this is the first baseball coach in the US

The role of women in sport is growing and the Major Leagues Baseball, the most important baseball competition in the world, is trying to increase the spaces for them. Rachel Balkovec (Omaha, U.S; 1987) will mark a before and after when confirming that he will train the Tampa Tarpons, one of the subsidiaries of the New York Yankees. She is the first woman to occupy this position in the step prior to ‘Big leagues‘of this sport.

Before being chosen as a coach, Balkovec was a rookie hitting instructor with the Yankees in the Florida Complex League. However, she has been in the sport for more than a decade and is also the first full-time instructor in an MLB organization. In addition, he has a career in Anthropology and his specialty is tracking pitchers, as well as improving his hip movements when making a pitch.

Balkovec is called a jewel for American baseball when it comes to player training and will now assume a more important role. Still, there is a factor that characterizes her above the others, that of humility. Rachel doesn’t see herself as a pioneer. Like other women in this sport, she believes it is important to open the way for the new generations among whom she hopes will have a coach placed in the main league.

On her website she defines herself as “student, athlete, minimalist, feminist and nomad.” It is no wonder since he has lived in 13 cities in 10 years and visited 9 countries. In addition, he also collaborates with charitable organizations. But his life is baseball and now he is taking a very serious step in his career. Kim Ng was the first woman to break the glass ceiling by becoming general manager of the Miami MarlinsBut Balkovec will have even more influence for the future of the sport.

Overprepared

There have been other women on the coaching staff of MLB teams, but Balkovec aspires to be the first to be a head coach. The inertia when it comes to women in men’s sports is that it can work both ways. A the status quo It may seem like an impossible wall to break, something that could be verified recently from Becky Hammon. Rachel’s example can help keep stigma going.

Balkovec has worked with other franchises such as Cardinals and the Astros As a strength and conditioning coach, he also received his doctorate in two degrees and even had a scholarship with the ‘Driveline Baseball‘. Now, in the role of coach of ‘Minor leagues‘, she is part of the group commonly considered for future managerial roles in MLB. Since 2012 he has not stopped despite his youth, the same that makes him be on that list of candidates.

“I probably had to do a lot more than a male coach, but I like that because I’m so much more prepared for the challenges I might encounter. My mother always used to say that life isn’t fair. So is it fair? No. Does it matter? No. You have to keep standing on that door beating it until it opens, “explained Balkovec. in an interview with Associated Press in 2019.

Opportunity for women

Across the United States, hundreds of women are playing baseball, with additional opportunities coming both from forcing existing institutions to make room for them, and from organizations like ‘Baseball For All’ growing to provide those opportunities. These movements have prompted Beth Greenwood become the first woman to play on a men’s baseball team in the University of Rochester.

Last year, Bianca Smith She also made history as the first black woman to serve on the coaching staff of a professional baseball team after joining the staff of the Boston Red Socks. They keep breaking glass ceilings and Balkovec’s 10 1/2 year career is a great example. This season of the Low-A will have a great incentive with the presence of this main coach who wants to eat this division to knock down the final door.

Genevieve Beacom made its debut this past Friday at the Australian Baseball League. In the rest of the world we have already seen other examples where women are important in this sport. The MLB continues to work so that the minorities in its league stop being it like the black ones, since 78 percent of the pitchers are white, but also for the women, the people LGBTIQ + and other indigenous and Asian ethnicities.

[Más información: Eddy Álvarez, de perder la movilidad a hacer historia en los JJOO: medallista en los de verano e invierno]

Follow the topics that interest you