Becky Hammon in the NBA – Milestone for a New Normal – Sport

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Why not? This question really arises when it comes to this topic: Why do you so rarely see women in command on the sidelines of the playing fields? No matter which prominent sport – mostly only coaches can be seen at work, rarely female coaches. A woman as the head coach of a Bundesliga soccer team should have been up to date by now. It’s the other way around: Horst Hrubesch successfully trained the DFB women in 2018, coach Bernd Schröder once led the women from Turbine Potsdam to countless titles, and the women’s soccer series champions from Wolfsburg also listen to men.

There are no valid reasons why women should generally coach worse than men, none physiognomic, no cultural-historical, also no didactic. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely to this day that a woman will jump up as a candidate during the next rotation of the so-called Bundesliga “coaching carousel”. Inka Grings or Imke Wübbenhorst, they are the exceptions: women at the top of men’s soccer teams, but so far only in lower-class leagues: Grings at SV Straelen, Wübbenhorst in Cloppenburg and now at Sportfreunde Lotte – Regionalliga.

But a woman as a tactician and motivational artist for a top division team? As hard as it is to imagine that in football, strangely enough, the US professional basketball league NBA is modern: Becky Hammon, 43, will probably soon get a job as head coach in this often quite macho-looking company. The only question is when?

Hammon would be the first ever head coach in one of the major American sports leagues. She started in 2014 as the first full-time assistant coach in US professional sport – since then many have joined the team, most recently Kara Lawson with the Boston Celtics and Lindsay Gottlieb with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hammon, who hails from Rapid City, South Dakota, works for the San Antonio Spurs under head coach Gregg Popovich, 71, known as “Pop”. In the USA he is considered a kind of Christian prank of basketball, his opinion carries weight because he speaks openly about sensitive social issues. He has been running Spurs for 24 years, he has been champion with the team several times – and he promotes Becky Hammon.

Popovic says: “If she were to become the head coach somewhere, that would also be clever from a marketing point of view. But that’s not the point: It’s about her having everything she needs with her expertise.”

Already earlier Popovich pointed out that “the whole he-she comparison” ignores the topic: “First and foremost, she is a coach, her gender does not matter.” Maybe that’s why Hammon will inherit him in San Antonio: Popovich’s contract ends in 2022. He would then be 73.

But there is also a quicker scenario: While the finals between the LA Lakers and the Miami Heat in the NBA have just come to an end, the other clubs are planning their future. Hammon is regularly named as a candidate, most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers, where veteran Doc Rivers, who previously had to leave the LA Clippers, was hired. Hammon is open about her ambitions: “For example, I had conversations with the Indiana Pacers, now you have to see if it fits. It’s not up to me anymore,” she said at an NBA trainer conference.

Four weeks have passed since the appointment with the Pacers, and the club is also dealing with other coaches, all of them male. Does manager Kevin Pritchard have the guts to really think “out of the box” as he announced? And does Hammon, with her pick-up mentality, fit in with Indiana, where the demands are high? Or would she be better off starting a head coaching career at a club in the process of rebuilding? For example with the New Orleans Pelicans, where the huge talent Zion Williamson still needs polishing? There are also vacancies at the Clippers, the Houston Rockets and Dennis Schröder’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

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“Is Becky Hammon’s hour now?” Was the headline of the magazine Sports Illustrated. She is well aware of her role: “There are now women in leadership positions everywhere: in the Supreme Court, on executive boards, in the military. Why shouldn’t a woman coach professional basketball?” She asked rhetorically.

The NBA is apparently ready for this milestone. The competition, which is dominated by African Americans, is not only involved in the fight against racism and police violence, but also advocates diversity and equality. NBA boss Adam Silver has said several times since he joined six years ago that the industry could no longer remain so male-dominated. And something is happening: now, numerous women have management positions in NBA clubs. But Silver wants to go further: “Our goal is to have 50 percent female referees and coaches in the league in the future.”

Hammon, who used to be one of the best in her sport in the WNBA women’s league, has gained experience all over the world. She was active in Spain and Russia, and as a naturalized player with Russia she won bronze at the 2008 Olympics. “You can’t blame me for missing something on the way to becoming a coach,” she emphasizes on the road and have been preparing for a long time to be head coach. When the chance comes, everyone will see that I can do it. ” Still, she doesn’t want to be seen as a pioneer. Rather than a pioneer who creates facts and conveys normality.

“People have to get used to a woman coaching. The goal has to be that nobody cares,” says Hammon. She wants to impart her knowledge to young athletes and make them better. It’s basically simple. Hammon strives for what all coaches strive for: success – and recognition. She gets it not only from Popovich, but also from Pau Gasol, who played three years as center at the Spurs under the assistant Hammon.

He would find it surprising if she did not become head coach soon, wrote the Spaniard in an essay (“An Open Letter About Female Coaches”) in the newspaper Players’ Tribune: “I’m not saying she can do it quite well or she can do it well enough to keep up. And I also don’t think that she can coach almost on a men’s level. I say: Becky Hammon can lead an NBA team. Point.”