As I mentioned in the first post of the series, Sports & Business: Know the Rules of the Game, I have played sports my entire life, and during all of those years my coaches have ranged from superb to good to okay to really bad. I suppose much of my early years coaches were a reflection of the 70's, the very beginning of Title IX.
As a Title IX beneficiary I had the "same" opportunities as the boys to play sports in school. But, that's where the comparison of equality stopped. Mostly from elementary school to my sophomore year of high school girls sports were coached by those who volunteered or were volunteered. These coaches had nothing that qualified them to be a coach of anything, much less coaching girls…a trial in its self. I had two great high school coaches back in those days who were qualified, not just on the X's & O's, but on how to really motivate, make you believe in yourself and the training regime set in front of you. Coaches who do not motivate you to do the training or conditioning have lost before the game has even begun, and this is true even in business where the stakes are higher.