About three weeks ago I was watching ESPN after I had gotten home from our Women in Sports class, and coincidentally, ESPN Outside the Lines did a piece on Natalie Randolph. Natalie just so happens to be the first woman to coach football at the high school level. She applied for the position after the coaching position opened up. In the interview, Calvin Coolidge Senior High School principal admits that she didn't consider Natalie for the position when she saw her name but once she interviewed her and saw her proposal, she knew she would be the one. What was appealing about her was the fact the she gave more importance to school than to the game of football, something that most coaches overlook. Coach Randolph says that she wants to change the world and hopes to be the best at what she does.
I feel that Natalie is doing a great thing for the sports world whether you are male or female. I personally find her story to be inspiring primaraily because I coach as well and I like how she is breaking down barriers. I admire the fact that she is a woman doing it in a "man's sport" but also for what she stands for. She is completely focused on changing the norm in school athletics by putting a priority on academics rather than on the sport. She has also pushed on even though people are doubting her. Some of the schools players transfered to a different high school when she got hired but that did not turn her away. Because of what Natalie is doing, pretty soon we will start to see more women coach men's sport. It will probably have to start at the high school level but and maybe one day at the professoinal level.
Shusaku Isagawa
KIN 338
t-th 9:30-10:45
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