Julianne Sitch is in her rookie season as the head coach of the men’s soccer team at the University of Chicago. Today, she finished off the 22-0-1 season with a national championship, thus becoming the first female coach to win a national championship on a men’s college soccer team. When asked to describe the meaning of this, Coach Sitch said, “It gives young girls something to aspire to. If they can see it, they can dream it and they can aspire to be it.”
Joe’s Perspective: I don’t care what her gender is, she did an amazing job. Soccer is a sport where teams don’t go undefeated very often. She must have come in and made her mark and made an impression on the team. This should be a lesson that gender, race, sexual orientation… should not matter. If you know your craft, can communicate effectively and inspire your athletes, you will undoubtedly be successful. Team captain, Griffin Wada, put things in perspective when he said, “I don’t think it was a huge pressing thing that she was a woman. She was just a calm presence. I’ve had a lot of (male) coaches who yell at the refs or freak out on the sidelines.” In other words, he has been coached by good and bad male coaches, so gender wasn’t the defining issue. Coach Sitch proved that notion this year because she had a lot of key qualities to help the team perform at the highest level. Congratulations to Coach Sitch and the University of Chicago on their first national championship.
Your Turn: What are your thoughts on this story?
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i think it’s so cool that she was able to do that. she not only inspires young girls to be leaders on and off the field, but she inspires them to never let their gender, race, etc stop them from pursuing their dreams.
This is very inspireing and interesting
I think it’s very cool how she coached and how attached her athletes were. You can tell the worked hard and it payed off with a 22-0-1 record!
Ty test
She is an alum of Oswego!! So very proud! She visits and speaks to our kids!
That is very cool.
Coaches should be judged on their abilities not by any social roles. Coach Sitch proves this and helps pave the way for others. Although, I wonder if she wasn’t so much better than the other coaches, if she were equal to a guy coach competing for the same position if she would still have been picked.
I think that is is good tjst she never let anyone bring her down and she always never gave up
This is a success story for future woman coach’s. This shows that no matter your gender you can still make it to the olympic level of coaching.
I think she is really inspiring and helps inspire other females to want to be like her.
This story is very inspiring to me. Watching someone who chases after their dreams and doesn’t settle for just being a coach but settles for being the greatest coach she can be and helping her team achieve big accomplishments.
I think that is so cool and it makes young girls like myself feel like we can do what hints that seem impossible
Cool
I think it is powerful that she was able to do that in such a short time. I am glad she is getting some credit for it too.
My thoughts on this story are that it is something that young girls can strive to do and be like but also that young men are seeing that a woman can be impactful just as well.
Wow this was amazing
I found this story boring
That it’s empowering woman that we can do more then what we think.
i think it is very interesting and inspiring for a women to coach a pro team
My thought on this story really can give girls or young people can really be what they want without who they are.
I was inspired to do more with my life.
I think it is a very cool and inspiring story. She is a great role model for girls everywhere.