Women’s collegiate soccer coaching in the United States: exploring barriers and challenges

ABSTRACT

Our primary purpose was to explore and describe perceived barriers and challenges women encounter coaching National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I soccer. The secondary purposes were: (1) examine the alignment of barriers and challenges with the Ecological Intersectional Model, (2) assess how barriers and challenges are influenced by demographics (i.e. age, degree earned) and coaching status (i.e. job rank, salary). A mixed-methods design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative survey responses. Five emergent themes were identified that female soccer coaches face regardless of their demographics or coaching status: Confidence, Opportunity, Support, Gender Barriers, and Sacrifice. Each emergent theme aligned with at least one level of barriers in the Ecological Intersectional Model. The identified barriers and challenges have largely remained the same over the last fifty years which suggests that there needs to be a more considered analysis of their potential impact on female soccer coaches.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Brenda Kaspari and Professor Gregory Gass for their advising, consulting, and editorial contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Notes

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4. Acosta and Carpenter, “Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal, national study, thirty

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5. Irick, “Student-athlete participation- 1981–82 – 2011–12 NCAA sports sponsorship

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6. Department of Justice, ‘Title IX of the education amendments of 1972’.

7. Acosta and Carpenter, “Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal, national study, thirty

seven year update”.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Boucher et al., “Head coaches of women’s collegiate teams: A comprehensive report on

NCAA Division-I institutions, 2020–21”.

12. Acosta and Carpenter, “Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal, national study,

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13. LaVoi, ‘Women in sports coaching’; Bolzendahl and Kauffman, “Constructing gender,

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14. Carson et al., ‘Women in sport coaching: Challenges, stress and wellbeing.’; Kamphoff,

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15. Harvey et al., “Navigating the leadership labyrinth: Barriers and supports of a woman collegiate coach in a 20-year leadership role”; Lavoi and Dutove, “Barriers and supports for female coaches: An ecological model”.

16. Bronfenbrenner, ‘Toward an experimental ecology of human development’.

17. LaVoi and Dutove, ‘Barriers and supports for female coaches: An ecological model’.

18. Harvey et al., “Navigating the leadership labyrinth: Barriers and supports of a woman

collegiate coach in a 20-year leadership role”; Bolzenhahl and Kauffman, “Constructing gender,

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in division I women’s sports”.

19. https://www.surveymonkey.com/ used from 18 December 2020–14 July 2021.

20. StataCorp was used for quantitative analysis.

21. Noon and Hallam, “Interpretive phenomenological analysis: An appropriate methodology

for educational research”?

22. Ibid.

23. Sechelski, “A call for enhancing saturation at the qualitative data analysis stage via the use

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24. LaVoi and Dutove, ‘Barriers and supports for female coaches: An ecological model’.

25. Weiss et al., “Developing competence and confidence in novice female coaches: II.

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26. Norman, ‘Feeling second best: Elite women coaches’ experiences’.

27. LaVoi and Dutove, ‘Barriers and supports for female coaches: An ecological model’.

28. Lewis et al., “‘Why am I putting myself through this?’ Women football coaches’

experiences of the football association’s coach education process”.

29. Boucher et al., “Head coaches of women’s collegiate teams: A comprehensive report on

NCAA Division-I institutions, 2020–21”.

30. Ibid.

31. Demetriou, ‘Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity: A critique’.

32. Acosta and Carpenter, “Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal, national study,

thirty seven year update”.

33. Ibid.

34. Data taken from the NCSA website visited December 10, 2020https://www.ncsasports.org/womens-soccer/division-1-colleges

35. Data taken from the NCSA website visited 10 December 2020https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-soccer/division-1-colleges

36. Bolzendahl and Kauffman, “Constructing gender, creating disparity: Justifying the gender

Gap in coaching”.

37. Welch and Sigelman, “Who’s calling the shots? Women coaches in division I women’s

sports”.

38. Staurowsky et al., ‘Chasing Equity: The Triumphs, Challenges, and Opportunities in Sports for Girls and Women’.

39. Welch and Sigelman, “Who’s calling the shots? Women coaches in division I women’s

sports”.

40. Carson et al., ‘Women in sport coaching: Challenges, stress and wellbeing’; LaVoi, “The

decline of women coaches in collegiate athletics: A report on select ncaa division-I fbsinstitutions”; Norman, ‘Feeling second best: Elite women coaches’ experiences’.

41. Carson et al., ‘Women in sport coaching: Challenges, stress and wellbeing’.

42. Lovett and Lowry, ‘“Good old boys” and “good old girls” clubs: Myth or reality?’; Acosta

and Carpenter, ‘As the years go by – coaching opportunities in the 1990s’.

43. Norman, ‘Feeling second best: Elite women coaches’ experiences’.

44. Carson et al., ‘Women in sport coaching: Challenges, stress and wellbeing’.

45. Stebbings et al., “Antecedents of perceived coach interpersonal behaviours: The coaching

environment and coach psychological well- and ill being”.

46. Harvey et al., “Navigating the leadership labyrinth: Barriers and supports of a woman

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47. Bolzendahl and Kauffman, “Constructing gender, creating disparity: Justifying the gender

gap in coaching”.

48. Boucher et al., “Head coaches of women’s collegiate teams: A comprehensive report on

NCAA Division-I institutions, 2020–21”.