Defying the Status Quo

Women push past barriers to coach in professional sports.

January 7, 2012. A six year old girl sits in the darkness, illuminated by the flickering lights of a box TV. She watches her first National Hockey League game with full awareness of what it all means; the players, the spectators, the goals, the saves. She sees men in suits pacing up and down the team benches, wringing their hands in frustration and glancing at their playbooks. The girl tilts her head, thinking, when a sudden thought strikes through her very soul. She realizes she’s never seen a woman coaching on the bench of a men’s professional sports team. 

She wonders if she ever will.

August 5, 2014. Becky Hammon becomes the first ever female coach in the NBA after being asked to work as the full-time assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. On this day, Hammon pushed through and broke past the barriers keeping women from coaching in men’s professional sports. 

And she’s not the only one.

July 27, 2015. Jennifer Welter is hired by the Arizona Cardinals as an assistant coaching intern and becomes the first female coach in the NFL.

October 8, 2024. History is made at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington when Jessica Campbell steps onto the Seattle Kraken’s bench as the team’s assistant coach. She is the first woman to coach in the NHL.

10 years ago, there was a spark when Hammon started coaching in the NBA. That spark led to more women coaching in men’s professional sports. Now, 10 years later, women continue to make history by breaking through the gendered barriers surrounding men’s professional sports. These women realize their potential and are not afraid to step into a field generally dominated by men.

That little girl sitting in front of the TV screen, that girl with the big dreams…that girl might not be me. It might not be the others my age who grew up seeing only men coaching on the bench of professional men’s teams. Now, that little girl sees men and women working together. She sees both with the notebook full of power plays, each equally capable of greatness. That little girl can grow up knowing she has the potential to coach in any professional sport if she sets her mind to it. Women like Hammon, Welter, and Campbell are proof of where hard work, courage, and resilience can bring you, regardless of gender, and they will inspire young girls in generations to come. These women have broken through barriers.

These women have defied the status quo.