Female lion coach Saara Niemi and Thai boxing coach Heli Salapuro have been encouraged to pursue a career in male-dominated sports by the Train as a Woman project.
Women are rarely seen in top-level men’s coaching positions.
That’s why a Canadian hockey coach Jessica Campbell, 29, has garnered a lot of attention at the World Hockey Championships. He belongs Toni Söderholm to lead the coaching team of the German national team and is responsible for, among other things, the team’s underpower game.
Campbell has also received unpleasant contempt from the media related to his gender and appearance.
Top-level female coaches are also so rare in Finland that the Finnish Coaches Association tries to increase their number with a special Train as a Woman project.
Admittedly, the Female Lion is piloted by a hockey coach Saara Niemi36, who rose to the head coach of the Finnish women’s national team this spring Juuso Toivolan to the team. In Aitio, Niemi is responsible for playing off the attackers, and on the ice he pulls some of the drills.
– I stopped playing for the women’s national team just over ten years ago, and now I am the coach of the women’s national team for the first time. It takes time to have the prerequisites to give your skills in top sports, Niemi says.
Niemi also serves as the head coach of the Helsinki IFK women’s team. In recent years, other women have also risen to the women’s league as head coaches, but they have not been seen at the men’s main league level.
Campbell is an encouraging example for women aiming for top coaching
Niemi has not faced inappropriate treatment as a coach, but a woman’s path to coaching has been behind hard work in a male-dominated sport where competition is fierce.
Niemi sees Campbell as an encouraging example for other women who aim high as coaches.
– I am glad to see that Jessica has been included in the men’s World Hockey. There have also been a few women as skills coaches on various NHL organizations. When there is a certain level of expertise at the top, it doesn’t matter in the end whether it’s a woman or a man.
– Quantitatively, there are more men in ball sports, and as professionals, it is certainly more natural for them to move on to the coaching path, but little by little there will be more women aiming for the top as coaches. However, on the men’s side, those opportunities or places have not yet been distributed to women, Niemi says.
In her opinion, Sweden is a more equal society than Finland, and this also affects the position of women in sports.
– There, women’s hockey is strongly part of the league organization alongside men. There are common social media outlets, and women get paid to play. In general, more money is being given to sport in Sweden.
The Coach Like a Woman project encourages women to excel in sports
In Finland, efforts have been made to correct the one-sided gender structure of coaching since 2013 through the Coach as a Woman project run by the Finnish Coaches’ Association, through which women receive, among other things, training and support networks.
– In some individual sports, and especially in traditionally male-dominated team sports, female coaches are rare. Every example is a step forward that glass roofs break. The most challenging thing is to get women involved in coaching adult racing and top sports, says the association’s executive director Sari Tuunainen.
The project has also covered ball sports such as hockey. Coach Niemi has found the support he received from the network important, especially in the early stages of his career.
– It was really empowering to get to see more experienced colleagues. From their example, I was encouraged to continue on the path of coaching, and that’s a good career opportunity.
Women often lead groups of fitness enthusiasts and children
The Coach Like a Woman project has also sparked martial arts clubs to discover women’s opportunities in coaching.
– There are only a few women as head coaches in racing and top sports, although there are a lot of female instructors in martial arts who run training and fitness groups or children’s groups, says the chairman of the Finnish Muaythai Association Heli Salapuro.
In her experience, women do not apply as boldly for number one positions in coaching as men because they are not used to seeing women in these positions. In the absence of an example, women may be content with their position and may not have been offered greater responsibilities.
– When women from martial arts were discussed during the project, many already had a male head coach in their clubs. Many said they have not seen such an opportunity to move forward.
Salapuro himself will be the head coach at Karkkila’s Sisu Thai Boxing Club and Hööki Combat Sports ry, which will start operations in Kangasala next autumn.
Progress is being made in martial arts
Salapuro believes that there is a change in gender structures in other clubs as well.
– The female instructors and coaches trained a lot on the project. Mentoring trainings were also launched that will benefit both women and men in building their own coaching path.
A committee on equality and non-discrimination was also set up in the Finnish Muaythai Association.
According to Finnish Coaches Sari Tuunainen, the Train as a Woman project was more successful than expected in other Martial Arts as well. Small clubs are more flexible to make changes than big sports associations, for example in ball sports. Work on women’s coaching will continue with racket games next.
Women who traditionally work in male-dominated sports are required to have self-confidence.
Coach Saara Niemi does not consider it an impossible idea that one day she would not be able to train the Male Lion as well.
– There is a lot of good coaches in Finland, but if you can develop and succeed in this profession, then why not. The future cannot be known. Now I’m in the Lioness and let’s go about this one year at a time.
You can discuss the topic until Friday 27 May. until 11 p.m.