Cherilani Perry is the Volleyball coach here at Zachary High. Volleyball was always a big part of Perry’s life, and she’s been playing since she was young.“Growing up playing sports taught me life lessons such as time management, working with others, responsibility, accountability, and how to work through adversity.” Perry said.
While playing volleyball in college, there was always a difference between the way the men and women’s sports were treated. From the way they were viewed to the way they were supported, it was never the same.
“I didn’t like that the men’s locker room in college was better than the women’s [locker room],” Perry said.
And these differences still exist in sports today. Women’s sports receive less media coverage and money (salaries, NIL deals, and sponsorships) than men’s sports. Perry thinks there will never fully be equality for women and men in sports.
“Although there has been a slight shift in those things, I’m not sure it will ever come close,” Perry said.
Tami McClure is the Girls Basketball coach. McClure never planned on being a coach when she was younger, but that all changed when she started playing basketball on a full scholarship.
Just like Perry, McClure has been treated differently because she was a female athlete. When McClure was in college playing basketball, she and her whole team were mistreated by their head coach.
“I had a head coach that would verbally abuse us every day. Especially after games, [the coach] would keep us in the locker room for long periods of time, just berating us,” McClure said.
After dealing with that mistreatment, McClure coached a girls basketball team during her junior year of college. McClure wanted to give the girls something different from what she had experienced.
“I wanted to make a difference in these girls’ lives, doing it the right way, showing them how to succeed, [showing them] that hard work does pay off, on and off the court, and [showing them] also how to fail but how to get back up and keep fighting,” McClure said.
Kate Ellzey is the Softball coach. To her, female sports in the professional leagues are smaller, and athletes do not profit nearly as much as they do in men’s sports.
“Women’s sports [like softball] have less opportunities to continue to play after college,” Ellzey said.
Ellzey wants women to continue to play sports, so in the future there will be more opportunities for females.
“I would just encourage people to continue to support and watch women’s sports. The more popular women’s sports become, the more opportunities for female athletes,” Ellzey said.
Leah Mitchell is the coach of the Girls Soccer team. Mitchell feels that women’s sports are just as talented as men’s sports, but men’s sports, like football, basketball, and baseball, receive more recognition.
“The women feel they get less than the men do playing sports in high school,” Leah Mitchell said.
As women sports continue to grow and get more involved in the field, Mitchell wants girls and women to take their sports more seriously, like men do in their sports.
“I think in women’s sports, a lot of girls get involved in sports just for the social aspect,” Mitchell said.
