Joan is the only head coach in the major professional elite teams out there. She is a star. But she is fighting against a male-dominated system. We interviewed her on Pace The Nation last year shortly after she had taken over the head coaching role:
Words by Chris Farley
I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. I was fortunate to spend my day with Julie and my Mom, and it was perfect.
Did you know my Mom was a house painter from when I was in Elementary to High School? Indoor and Outdoor painter - she did it all! She was good too. The only female in the Northern VA area doing it (that we knew of) too! And she had more business than she could ever take on. She had to hire her excellent friend Kristen. They were so busy. No advertising, just a job well done and word of mouth. Wonder where I got my entrepreneurial bug from?
Did you know that Julie was the first female director of Track and Field and Cross Country in the program's history? At the time, only 1 of 9 female directors in Track/XC in division 1 college programs in the country. Pretty awesome.
I almost forget how awesome it is to be surrounded by female leadership examples. Kathy, our CEO, runs the company, and we have grown 10x under her guidance.
So with all that said, it was perfect for Mothers Day that we launched a new film, Joan and Drew (watch here)- this was a story about Tinman Elite, an Adidas elite team in Boulder, Colorado. Still, to me, it was more a story about a mother (Joan, the team's head coach) and her relationship with her son (the star athlete on the team).
Joan is the only head coach in the major professional elite teams out there. She is a star. But she is fighting against a male-dominated system. We interviewed her on Pace The Nation last year shortly after she had taken over the head coaching role:
"I find it interesting too, not just being a female coach at this level, but the criticism leveled towards me as a mom coaching my son. There are plenty of dads out there coaching their sons, some pretty high-level guys. Why is it ok for him to coach his kids, but not ok for me to coach my son - because I'm a mom, really?" - Joan Hunter
The link to that podcast is here.
So happy mothers day, a day late. And for everyone out there blazing your own trail. Let's freaking go!!
- Farley
