JANUARY 2010 FEATURE

Pursuing Motherhood and Medals
by Claire Carver-Dias

Women coaches considering parenthood may balk at the thought of 2:00 a.m. feedings coupled with 5:00 a.m. wake-up calls to head to the pool, rink, or gymnasium. But their hesitation goes beyond the dread of sleep deprivation. Although many of these women have the ability and desire to attain the top coaching positions in their sport, they often forfeit their coaching dreams to pursue family life—not because they don’t think both can be managed, but because they know that the necessary financial, emotional, and physical supports remain inadequate.

Likewise, most women athletes considering parenthood while still in training find themselves staring down a path rarely taken. At the highest levels in Canadian sport, few sports allow the flexibility and support an athlete-mother might require, and few women athletes are willing to risk losing their position on a team, miss crucial events or training, or manage the physical changes of pregnancy.

In this article, I explore some of the challenges that women in high performance sport face, share the stories and opinions of some who have made it work, identify some of the reasons for their success, and take a look at what some corporations have done to make pursuing parenthood and career success more manageable.

The Challenges

It is undeniable that in most high performance sports, managing a young family and coaching or competing at the national team level are generally seen as incongruent. Some of the challenges faced by the coach-mother also apply to the athlete-mother.

Timing clash

Women coaches who aim to reach the highest levels in their sport careers often find a definite clash between a typical career path and the child-bearing years. Coaches who begin their careers in their 20s take, on average, 10 years to acquire the necessary experience and skills to coach at the national or Olympic levels. This timeframe coincides with the optimal time for beginning a family. Taking time off work or requesting job flexibility at that point may be unrealistic, and render breaking back into the top levels of coaching difficult. Further, women who choose to leave coaching with the intention of eventually returning may find that updating skills and certification is expensive and time-consuming—a potential deterrent to re-entering the competitive coaching field.

Limited positions, lots of competition

Often, multiple individuals vie for those two or three top spots in a given sport, so choosing to take time off at this crucial point could result in another individual being selected for that coveted position. Most national sport organizations (NSOs) would choose to name to a top coaching role a person who does not require additional support or career flexibility, rather than wait, spend limited funding, or make special concessions for a woman coach who is simultaneously balancing motherhood.

The same challenge exists for athlete-mothers. In most cases, several athletes battle it out for only a few coveted spots on a team.

The demands on coaches

Parenting and coaching both require consistency, time, and boundless energy. Attempts to balance family life, coaching, low salaries, and travel demands can be difficult and stressful. Many coaching roles require weekend and evening work and extensive travel, which necessitate extraordinary child-care planning, adding an additional layer of stress on the coach and her family.

The type of customized child care required often carries a price tag beyond the coach’s paycheque, and beyond the patience and endurance of her spouse or partner. Many NSOs do not have formal maternity leave policies, and coaches often work on contract, leaving them ineligible for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits and maternity leave. The result can be significant income loss for a family if the choice is time away from work.

There is also the considerable physical strain of coaching, which must be considered when it comes to women coaches who are expectant mothers. Many tasks require the coach to stand, bend, walk, climb, lift, spot, and demonstrate physical skills that are not always safe or comfortable for pregnant women, and there is often no other coach available to ease the physical stress of such activities.

Few part-time or flexible coaching positions

Another challenge is the dearth of part-time high performance coaching positions. Although some sports have embraced a team approach to coaching, it is still an uncommon phenomenon. In many sports, where funding for multiple coaches is scarce and the tradition of the lone coach at the helm remains prevalent, a coach is either there full-time or not there at all. For women coaches, it’s too often all or nothing.

Perceptions

Women coaches balancing families and careers are sometimes seen as not committed or as divided in their focus. Many claim that because they are managing both responsibilities at once, their coaching career is deemed a hobby rather than a professional career.

The demands on athletes

To take steps toward addressing the financial strain of athlete-mothers managing child care while competing at a national team level, Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program (AAP) has included child-care costs on the list of special needs recognized as deserving of its support. Consideration to granting child-care assistance is given only when an athlete must obtain the services of a babysitter to attend approved training or competitions and when the NSO certifies that the athlete must be absent from home to attend approved training or competition and no family member or ongoing day-care service (including nannies) is available to provide the service. So ongoing child care, such as day care or preschool programs, is not eligible for funding, even if these have been enlisted to enable the athlete to attend training and competition. Neither is a nanny or a family member providing child care. Also, while some special needs are funded up to $5000 annually, the maximum child-care assistance is $1000 annually. (For further information on assistance available for childcare expenses for athlete-mothers, refer to Section 8.4 – Special-Needs Assistance, of the Athlete’s Assistance Program: www.pch.gc.ca.)

Lack of precedence

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing coach-mothers is the relative few who have trod the path before them. There are often no formal policies in place to deal with parental leave because there has never been a demand for them. There is also an absence of mentors or advisors who can guide women coaches through this important change in their careers.