were female dominated had way more friction and bullying in them. Absolutely terrible.

There is a kernel of truth to that. There is a risk of false accusations or misconduct, weight shaming, etc. when results don't come and bitterness ensues. Anyone who says false accusations don't happen is just a liar. Out of all of the coach/athlete relationships, how many times does that happen? Extremely rarely, but the fallout can be ruinous.

The problem is sexually assaulting them, not coaching them. Sexual assault will never not be a thing, and all men shouldn't be treated like criminals because of the actions of some.

Are you the same Al Salazar who put testosterone cream on your own kids to do some kind of doping experiment?

Yes!

Did you massage said woman ever? Yes! But not when she says I did what is alleged, not that day!

You Al Sal, are an idiot, you lose the benefit of the doubt, you are not convicted and we do not even pledge to know what really happened. You massaged this woman and sent prescription pills to an athlete in Europe hidden in a book?

I mean if this guy ever massaged the accuser. Goodbye, that's enough. Say his banishment included unproven allegations but by all means tell the fool he struck out, to sit down. Anything less than that is stupid risk-taking to the point of being part of the problem.

How can that not be good enough?

Come on. This is just a veiled defense of Salazar, hinting that the accusations that Safe Sport found credible were probably made up. The poor guy can't catch a break - seems like people are always making stuff up about him and accusing him of this and that. What is it about Salazar that makes so many people want to falsely accuse him of things? Is everyone that jealous of his success?

The problem as I see it is, you're playing the stereotypical idiot male role. Oh, us poor men, society has gotten so crazy that conniving women are always getting away with falsely accusing us of something...it's getting to where an old perv can hardly get away with innocently massaging attractive young athletes these days. Men are the true victims here! We should show those females what's up by REFUSING TO COACH THEM! That'll sure put them in their places.

high school xc coach wrote:

FOr the reasons stated, i think if an equally skilled female coach is available, they are better off coaching girls/women than a male coach.

I have known quite a few female runners who don't want to be coached by a woman. They have a very strong preference for a male coach.

I am a male coach that has been coaching high school girls for 15 years. I have seen poor examples of coaching athletes from both genders. There are also numerous accusations of assault with male coaches and male athletes which are more likely to go unreported. Should men not coach male athletes either?

I have witnessed plenty of verbal abuse from female coaches to their athletes at meets. I can't even imagine what they must be like out of the public eye.

Almost all accusations of abuse are true. It is not the coaches that need protection, it is the athletes. It is very difficult for victims to come forward. It's not like you did not name them varsity and then they jump to accusations of sexual assault. Not in your wildest imagination does it happen like that.

I get really annoyed at the consensus on these boards that Safesport is something to avoid. It is a certification that all coaches working with athletes should be required to take. Review and take the certification before you have a strong opinion, otherwise, you simply don't know what you are talking about.

It's not sad that we are not hugging athletes or having private conversations which is completely unnecessary. It is by far not a sterile environment at our practices. We have the largest team in our state because the team works hard, and it is fun to be there. I don't need to touch my athletes to feel connected to them.

If you want to discuss an athlete's goals, have an assistant coach present. If you can't do that, have their parents there. If not that, find another plan. It is not a "hassle" at all. It's actually pretty easy.

If an athlete needs to be picked up on a run, bring their teammate back with them. There have been changes in Safesport lately to deal with emergency situations when you might have to be alone with an athlete. This is a rare circumstance in which you might find yourself alone with an athlete.

If you create a safe environment at practice your athletes will enjoy it more and know you care about their well-being. It's all about having respect and empathy for your athletes.

To the OP, it's a good subject but my radar goes up when someone says, "I like seeing women run well as much as anyone." If that is how you view your athletes, you have no business coaching them. It should feel like they are your daughters, if not, coaching is not for you.