The UP Office for Athletics and Sports Development recently partnered with the UP Center for Women and Gender Studies to hold coaching seminars, aimed at developing gender-specific practices for coaches of UP women’s sports teams.
With more research finding that female athletes have differing needs from their male counterparts, UP has since worked on developing more specific regimens that are built and catered for the female body, which position them to be at the best in their specific sports.
“We need to acknowledge certain experiences of women that men don’t experience. For example yung menstrual cycle. Women have to live through out through their whole lives and it’s part of the biological processes… We’re trying to catch up [on the knowledge],” said Bea Quintos, Gender and PPP Professional, Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines.
“The thing is, [female athletes are] still able to perform. There have been wonderful female athletes who have represented our gender and our nation well, but you know, there’s additional performance benefits that could be gathered if we tailor our approaches to specific gender needs.”
Rather than viewing it as concession for female athletes, the process is more acknowledging that that the male body is seen as the normal standard for sporting activity.
Now as things change, the UP OASD has worked on helping their coaches produce more effective practices for the female anatomy.
“This is super important for all of us. So that we can be educated… [The rules,] they’re constantly changing. So it’s important we’re always informed,” said UP OASD Deputy Director Moriah Gingerich.
“I think this can help us create better relationships with our female athletes,” he added.
The day-long seminar also featured findings from a survey done by the UP CWGS, which showed disparity between what coaches believe about themselves, especially when it comes to gender sensitivity and dealing with their female athletes, and the experience of the athletes themselves.
With a lot of differences showing up in the survey, UP CWGS OIC Deputy Director for Training Grace Gregorio said that the center is looking to help the coaches move forward together with their female athletes in the hopes of fostering a better environment.
“As we were doing this work, we always keep an open mind. So no judgment talaga. What was really surprising for me was when we validated the results of the survey against what’s out there in literature. We thought of really presenting those results in relation to what’s in literature. So that the coaches would understand — Is there a gap? How big is the gap? What are the things that we need to do to lessen or close that gap?” said Gregorio.
“We will draw from them how they would move forward. What are the adjustments, if there are any that they need to do. Clearly they should be, there are a lot of adjustments to be done,” she added.
As for what the adjustments can offer a team, among those who spoke in the workshop was long-time UP Football coach Anto Gonzales.
Having been mentor of both the men’s and women’s team for quite some time now, Gonzales said that he shifted his coaching practices when he realized that he wasn’t as effective as he could be, especially with regards to his female athletes.
Moving on from being an authoritative coach to a more of a listening coach, Gonzales said the results have been wondrous, seeing his players be more motivated in their everyday routines.
“I learned through experience. Out of self awareness din kasi I’m the type of person na like as a player, I would constantly evaluate myself. Ano yung okay na nagawa ko, saan ako nagkulang, then I always take in to consideration ano yung effect nung actions ko sa team. So I think nadala ko siya sa aking coaching,” said Gonzales, who manufactured multiple UP championships in football — including a golden double back in UAAP Season 78.
“May mga methods ako before na eventually I realized na I think this doesn’t align if I want a positive environment sa team. Nakatulong din na I also started to listen more to players, getting feedback from them as opposed to before na ako lang yung nagbibigay ng feed back,” he added.
The football coach also delved deeper than just the results, as he said that it was also important that players are able to feel safe in their environment.
At the end of the day for Gonzales, the results follow when his players understand that they are moving in a comfortable space.
“I think if yun nga, the priority is the athlete as a human being, ang number one mo na magiging concern is yung atleta ba pumupunta ng training dahil gusto niya, masaya siya, feeling niya may sense of fulfillment doing her responsibilities as an athlete, and then as opposed to, you know, pupunta ng training out of fear dahil may parusa kapag hindi pumunta ng training.
Or giving her best dahil pag hindi nanalo, automatic masama ang laro, as opposed to giving her best because that’s what my teammates deserve,” said Gonzales.
“Winning kasi, wala naman yan fully sa control eh. There will be times na mas magaling talaga yung opponent. Would that mean na nag-fail kayo? That’s why ang naging focus is perfect effort. Kahit hindi tayo nanalo, pero we check all of yung most of the objectives, those objectives are always process driven, then for us, that’s a win,“ he added.