Youth Coaching Creating New Generation of Female Leaders
The San Mateo Daily Journal recently published an opinion piece by Melissa Schmidt, highlighting the importance of the Women's Coaching Alliance (WCA) in creating a new generation of female leaders through youth coaching opportunities. Schmidt, a former athlete and longtime coach, shares her personal experience as a female leader in the male-dominated world of sports and emphasizes the significance of representation in coaching and leadership roles.
"While so many of my male colleagues do an excellent job coaching young women, I believe representation is important and that both boys and girls need to see women in coaching and leadership roles,"
Schmidt writes, underlining the core mission of WCA to recruit, train, and support female athletes in recreational sport coaching positions.
The Article at a Glance
- Women's Coaching Alliance (WCA), a Burlingame-based nonprofit, aims to develop female coaches and leaders by recruiting female athletes, providing training, support, and mentorship, and placing them in recreational sport coaching positions.
- Melissa Schmidt, a former athlete, longtime coach, and high school athletic director, highlights the importance of representation and the need for both boys and girls to see women in coaching and leadership roles.
- WCA connects the lessons learned through coaching to broader leadership lessons, with the help of coaching mentors like Schmidt and leadership mentors like Rick Fair, a biotech CEO.
- Tilly Haskell and Emmi Cate, two young women coaching through WCA, emphasize the impact of female role models in empowering young girls to see themselves as future leaders.
- The WCA model is designed to be scaled and replicated nationwide, aiming to support and amplify female voices and promote equality in leadership.
- The inaugural Women's Coaching Alliance benefit on October 6th at the Burlingame Community Center aims to support the growth and expansion of WCA into new communities.
Read the full article to learn more about how WCA is working to empower young women, develop their leadership skills, and create a more equitable future through the power of youth coaching.
