CoachHer begins second class, mentoring female coaches

Before she joined the staff at WeCOACH, a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to recruiting, advancing, and retaining women coaches in all sports and levels, Maria Lopez was navigating the male-dominated world of coaching tennis.

Lopez, WeCOACH Senior Director of Membership and Inclusion, often found herself in environments without many women mentors or peers. She questioned whether she belonged in the tennis coaching ecosystem and whether a career would be sustainable long-term.

USTA Southern wanted to do something to help alleviate those concerns and partnered with WeCoach to form CoachHer, a mentorship program that supports and empowers women’s tennis coaches in the section. The program, which launched last year, just graduated its first class in October and has started a second class. 

“Having access to something like CoachHer, a structured program built around community, professional development, and mentorship in the sport of tennis would have been transformative when I was coaching,” said Lopez. “It’s not just about learning how to be a better coach; it’s about having a support system that reinforces your purpose and helps you see a future for yourself in this profession.”

Establishing CoachHer

CoachHer was developed by USTA Southern and E. Earlynn Lauer, Ph.D., a mental performance coach who contracts with the USTA, to retain and advance women in tennis coaching. The program pairs experienced women coaches with developing professionals for a year-long mentorship that combines in-person and virtual learning sessions, guided activities, and structured goal setting.

USTA Southern Director, Junior Tennis & Player Development Maria Cercone was a part of the team who developed a similar program at the USTA several years ago that she called “one of the best things I ever did for the USTA.” Seeing how little progress has been made since that time, Cercone was motivated to launch CoachHer.

“We need more women coaches. We need more girls who are players to see role models that are women coaches,” Cercone said. “When we go to clubs, they usually put the women down with the little kids and the beginners, and they never realize that there can be a path for women's coaches. If you look at the boxes at the Grand Slams, most of them are filled with men. We want to change that narrative.”

Closing the gender gap

Through the partnership with WeCOACH, USTA Southern was able to give out 200 scholarships for women’s coaches to join the national organization. USTA Southern invited 14 participants–seven mentors and seven mentees–to take part in the initial WeCoach cohort.

The CoachHer curriculum, which is focused on leadership, confidence building and career advancement strategies, was designed by Lauer. The cohort took part in three webinars and a final in-person meeting in Peachtree Corners, Ga., where the USTA Southern office is located.

“I was frankly surprised at how well it went and how successful it was,” Lauer said. “The stories that they were able to tell at our last session, especially the mentees about what doors opened for them just from having a person who could be a sounding board or be able to open doors that they wouldn't have even thought were doors in the first place was really, really cool. I think I underestimated the value of just getting like-minded women that are goal-oriented in a room together, and how validating and powerful that can be.”

Lopez was equally impressed by the inaugural group of coaches and hopes CoachHer can be replicated throughout the country.

“CoachHer is more than a program, it’s a catalyst for change. The collaboration between USTA Southern and WeCOACH shows what’s possible when organizations intentionally invest in women and align around a shared vision of equity and opportunity,” Lopez said. “It’s inspiring to witness participants not only grow as coaches but also become advocates for other women entering the field. The ripple effect is real. When one woman is supported, she lifts others along the way.”

Modeling the way forward

Lauer wrote a paper about the CoachHer experience and submitted it for presentation at a recent Association for Applied Sports Psychology Conference.

“It was very rewarding to showcase the program as a whole,” Lauer said. “There are pockets of these kinds of mentorship programs around in different sports. It's hard to know what's out there, so getting some feedback and some ideas for different resources to use for this next year's cohort was great.”

The first year of CoachHer went better than Cercone could have imagined. The participants shared how much it changed their lives and their outlook on coaching. Other USTA sections have inquired about taking part as well.

“We got rave reviews,” Cercone said. “The mentors loved it, the mentees loved it. What was also great about it is I got about three or four women coaches that I used for the high-performance camps this past year.”