Practising gender equity at training sessions
Gender equity can be encouraged through participation in specific drills. Changing behaviours regarding gender equity on the field can also affect how we perceive others and deconstruct our biases off the pitch.
What assumptions and biases are we trying to change?
There are many misconceptions and assumptions about how gender impacts a player's role within a team. For example, it is often incorrectly perceived that women identifying or non-binary athletes lack assertiveness, confidence and leadership skills. These athletes are often overlooked for important roles on and off the pitch.
Ways to challenge these perceptions and better engage and empower women matching players:
- A point is valid only if multiple genders are involved, e.g. in a game, the score is valid if the assist comes from a man-matching to a woman matching player or another way around.
- A point is valid only if the assist comes from a woman-matching player (this will also work to increase the confidence of athletes near the end zone)
- Only allow passes between people of different genders, e.g. in 3v3 situational drills
- Have the same number of handlers of each gender on the field (this will encourage the disc to be moved through both handlers) After a turnover, the disc must be picked up by a designated player (preferably a women-matching player)
- A women-matching player throws the pull
- Women-matching players lead team huddles, spirit speeches or tactical decisions.
Introducing special rules during games or situational drills helps more dominant players develop a new mindset on how to involve everyone in the game. On the other hand, less dominant players will get a chance to learn to take more responsibility.
Self-confidence can also be trained by letting less dominant athletes explain and run drills.
Note: Be aware of the pressure you put on athletes if you force them into the spotlight. To empower individuals, you need to communicate often with them directly to know how they feel with this new/added extra exposure.