This study explores the extent to which national newspaper coverage of a successful female coach reflects the broader gender ideology of society. This study looks specifically at the New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today's coverage of six Women's Division I national basketball tournaments in which Pat Summitt coached the University of Tennessee in the championship game. The years included for this analysis are 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004. This rhetorical analysis examines this print coverage to determine if, consistent with previous research on media coverage of the female athlete, Summitt's traditional gender role is privileged over her coaching role. The results suggest that Summitt is characterized in ways that marginalize and trivialize her coaching acomplishments. The findings also suggest that even as women succeed in the male-dominated world of sport, societal pressures require that they be presented as properly gendered heterosexual females.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the differences and relationships in male and female coaches assessment of coachability traits. Subjects were twenty-five male and twenty-five female coaches, The testing included a paired comparison of ten coachability traits, Data were analyzed by a Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation and analysis of variance. The conclusion of this study was that the two groups of subjects are very similar in the selection of coachability traits.

Degree awarded (2003): EdDC, Counseling, Human and Organizational Studies, George Washington University / This study was designed to examine the perception and incidence of sexual harassment and determine the incidence of sexual harassment in relation to girls participating in high school athletics. The similarities and differences of interpretation of various interactions between high school athletes with their male and female athletic coaches were examined. This study also investigated the actual incidence of sexual harassment by male and female high school athletic coaches as reported by female athletes.<p>The study population included male and female athletic coaches currently coaching a female high school athletic team and female college students who participated in high school athletics.</p><p>This researcher, in order to accommodate the study population and research questions, adapted the Sexual Harassment Survey (1995) by Margery J. Holman, Ph.D. Female student athletes and male and female coaches responded to survey questions on demographics and their perceptions and understanding of described behaviors. The student athletes completed an additional section of the survey pertaining to their experience of sexual harassment.</p><p>Descriptive statistics (including frequencies and percentages as well as means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (One-Way Analysis of Variance with a Scheffe test of significance) were used to analyze the data.</p><p>A comparison of the responses of all three groups (female athletes, male coaches and female coaches) to questions pertaining to perceptions of sexual harassment indicated agreement among the groups in the identification of inappropriate behaviors. However, there was a significant difference in the level of agreement for seven described behaviors. In general, male and female coaches agreed with each other more often than with female athletes when identifying the behaviors associated with sexual harassment. The investigation of incidence indicated that female athletes experienced more behaviors associated with sexual harassment from male coaches than from female coaches. Understanding that the same behaviors were identified by female athletes, male coaches and female coaches, it can be concluded that inappropriate behavior was consistently identified, but the identification of sexual harassment does not necessarily diminish the incidence of sexual harassment.</p> / Advisory Committee: Dr. Lori Lefcourt, Dr. Chris Erickson, Dr. Patricia Sullivan, Dr. Janet C. Heddesheimer, Dr. Donald C. Linkowski (Chair)

Nowadays, the desire of getting more female coaches involved in Swedish sports in general, and football in particular. The goal is clearly stated by various organizations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the career development of Swedish female elite football coaches. Thus, getting a better understanding of their experienced prosperity and adversity. This exploratory study scrutinizes the experiences of twelve female elite football coaches' career developments. By using in-depth interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, three overall chronological themes are generated: beginning - from player-to-coach transition, continuation - searching for sustainability, and today -making decisions for the future. Within these findings, there are, for example, reasons for starting to coach, the value of having a mentor, challenges in the profession in combination with having a lifestyle balance, personal insights to foster sustainability, and strategies to promote safety along the journey. Finally, additional studies regarding female coaches in different contexts are of interest to further understand and promote this field in progress.