She’s Callin’ the Shots

My nameless friend  is in a unique situation. She is a Latina basketball coach of a predominantly Latino boys junior varsity team in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley. I hope I don’t get in trouble for using her as my focus today. It was just hours earlier that I was watching her boys annihilate a crosstown rival to the tune of nearly 40 points. Running the lanes, full-court pressing the entire game and heeding every word that came from the sideline. And at first mentioning, a player listening to a coach is par for the course. But if you think that, you either don’t understand the demographic I sketched in the first paragraph or you nodded off. Don’t let the year 2010 fool you; it is still difficult for women in this world to lead men. You and I both know that it’s not due to inability but usually an unwillingness on the part of males to be led by women. Now couple that with the teenage boy factor and a culture which, according to my Latino friends,  is not traditionally known for empowering women to lead males even if those males aren’t old enough to vote.

I look at my friend and remark, “There needs to be a feature story, documentary, case study, etc. done on her exploits.” She teaches a core subject at the high school where she coaches yet makes time to mold these young men. And I can hear the counterarguments now saying that men need to make men of boys. You’ll get no dispute per se but rather an addendum. If someone knows the sport, as my friend does and can balance discipline with grace which she also does, that individual is coaching material. The game affords lessons of its own and if there’s a piece missing in the character of many young men today, it’s a healthy respect for both authority and women.

I admire the women willing to brave atypical roles like that of a boys basketball coach. Healthy authoritarians with sound ethics and a love for constructive molding are in short supply. Exemplary models are even more rare. When I watch my friend coach, it reminds me that her job is not to be a man nor to epitomize manhood. She is a woman with a woman’s paradigm. She’s a mom herself with all of the nurturing characteristics that accompany motherhood. She’s in the lives of her boys for a reason only God knows. I can’t even speculate. All I know is that she’s good at what she does and every time they play, she has prepared them to execute the details commensurate with true competition and victory.