News article
International Women’s Day: Female coaches in the sport of luge
On International Women's Day, March 8, we are celebrating female coaches in the sport of luge.
The FIL strives for gender balance among athletes, medical staff as well as coaches and trainers. In order to achieve top performances or the best possible results, the existing range of diverse competencies should be drawn upon, according to the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB).
Unfortunately, it is still the case that the coaching profession is a predominantly male-dominated field of work and women are severely underrepresented.
"The world of coaches in winter sports is still a male domain. From my point of view, this is mainly due to the fact that women with children and family find it difficult to reconcile the extensive travel activities,"
The 30-year-old Eunryung Sung was herself a luge athlete in the Korean national team and is now a coach of the national team. The Olympic twelfth-place finisher with the Sochi 2014 team relay team loves her job:
"A coach or a trainer is the person who helps the athletes the most to “giving their all”. It's nice to set short- and long-term goals, work together towards those goals, and be able to see the results in clear numbers. The opportunity to travel abroad often is also very attractive to me. I consider myself very lucky to be able to make friends and connect with people from different countries through sports."
The Korean head coach Wolfgang Staudinger appreciates the work of the only female coach in the national team very much
" Eunryung is very important for our team. Maciej and I can work optimally as a team together with her. She is responsible for the athletic training of the team, supports me very much in the organization, is technically extremely competent and a likeable, young contact person for our athletes. Eunryung is a great asset and very important for our team. We are happy to have her as a coach".
But why are there not more female luge coaches if women like Eunryung Sung from Seoul are so appreciated by fellow coaches and athletes in the team? Eunryung Sung doesn’t see the problem with luge
"I think the lack of female leaders is a global problem, not just in luge. It would be nice if there was a place for female coaches to be trained. I think there will be more opportunities if they strengthen their skills through education and training, create a community among themselves and communicate more with each other. More female coaches could be good for more than just female athletes."
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