{"comments":{"868827":{"pb_id":"51018","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"868827","comment_id":"868827","member_id":"51018","comment":"I think it is an individual desire and not based on gender. I do believe that females "buy in" to a vision faster and more collectively than males might. Males are naturally a bit individualistic, but when they are brought together into a sort of pseudo tribe they can be so very powerful. Many of the amazing year in and out historical teams are a direct reflection of coaching that works on unifying that individualistic personality. Females just do it quicker.","date_added":"Sep 28th 2013, 3:17am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":180363,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/forum\/uploads\/av-51018.png","pb_title":"David Taylor @XCnation","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=51018","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/David-Taylor--XCnation.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"1225766"},"868342":{"pb_id":"22070","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"868342","comment_id":"868342","member_id":"22070","comment":"There was a time I would have agreed with Marc about girls being tougher becasue that had been my experience while coaching a boys and girls at the same school. But, I went somewhere else and it was no longer the case. I ended up with a bunch of prima donnas who thought they were hot stuff becasue they could beat all of the teams in their weak conference. That attitude didn't completely change until a few of the girls graduated and some new girls came in. Toughness is a team dynamic that does not depend on gender; if you have a tough coach and couple of tough kids who are leaders and you will have a tough team. What I will say is girls are quicker to bond and buy into the team dynamic, which means if you have a tough team, girls quickly realize what they need to do to fit in.","date_added":"Sep 27th 2013, 7:02am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":180363,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"i\/no_avatar.png","pb_title":"TrackCoach","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=22070","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/TrackCoach.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"494630"},"868287":{"pb_id":"4047","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"868287","comment_id":"868287","member_id":"4047","comment":"

<\/a>dkap, on , said:<\/p>

\nI'm curious to hear other coaches opinions on girls being tougher, more welcoming and unified, etc. My experience has been, there's very little discernible difference between the genders in that respect. It's just a matter of what individuals you're dealing with at any given time. Of course, that could also have affected my experience(s) to the contrary.
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\nDan
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\nI've noticed that girls are much more welcoming to newer runners at first. Boys have always seemed to have different cliques and not many socialize out of their group. The girls are much more likely to go to a random group of runners (boys or girls\/middle school or high school) and start talking as if they had been friends for years. The boys need to take time to include new members into their groups and generally don't talk to any of the newer girls.
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\nAs for being tougher than boys, the past few years I would say our girls have been tougher than the guys. However I would say that it was mostly due to the success our girls have had and the lack of success and "top guns" we've had on our boys teams. This year I would say we finally have our top guns and as a team our boys are much tougher than they have been in the past.
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\nI really think that all of this depends on your team any given year and what kind of culture (good or bad) has been set up.","date_added":"Sep 27th 2013, 5:04am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":180363,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/forum\/uploads\/av-4047.jpg","pb_title":"Nelly","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=4047","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/Nelly.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"3240"},"868252":{"pb_id":"9184","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"868252","comment_id":"868252","member_id":"9184","comment":"I'm curious to hear other coaches opinions on girls being tougher, more welcoming and unified, etc. My experience has been, there's very little discernible difference between the genders in that respect. It's just a matter of what individuals you're dealing with at any given time. Of course, that could also have affected my experience(s) to the contrary.
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\nDan","date_added":"Sep 27th 2013, 3:25am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":180363,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"members\/avatar\/3295.jpg","pb_title":"dkap","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=9184","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/dkap.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"10044"}},"last_id":"868252","url":"comments.php?item_type=news&item_id=180363&item_url=profile.php?member_id=22070"}