The experience of a trans coach in youth baseball: An autoethnographic study

The foundations of youth baseball in Canada are sporting tradition, expressions of masculinity, and the belief that every athlete can reach the apex of the sport as long as they are given the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. As one of two known transgender coaches at the 18U AAA level in 2023, I had the unique experience of navigating an environment where my expertise made me an insider, but my identity made me an outsider. Whereas transgender people comprise the sample population in very few research studies, an autoethnographic account of my coaching experience offers a contribution to the sociological literature that accounts for specific institutional and interpersonal conditions centering on a trans subject. I ask broad questions in this work to probe youth sport’s gender traditions: what are the social conditions did I experience in high-performance youth baseball, and to what degree was gender involved in those conditions? Through the practice of autoethnography, I use my field notes from the season and self-interview methodologies to produce qualitative data to help describe the social environment. Themes of the study include interpersonal double standards, expectations of under-achievement, paternalism, and technical expertise as social currency. The results of this study serve to both problematize traditional social hierarchies in sport and to expand on the nuanced and variable ways that gender dynamics play out in competitive environments. Poster submission was sponsored by Dr. Dominique Falls, (Science and Technology Department) for course SPSC 3991 and was presented at the New Westminster campus on April 11, 2024, for Student Research Days 2024.