Bay Area women’s sports leaders speak to experiences, coaching 

It’s difficult to avoid headlines about the rise in attention women’s sports is garnering, both at the collegiate and professional level, as historic viewership numbers suggest a growing market and movement toward gender equity.

Brady Stewart, CEO of the Bay Area’s new National Women’s Soccer League team Bay FC, laughed when asked why she thinks this is happening.

“Well, I mean, half the people in the world are women,” Stewart said. 

She continued on more earnestly to suggest people are finally realizing that the beauty of athleticism and excellence in play is something universal, and should not be restricted to the domain of men. 

On a panel hosted by the Women’s Coaching Alliance — an organization addressing gender equity by helping young girls gain coaching experience — Stewart was accompanied by Jess Smith, the president of the new Bay Area WNBA team, and Tara VanDerveer, Stanford’s esteemed and recently retired women’s basketball coach. 

The three spoke to their experiences as trailblazers in the industry and just how important the role of a coach is in building the confidence of young women. 

As a coach with more than 40 years of experience and the most wins in college basketball, VanDerveer said it’s important to also recognize that this movement has been years in the making. She noted that the gold medal game of 1996 Olympics between her United States team and Brazil is still the most-watched women’s basketball game in history.  

“There’s talk about how we have this momentum rolling, but I think it’s a little bit like a garden. You’ve got to keep pulling weeds, you’ve got to keep giving that garden sunshine and water and fertilizer to keep it going,” VanDerveer said. “We can’t be patting ourselves on the back, the work is just really beginning.” 

Some of that work is being addressed by the WCA through its mentorship program where young girls are connected with an adult for guidance and advice as they take on roles as coaches throughout the community. 

Luci Caron and Nicole Tobar, juniors at Notre Dame High School in Belmont, currently coach U-10 boys’ soccer through the WCA for a year and said they’ve already learned so much. Coaching boys wasn’t their first choice, but Tobar said they quickly learned they could still have an impact on their players.  

“When we signed up for the WCA, we were like, ‘OK we’ll coach girls, it’s all about women,’” Caron said. “But as we started coaching our boys, we realized that they listened to us and they knew that just because we were girls didn’t mean we didn’t have a voice. They really listened to us because we were their coaches.” 

The motivation for WCA is the fact that 90% of women in leadership positions have had the opportunity to be a part of sports at some point in their career. The organization’s goal is to ultimately address pay discrimination and inequality, WCA Founder Pam Baker said.

The panel spoke to this point on how they take on that responsibility of furthering opportunities for other women. 

As Smith builds the coming women’s basketball team in the Bay Area, she said she plans to be extremely intentional with whom she hires and works. 

“You don’t have to sacrifice a good person for an elite performer,” Smith said. “Being relentless in finding both of those things without sacrificing that for your greater culture of people feeling connected is a huge deal.”

VanDerveer spoke of how she has always looked to how she can contribute to the pipeline of women coaches, especially after growing up with such few examples of women in these roles.

“Sexism has been gravity for women’s sports and holds us back,” VanDerveer said. “What you’re seeing with the enthusiasm for soccer and pro sports was an absolute dream for me when I was a young girl.” 

This enthusiasm, coupled with the Bay Area’s reputation as progressive and innovative, is something Smith hopes young women notice, and take advantage of — she surely is. 

“We lead the world here on how things should be and we are relentless in the fact of making it happen when everybody says it’s not possible,” Smith said. “The power of women’s sports right now and to marry that with this region is really, really special.” 

Obtaining the confidence to make strides in an industry that has not always been welcoming to certain groups of people is easier said than done, panelists agreed, but maintained a need for women to trust in their confidence. 

“A lot of times, women feel like you have to take 100 classes or something, have all these degrees, all this background,” VanDerveer said. “Sometimes you just gotta jump in the pool and swim.”

She also said it’s important for women to support one another and have that high level of confidence that their peers are going to do a great job. 

“The only thing that is going to stop you is doubt,” she said. “So get back in the shower and wash all the doubt down the drain.” 

Stewart said being honest with your experiences is one of the most confident things you can do. Rather than trying to appear stoic and like you have it all figured out, she said embracing vulnerability makes for much better outcomes in the long run, she said. 

“I have taken some major body blows. I have had some really tough moments,” Stewart said. “The doubt is dissuaded by the knowledge that I have done the reps.” 

That doubt, she said, is often also curbed by the support and reassurance from the many coaches one might have throughout their life. 

“There is almost no person in a young person’s life, besides parents, who plays an important role in shaping the character of young people, other than coaches,” Stewart said. “There is no more important mission than being a coach.” 

VanDerveer reaffirmed that this role, and responsibility, is not bound by court lines or arenas. 

“Even though I am retired, I want to continue coaching,” VanDerveer said. “In a different way.”