On Monday night, San Francisco Giants coach Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach a Major League Baseball game on-field during the Giants’ final innings against the Oakland A’s.
Nakken’s presence on the field was a win for female visibility in sports. Nakken was a softball player during her time at Sacramento State University and has been working for the Giants since 2014 where she started out as an intern. She became the first woman to join the coaching staff of a MLB team in January and her coaching position is exemplary of a growing number of women involved in men’s sports.
Alyssa Nakken made history last night as the first-base coach for the @SFGiants. pic.twitter.com/oflOeGG3dI
— MLB (@MLB) July 21, 2020
In 2014, Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs became the first full-time assistant coach in the NBA. She was a six-time WNBA All-Star and earned a bronze medal representing Russia in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Since her coaching job with the Spurs began, she’s earned the respect of multiple players around the league and has become one of the hottest prospects to lead her own team.
It isn’t difficult for the media and older sports fans to spin these barrier-breaking positions into diversity hires, but the rhetoric used by these women and the people around them suggest that they are anything but.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler has commended Nakken’s coaching ability and believes that her presence will help strengthen camaraderie between players. Nakken emphasized that her earning her new position was about doing the best job and was never about forcing diversity.
“It was never about being a female. It was never about being the first,” she said in an interview.
Earlier this year, Katie Sowers became the first woman and openly gay person to coach at the Super Bowl.
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and head coach Kyle Shanahan have openly commended Sowers for her work on the team and her passion for the game.
“I’m not trying to be the best female coach; I’m trying to be the best coach,” Sowers said in a Microsoft Surface commercial highlighting her achievements.
In an open letter regarding female coaches, NBA All-Star Pau Gasol claimed that it would have been strange for teams not to consider Becky Hammon for a head coach job. Gasol’s two-decade career in the NBA has led him to work with some of the best players and coaches.
“I’m not saying she can coach pretty well. I’m not saying she can coach enough to get by. I’m not saying she can coach almost at the level of the NBA’s male coaches. I’m saying: Becky Hammon can coach NBA basketball. Period.”
Gasol also scoffed at the notion that Hammon was hired for “good PR,” and claimed that there was no place for mediocrity with money and careers were on the line.
These women have proven to be pioneers in their respective sports. Hopefully their success on the field and on the court will influence male-led organizations to consider hiring more women to their coaching staff, as they prove to be just as effective and knowledgeable as men.