Why are men still suspicious of female coaches in sport?

For this is what Uncle Toni had to say about the appointment of Spain's first female Davis Cup skipper, Gala Leon Garcia: "A lot of time is spent in locker rooms without much clothing  and with a woman it would always be weird."Uncle Toni, who has coached 14-time major winner Rafa since he was a small boy, had some legitimate objections. For example, why had a role usually filled by a former top male player been handed to a woman with a career-high singles ranking of 27 and whose previous charges have all been female?And why had Leon Garcia not contacted any of Spain's top male players since being appointed director of the Spanish Tennis Federation in June? "I have spoken to Rafa, Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer and they don't know you," said Uncle Toni.But his argument was weakened by references to possible problems "at dressing room level" - "there are other rooms," noted doubles specialist Marc Lopez - and the suggestion that Leon Garcia does not know the men's game well enough, which ignored the fact that men have always coached women.Leaving aside the fact that Davis Cup captains do not really do much coaching and their tactics largely consist of deciding who will pair up for the doubles, Uncle Toni's comments highlight one of the principal problems faced by women who aspire to coach male athletes: a fear of difference.Giselle Mather is the only woman with a Level 4 Rugby Football Union coaching certificate and junior academy manager of Premiership side London Irish. But Mather, a former England captain and World Cup winner, remains indebted to former Exiles boss Toby Booth, to whom difference did not matter.Toby is an innovator and doesn't care what people think," says Mather, a former coach of England, Wasps Ladies and Teddington's senior men's team."If Toby thinks something is right he gets on with it, which is why he hired me. We need people like that, with shoulders broad enough to take the negative comments and opinions, to open doors for female coaches, in any sport."Two students of golf coach Susie Meyers landed maiden wins on the PGA Tour within two months of each other in 2013. Derek Ernst was ranked 1,207th in the world and had only been with Meyers for three weeks when he won the Wells Fargo Championship.  Remarkably, Ernst sacked Meyers after only three more tournaments. Even more remarkably, nobody has asked for Meyers's help since."I've had no hostility but I also haven't had any more professionals ask me to coach them," says Meyers, whose long-term project Michael Thompson, whom she has coached since he was 14, won last year's Honda Classic."After his win, Derek went into the media room and said: 'I don't think I could have won that tournament without Susie Meyers.' Then, having made four out of five cuts and won a tournament, he fired me. I can only think that somebody in his camp wasn't happy with the influence I was having on him."Since splitting with Meyers, Ernst has missed the cut in 24 of the 38 tournaments he has played and not had a top-25 finish, which makes you wonder what that somebody thinks about the influence of Ernst's new coach.Meyers says that she is not a self-promoter and that players must come to her if they want their game fixed. That so few have bothered suggests scepticism still exists, despite her successes. This is a situation Margot Wells, who has provided tailored sprint coaching for a host of top rugby players, can empathise with.(BBC)Bakudaily.Az