Emma Hayes has plenty of crash test dummies.
Researchers found that the dummies used in safety tests are at least partially to blame women for being likely to die or injured in a car accident. Dummies have been modelled in male bodies for decades, despite women usually short and small, low bone density and different distribution of muscle mass.
This means that seat belts that hit men’s bones are more likely to slip on women and are more likely to cause internal damage. The airbag hits the man on his chest and bumps into a small woman with her neck and face. …You get ideas.
The male and male perspective is the default, safety test, soccer, and everything else in life, and women are changing in a short way.
And Hayes isn’t a party of that.
“The most important thing about our mission is to start off by making it really, really clear that we want to create a women’s lens for everything we do,” said the coach of the US women’s national team. spoke earlier this week.
“We do everything in the same way we do in men’s games, or through the lens of men,” Hayes added. “And I challenged everyone inside, across the Federation, to find out how they’ve seen women’s games through that male lens.”
Hayes was hired to rejuvenate the USWNT, and she did it in just 75 days, leading the Americans to gold medals at the Parisio Games. However, she was also hired to overhaul the entire US soccer women’s program to ensure that USWNT sets up for consistent success. There was a lot of expectation for what Hayes calls the “USWNT Way.”
Some of it is tactical. But the foundations change a culture that never bothers us to consider differences between male and female athletes or to consider their impact.
For example, Hayes says that it’s problematic when it comes to differences in hormones, muscle mass and bone structure. Only 5% of sports science studies on women are doing. Now they are beginning to produce shoes specifically made for women with narrow ankles, high injuries and low calf muscles. Until the past few years, team uniforms often included white shorts, but there was no thought given to the anxiety that a girl or young woman could expect her period.
And then there’s more.
Hayes described both American football higher education and reporter group on “USWNT Way” earlier this week. Some of them are easy to implement, some have already started.
The latest camp for the youth team was held in conjunction with USWNT, allowing similar standards and processes to be established. Hayes tells football that he will stay at USWNT in a hotel that will further encourage socialization when he has free time, as opposed to a game that male players may prefer.
“Everyone around me asks this question: “Have you ever done it through the lens of a woman?” If you haven’t, then it’s absolutely the best for girls and women. Stop doing that until you reach the point where you provide classes of the Hayes.
But most of what she envisions will require longer and more detailed work. She wants to establish an advisory committee with leaders in the NWSL, USL and possibly the university game to ensure that they are all talking and acting with the same goals. She wants training and rehabilitation programs created by professionals specializing in female physiology.
Most importantly, she wants a coaching education program specifically designed to coach female athletes, especially at the youth level.
Research shows that there are big drop-offs in the number of girls playing sports when they reach adolescence, and Hayes is a coach who knows to predict it and address the girl’s concerns. , believe in body, self-image, peer pressure, etc. – they can keep them in the game longer.
“We need to get it right there. We need to help our country’s coaches to better support girls and women,” Hayes said. “At every level, coaching education is heart-centric with the boys game, and there are some references there.
“We have to demand more on that aspect.”
Hayes doesn’t put a timeline on how long it will take to turn male-centered thinking into the first thing that will change into a female game. But she is committed to doing it, calling it the “most exciting project” of her career.
“We’re always doing this constant compared to men’s games. I really don’t care what they’re doing. What’s useful for us?” Hayes said. “It’s more about creating it than anything.”
Follow USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrammour.
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