The Arizona Coyotes adding Dawn Braid as the team’s full-time skating coach should be applauded for the skills and knowledge she brings to the table, not because she’s a woman.
The Arizona Coyotes announced today that three new coaches would be taking on full-time positions with the club, bolstering the coaching squad’s talents and capabilities.
Mike Van Ryn is the Coyotes’ new development coach, Steve Potvin is the new skills coach, and Dawn Braid is now the full-time skating coach.
Braid worked with the Coyotes last season in a part-time capacity, and the team must have liked what she brought to the table, because now she’s on-board full-time and all of the time.
And yes, I did say she.
She is the Coyotes’ new skating coach.
She’s being brought on because she’s good. I could go into Braid’s resume and substantiate the reasons why she’s now an NHL team’s premiere authority on skating, but it would take too long.
Let’s just take the Coyotes’ word for it, and the word of all of the pro and minor league hockey players that have sought to learn from her over the years, including the New York Islanders’ John Tavares. The list is quite extensive.
The top four American sports, among the last exclusive men-only clubs, are now welcoming women in a variety of roles. I love it.
Instead of talking credentials, I’d like to stand up and applaud the Coyotes for hiring the best person for the job, regardless of less important things like gender. She’s going to play a major role in helping the team’s young prospects develop their skating prowess.
It seems every other day we’re celebrating the breaking of barriers. We’ve broken so many that they’re no longer newsworthy.
This says a lot about who we are now as a society and how far we’ve come. The top four American sports, among the last exclusive men-only clubs, are now welcoming women in a variety of roles.
I love it.
Plus, everyone gets so caught up in the barrier-breaking nature of things that they lose sight of the person’s qualifications and abilities. These are the things that matter.
So the story here is not that she is the first woman to be a full-time NHL coach.
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The real story is that she’s demonstrated an amazing track record for doing her job year after year. So well, in fact, that she’s been offered the opportunity to excel at her job at the NHL level.
Oh yeah, she also happens to be a woman.
I feel that we’re in an age where anything is truly possible, so much so that things we used to view as impossible have become commonplace.
Now, I’m sure that Braid worked unbelievably hard to get where she is, not only at being a rock star in her profession but also at being someone hockey pros and aspiring pros can get along with, trust, and look to for advice and confidence.
Braid undoubtedly excelled at all of this. She earned her position, and the opportunities that have come along the way. She’s now a full-time Coyotes coach for those reasons, and those reasons only.
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I’m very excited, because the Arizona Coyotes now have one of the best skating coaches available anywhere. I don’t care that she’s a she. I wish her all of the luck possible in her new full-time job.
So for all of you that want to make a big deal out of this, as if the NHL took some sort of giant leap forward for all of mankind, go for it. I for one am content to just be excited that someone with Braid’s skill set is now a Coyote.
Because that’s how I think Braid would want us to be.