Uganda: Day 5 of Soccer Coach Training

Women coaching soccer in Uganda was at the forefront for me today. Jens opened our session in the morning by talking about just this. Among the female coaches we have every level from the national team coach to novice, entry level coaches to those who are experienced in coaching other sports like volleyball and netball but are newly being asked to also coach soccer and thus are here to prepare themselves for this. We have over 50 women among our 185 coaches, an unprecedented number in this country from what I am told. Over lunch we met with the head of women's soccer in Uganda and she told us this. She is more than delighted at the representation and engagement of the female coaches in our program. Turns out she has friends and relatives in Minneapolis and will be visiting them next fall, so I invited her to come to the University during her stay and I look forward to that. The majority of the male and female coaches in our coach training have told me that they coach both girls and boys. It is apparent that soccer is slowly becoming more acceptable and accessible for girls and women in this country. From the beginning of this week to the end of this week, one of the things that I have noticed is that more men and women are walking together, talking together, kicking the ball together during down times, and in general just treating each other like friends, teammates, and colleagues. It is really exciting to see this development. Having excellent female coaches among our group, like Carrie, Lisa, and Stacy, has really helped earn the respect of men and women alike for what women can do in the soccer world. Diane