New program increasing the number of female youth coaches to keep girls involved in sports

BOSTON — Imani Pressley is a social worker at the Boston Latin Academy.

She’s also the head coach of the school’s track and field team.

“I really just wanted to get involved and give back to my community”.

It’s a full circle moment. Pressley was a highly decorated runner for Latin back when she was a student there.

“Yea, I’ll be honest,” said Pressley. “It was hard. I was going thru a lot in middle school and high school, especially socially and emotionally.”

Having a female coach in college was a powerful and transformational experience.

“I felt she understood what it was like to be a young black girl growing up in a world that was not always nice to us. She offered me grace that I don’t feel like anyone else would have been able to offer without that direct experience.”

Now Pressley wants to see more women have the kind of impact.

She was chosen as one of the first representatives for “She Coaches”.

“The She Coaches campaign is a project of ‘Let’s Play Boston’ which is a collaborative initiative to ensure that young people have more access to youth sports,” said Jose F. Masso, Boston’s Chief of Human Services.

He says the benefits of youth sports are well documented, but girls don’t participate at the same rate as boys over the long term.

“We know that young girls, like 12-13 years old, is typically when they drop out, and so we want to make sure that we’re both able to increase access and retain young people and playing sports.”

Masso believes having more female coaches would improve retention for girls.

A report by the Women’s Sports Foundation found that only 28% of youth girls teams are coached by women.

“Coaches are wonderful role models and having women in their life and being able to say I know how to play the sport, and I can coach you through it as well is critically important,” added Masso.

Some of the most successful female athletes, such as Simone Biles, Meghan Rapinoe, and Gabby Thomas, have all gone public about how a women coach helped them thrive early in their careers.

Track team members like Alexandria Pamphile agree.

“I feel like it’s really inclusive. I feel like when I am around her, I am safe. I could tell her anything that I want to.”

Naomi Castellanos agrees.

“With the girls she like really understands their needs so I really like that.”

Male team members like Julai Rankins-Bussey also have positive reviews.

“I feel like it kind of gets rid of any biases in society and it just completely gets rid of that, and I feel like having a woman in power just shows they can do it too.”

That’s just what Coach Pressley is doing, and it makes her feel like a winner.

“As long as I can make our young girls and our young athletes feel like they matter in this space, then I am blessed. I am grateful.”

Boston officials say the first run of this campaign generated 60 responses from local women interested in coaching.

They say they plan to run a second installment of She Coaches in the beginning of 2027 to recruit even more women.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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