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Apr
Natalie Randolph: Female Varsity Football Coach
by Ashley Sepanski
0 Comments | Posted by thatgirl in Living Life, Making Waves, That Girl
Image courtesy of Washingtonpost.com
Football. It’s the bodybuilding, testosterone-inducing sport that can turn the kindest of people into raging lunatics. This American obsession that leaves people more loyal to a team than to their own families is a pastime most wouldn’t give up for anything. Not to be sexist or make assumptions, but football is a man’s sport. Women associated with it are either groupies, super fans or cheerleaders. Luckily for all us underrepresented, hard-hitting females out there, that image is about to change.
A few short weeks ago, Natalie Randolph from Washington, D.C. was named Coolidge High School’s first female varsity football coach. Randolph, 29, is a Coolidge science teacher and applied for the position thanks to a colleague’s suggestion. The D.C. Divas of the Independent Women’s Professional League veteran and two-season assistant coach for another high school mulled over the possibility and came to a solid conclusion. She told a reporter at The Washington Post, “I can do it. I’m qualified. I played the game. I know the kids. I love the kids.”
Since her appointment, the neighborhood response has been overwhelming. The expected retort of outraged parents and unrelenting mockery hasn’t washed through the Colts’ community. They couldn’t be more excited. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty even declared March 12, 2010, “Natalie Randolph Day.” Talk about a response.
According to The Washington Post, Randolph joins one other woman varsity head coach in the country, Debbie Vance, who currently coaches Lehman High in the Bronx. Vance thinks Randolph’s most important asset will be her support system.
Perhaps what’s most fascinating about Randolph isn’t her knowledge of the game, her physical ability to play or her lack of concern for skeptics and critics, but the fact that being the first female coach doesn’t seem to really faze her.
“People are going to say stuff wherever you go,” Randolph said. “I can’t control what people say. The first thing is, I love football, no matter whose domain it is. I’m going to do it. If I let people dictate what I do, I wouldn’t be where I am. While I’m proud to be a part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it.”
The appointment of Randolph as well as the phenomenal amount of support she’s received is an incredible feat. Sports and their gender roles are deteriorating, if only little by little. As we celebrate the awesome achievement of a woman in a man’s world, maybe we can also appreciate the title of head coach. It’s pretty impressive before you throw the words “first” and “female” into the picture, and Randolph would want to keep it that way.