Confidence v. Competence

 Mrs. Barcomb's video made me think about what makes someone a leader, specifically in the sports industry. A leader to me is someone who is passionate, determined, and most importantly empathetic. Someone who takes the time to get to know their teammates and understand the dynamics of the team. A leader is not determined by one's gender rather how they react in the face of adversity. Throughout history we have viewed men as prominent leaders, always doing the right thing and never afraid of a challenge. This is still the case today with more than half of women's NCAA teams having male head coaches. Knowing this stat I can't help, but think why this is the case. Mrs. Barcomb talked about a lack of interest and how lots of women are viewed as less qualified for the job compared to men. Yet, when someone has fewer qualifications and that is the reason why they don't get the job, how are they going to gain the experience they need. Athletic Directors are feeding into the cycle of gender discrimination and hiding behind the excuse that women don't have the qualifications. Women are less "qualified" because they don't have as many opportunities as men do in the sports industry. 

The government only recently mandated that women and men sports teams gain access to equal facilities and overall opportunities. Title IX drastically improved women's sports in all types of ways. But it also impacted women's coaching. As women's sports gain traction men want to be at the forefront of women's sports teams, taking away the jobs of women coaches. This all ties back into what makes a leader in the eyes of an Athletic Director. Is it their past experience? Their own confidence within a sport? Society has ingrained confidence in most men. Confidence that grants them ample opportunities because they believe in themselves. However, when a woman is a leader they are competent, not confident because they had to work 10x harder than the men to get their dream job. It took Courtney England 10 years of coaching just to be an assistant coach to a men's college basketball team. I bet there are men out there that played in the NBA and became a head coach of a college basketball team in the span of three years. Women leaders are competent because they have to be, leaders that are men are given the right to be competitive because it is correlated with their "passion." In my opinion women leaders specifically in the sports industry have to be more qualified than men that are leaders simply because of their gender.