VOA慢速英语--两位女教练赢了超级杯 还会有更多吗?

The sport of American football in the National Football League (NFL) is played by men. But more women are now teaching and training players how to do their jobs better as coaches.

Last Sunday, two women coaches became Super Bowl champions when their team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won the NFL championship game.

Maral Javadifar is a strength coach. She helps players exercise so they can stay fit during the season. If a player gets hurt, she helps them recover. Lori Locust¹ is a defensive² line coach. She works to help players on the first line of defense³ against the other team. They work as assistant coaches under Bruce Arians, the head coach of the Buccaneers.

Cindy Boren is a sports reporter for The Washington Post. She recently wrote about Javadifar and Locust. She said those women and others have the ability to coach the men.

"Bruce Arians' opinion on women and coaching is that if you can teach, you can coach. And he feels that it was more than time for women to be on the staff. And you know, he hired the first one, Jen Welter, back five years ago, when he was the head coach in Arizona."

The Buccaneers coaches were not the first women to coach in the NFL championship game. The first female coach in the Super Bowl was actually Katie Sowers of the San Francisco 49ers, whose team lost to Kansas City in 2020.

In other sports, more women are now coaching men as well.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has a large number of women assistant coaches, including Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs.

Hammon was a player with the San Antonio Stars in the WNBA. The WBNA is a league for female players founded by the NBA. One year, Hammon could not play after an injury. So she started helping⁴ the Spurs during some of their practices.

After Hammon stopped playing professional basketball, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich offered her a job as an assistant coach. In late December, Popovich was ejected partway through a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Hammon made history when she took over the team for the rest of the game.

Other NBA teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks⁵ also have women coaches.

Lindsey Harding, a former WNBA player, is now a coach with the Sacramento Kings. She told ESPN that women are often afraid of not being accepted by the players. But in her experience, she said, the players "aren't the problem at all."

Boren, the sports reporter, said the high-level college and professional leagues in women's basketball make it easier for the men to accept the women. They respect their credentials⁶. She noted⁷ that the NBA is probably the first league that will have a female head coach.

"I think the attitudes toward women are a little more advanced, a little more liberated⁸ than in football. As a female sports writer, I can't tell you the number of times I've heard ‘well, you never played the game, what do you know?' Well, you know, it doesn't really matter. And I think the NBA's a little more evolved on that and a little more open to it."

Women coaches are less involved in other professional sports.

The first woman to coach in a Major League Baseball game appeared during an exhibition game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics¹⁰ in July 2020. Alyssa Nakken, of the Giants, appeared on the field as the first base coach.

Jill Ellis coached the USA Women's Soccer team to victory in the two most recent World Cups. She was considered a candidate to be the coach for D.C. United of Major League Soccer last winter. But she was not chosen for the men's team.

In England, Emma Hayes is the manager for Chelsea's women's team. She is one of the most successful managers in the Women's Super League.

Hayes was recently asked if she wanted to coach a men's team. She said she is already happy coaching some of the best players in the world and is not looking for a new job.

Boren said Hayes makes a good point. Why take a job with a team that does not often win just to make headlines? She compared the world champion women's soccer team in the U.S. with the men's team which did not make the last World Cup.

"I mean the men's national team may bring in money, but how often do they win? They don't. The U.S. Women's National Team has been a proven winner for years. You know, it is a juggernaut. And why would you not want to be part of that?"

Words in This Story

coach- n. a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer

staff- n. a group of people who work for an organization or business

league –n. a group of sports teams that play against each other

eject- v. to force someone to leave something

credential- n. a person who makes, does, or discovers something new and makes it acceptable or popular

liberated- adj. freed from or opposed to traditional social and sexual attitudes or ways of behaving

evolve- v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state : to develop by a process of evolution

exhibition- n. a public display of athletic⁹ skill; often used to note a game that is not official

manager- n. someone who directs the training and performance of a sports team

juggernaut- n. something (such as a force, campaign, or movement) that is extremely large and powerful and cannot be stopped

1 locust   

n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐

参考例句：

• A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
• This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。

2 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 mavericks   

未烙印的牲畜( maverick的名词复数 )； 标新立异的人，不合常规的人

参考例句：

• And what about the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki? 那达拉斯小牛队和诺维斯基呢？
• And we see it with bringing Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks. 而且我们看到它同实现基德向达拉斯小牛队。

6 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

9 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

10 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。