Hockey
has long been thought of as a male or, at least, male-dominated sport. However,
that is slowly changing as more and more girls and women are getting involved
in the sport and making their way onto the ice.
Encourage
Interest
If
your team doesn’t have female players, try and encourage girls you know to sign
up or at least give the sport a try. After all, everyone deserves to experience
the joy of hockey.
To
garner interest, you can try hosting a special “try it out” day specifically
for girls. Really, anything you can do to attract female players is a great way
to build the sport and its diversity.
Build
Strong Connections
Once
you do get a few female players, work to build strong connections between them,
especially if the team remains mostly male, which is likely.
Female
players need support from other girls on the team. They need to feel like they
are not alone. For this reason, building and fostering connections is key.
Keep
Your Expectations Consistent
Something
else to be careful of is that the girls on the team get the same treatment as
the male players. Often, coaches will intentionally and unintentionally treat
girl players different.
Sometimes,
they go easy on them in terms of criticisms and workouts. Other times, they
take the opposite approach and are overly hard on the girls.
Really,
though, girl players should be treated exactly the same, in every way, as male
players. Coaches and everyone else who comes into contact with female players
need to remember this and actively work toward equal treatment.
The
face of hockey is changing. Nowadays, girls are welcome to be involved in it,
and more and more are stepping up. To do your part in making progress happen,
just follow these tips.
No comments:
Post a Comment