Prior to Title IX in 1972, over 90% of female collegiate teams were coached by women. Title IX was a landmark gender equity law which prohibited gender-based discrimination in sport programs. It created equal opportunity to both male and female athletes in areas such as scholarship opportunities, access to training facilities, trainers, equipment and more.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Today only 43% of the coaches for NCAA Div 1 female teams are women. When looking at men’s teams, that number drops to only 5%. This reality is not much different for Canadian Universities where only 26% of USport head coaches are women.
Sporting Change is honoured to welcome, Lynn Kachmarik, a trailblazer in the world of coaching. In 1986 she was appointed as the head coach of Bucknell’s Men’s water polo team….making her the first female to head coach a men’s NCAA Div 1 team sport.
In today’s episode we discuss not only how far women’s coaching has come, but how far we still have to go.
