Coach “Cowball” on how we can encourage more women and girls to coach, and what she’s learned from coaching[:zh]「牛丸」— 如何鼓勵更多女性成為教練 及自己在教練生涯的所得所想

The below appeared first on our Facebook page.

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A few days ago we were extremely lucky to be able to sit down with Coach Cowball, the former head coach of Eastern Football who became the first female coach to lead a professional men’s team to a championship.

We were curious to hear her thoughts about how to encourage more women to consider coaching as a possible option, and what she’s learned as a coach.

Our purpose was not to interview her as we usually do, but to have a simple chat.

Her story is inspirational, not only because broke stereotypes to be the “good daughter” who should support her family, but she took the risk to pursue her passion football against her family’s wishes, and even stood up for her belief to pursue a career in the sport when her family and friends pressured her to find a more stable and higher paying job.

When we sat down with her, a few days later she was about to spend 18 days in Bangkok to help the Asian Football Confederation on training assessments for women’s football. Having played football since she was young, she’s a keen proponent of women’s football and would like to eventually spend more time coaching the women’s game. She’s delighted to see that there are more women interested in the sport.

On how we can encourage more women to become coaches, she suggests that we need to foster the interest from a young age: building the passion not just to play but to learn about the sport from all aspects: about strategy and about the people and more. As a coach, one must have more than the technical skills, but also a true interest and passion to watch and think about the game beyond time spent on the field. Observing and analyzing are crucial elements in coaching; and coaches need to have a keen eye to see as much as possible. It’s through watching games on TV and going to live events that one really develops a feel for the game big picture. Not to mention coaching requires constant learning and constant desire to seek improvement.

On her personal journey in coaching, it has taught her so much. Beyond the observational and analytical mindset that she’s developed from coaching, she’s also learned to be a better listener and learned how to support and motivate each individual on her team; after all, everyone is different and everyone needs a tweak in their learning and training journey. She’s learned how to plan, how to organize, how to strategize and how to work with management and funders of her team.

She shared much more beyond what we have written above and we learned so much. Our response to what she shared:

1) There is still far fewer women then men coaching many sports in HK and across the world. If we want to encourage girls to consider coaching or taking on any sort of leadership role within a team, that belief and desire needs to be encouraged from a young age. Having role models such as Coach Cowball who shows us women and girls can be coaches help, but that’s only one aspect. We need to foster girls’ love for the game, and we can start by sitting down and watching sports with them on TV like we do with boys, or take them to watch games live so they can start to develop that keen eye for their sport.

2) The skills that Coach Chan has learned from coaching … they sound like they skills we need to lead a team in real life whether it’s in the business world, managing your own business or even to take care of your family. How to motivate and support your team, how to plan, how to organize and how to strategize and how to work with managers … these are practical day-to-day skills that we all eventually need when we’re in the workforce. So why don’t we encourage girls that they can coach or take on a leadership role from a young age? They don’t need to coach a professional men’s team like Coach Cowball does, but they can start by taking on roles within their school sports or extra-curricular sports that foster these life skills.

For reference you can also refer to her recent interview (starting on page 7) with the Equal Opportunities Commission on breaking gender stereotypes. http://www.eoc.org.hk/…/file/equalityperspectives/201708.pdf

(Photo credit: SCMP http://www.scmp.com/…/2016-year-man-these-women-and-beef-ba…)以下內容最初在我們的 Facebook page出現

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較早前，我們很幸運地能與東方足球隊的主帥陳婉婷（別名「牛丸」）進行訪談。牛丸為全港首位執鞭專業男子足球隊的女教練，並曾帶領球隊獲勝。

藉此訪談，我們想了解牛丸如何鼓勵女性去考慮任職「教練」 ，以及她任職教練時所獲的得著。

這次，我們一改以往訪談方式，只是與她輕鬆的聊天。

牛丸的故事很具啟發性，她不單止打破了「女孩子要持家」這種傳統觀念，而且還為了追隨自己的「足球夢」而違背了家人意願。即使家人和朋友不斷叫牛丸找一份薪酬高而穩定的工作，但她仍堅持在體育界裡尋找自己的天空。

其實與她進行訪談的那天，幾天後她便要前往曼谷，並在當地停留大概十八日，協助亞洲足球聯盟為女子足球所設的特訓。牛丸從小便熱愛足球，她希望自己最終能花更多時間執導女子足球賽。現時的女性對運動的興趣提升不少，對於這個現象，牛丸感到十分高興。

對於如何鼓勵更多女性去成為教練，牛丸建議從小便應該要開始培養對運動的興趣：這份對運動的熱誠並不止於興趣，還可以延伸至對該項運動的全方位學習 — 即是它的策略、運動員，以及更多其他知識等。作為一名教練，除了需具備高超技術，還需要擁有真正興趣及熱誠，在好讓自己願意花時間在無論在場外及場內都會留意及思考比賽。另外，觀察和組織這兩種技巧對於教練來說是很重要的。教練需要有「鷹眼」去觀察所有事物。至於如何令自己觀察入微，她就建議人們可以透過在電視上觀看比賽，甚至親臨比賽現場觀察賽事的整體格局。除此之外，教練還需保持一顆願意不斷學習及渴望改進自己的心，以一直增值自己的技能。

在成為教練的路途上，牛丸獲益良多。過程中，除了提升了她的觀察及分析能力外，她還學習了如何成為一位好的聆聽者，並學習了如何去鼓勵每個隊員。畢竟，每個人也是一個與別不同的個體，他們都需要一盞在學習和訓練的道路上為自己指引的明燈。當上了教練，令牛丸學懂了如何去策劃、組織、因材施教及與球隊管理層和投資者相處。

她所分享的其實遠超我們以上所寫的，而我們在與她的訪談中，亦從她身上得到很多啟發。對於她的分享，我們有以下的感想：

1) 在香港及世界各地，很多體育項目的女教練比例都比男教練低。如果要鼓勵女性從事教練職位，或在隊伍中擔任領袖的角色，便要從小開始培養他們的信念與渴望，令他們對那些角色有所渴求。牛丸雖然以自身經歷為女士們樹立榜樣，並告訴女性：女性也能夠成為一名出色的教練，但這仍不足以增加女士成為教練的意慾。我們應要從增加女士對運動的喜愛著手，例如坐下來與她們一同在電視上觀看運動比賽，正如男士們會做的那樣；或者帶她們到現場觀看比賽，令她們開始留意運動，以培養對運動的興趣。

2) 陳教練在任職教練時所學到的技能都適用於現實生活中，例如在商界，你要具備以上技巧以管理自己的事務；甚至在家庭中，利用相同技巧照顧家人。至於如何去激勵隊員、如何去策劃、組織、因材施教及如何與球隊管理層和投資者相處等，這些實用技能都是最終與其他人一同工作會用到的東西。所以我們為什麼不從女士們的小時候便開始鼓勵她們去當教練呢？其實，她們並不需要像牛丸般，去帶領一隊專業的男子足球隊而去學習以上所提及過的技能。反而女士們可以從參與校內體育課，或是課外運動班著手，通過這些活動去培養以上所提及過的人生技能。

For reference you can also refer to her recent interview (starting on page 7) with the Equal Opportunities Commission on breaking gender stereotypes. http://www.eoc.org.hk/…/file/equalityperspectives/201708.pdf

(Photo credit: SCMP http://www.scmp.com/…/2016-year-man-these-women-and-beef-ba…)