The importance of mentoring...
I have been very lucky as a professional to have several mentors to provide me guidance along the way. These are people that were not only my superiors, but also friends. Mentors are people that you will keep in touch with even after you have left a particular organization. I feel lucky that I have several mentors that I can still bounce ideas off of or seek advice. I have had the opportunity to mentor others on some occasions and I find it incredibly rewarding to pass along the knowledge that you have gained to others. It is certainly part of my nature to want to help others and I think that mentoring others and helping them with their professional development is one of the purest ways to do so.
Certainly a soccer coach is a type of mentor. I have done a lot of soccer coaching and feel lucky to play a role in the lives of many different boys and girls. It is by far one of the most fulfilling activities I have ever participated throughout my life. While coaching is a very specific type of mentoring, and certainly different than the professional relationships that I have referenced in most of our curriculum, it is excellent preparation in my opinion to other types of mentoring.
Certainly a soccer coach is a type of mentor. I have done a lot of soccer coaching and feel lucky to play a role in the lives of many different boys and girls. It is by far one of the most fulfilling activities I have ever participated throughout my life. While coaching is a very specific type of mentoring, and certainly different than the professional relationships that I have referenced in most of our curriculum, it is excellent preparation in my opinion to other types of mentoring.
Jason Matthews
In addition to Abass B. Kamara and Kim Wood who serve as my supervisors and my mentors with the Penguins, there have also been others that have provided assistance along the way while I have been with the organization. One of these individuals is Jason Mathews of W. Blazer Consulting. Jason is a former University of Pittsburgh basketball player who now serves as a Supplier Diversity consultant for the Penguins and who is also a commissioner on the Equal Opportunity Board for the City of Pittsburgh. He has also been a very helpful influence during my time here. It is a small thing, but Jason always takes the time (when appropriate) to stop and explain things that I might not be privy to as someone that is new to the area and new to the organization. It is always nice to be treated as someone that there is there to learn and contribute and not someone that is just taking up a chair in a meeting.
Another take on mentoring...
I came across the following article on SI.com which I think is relevant to the discussion of why it is important for women in sports to find other women to mentor them. The article is written by Christianne Harder who is a consultant for the Western Kentucky football program in their recruiting and social media departments. The article is entitled 'How Jessica Dorrell hurt all women trying to work in college football':
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/04/16/harder.editorial/index.html
For those of you who may not have followed the story, Jessica Dorrell is the young woman that was riding with Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino when he wrecked his motorcycle a couple of weeks ago. Petrino initially lied and told the Arkansas Athletic Director that he was alone during the accident. Eventually however, Petrino was terminated by the school after he was forced to admit that he was with Dorrell and that the two had been in engaged in an "improper relationship" (Petrino is married and Dorrell is engaged to another athletic department employee).
Being an adulterous dirtbag is nothing new for men in positions of power like Mr. Petrino. The real reason that Petrino was ultimately fired by the University of Arkansas was because A) he initially lied to his boss and has shown a pattern of lying to his superiors at previous jobs, B) he apparently hired his mistress to a prominent position within the football program, and C) reportedly gave Dorrell $20K in cash.
Most of you are probably familiar with the incident. What many people (including me until I read Harder's Op-Ed column) are not aware of is how Dorrell's actions make it even harder for women to succeed in the male-dominated world of sports. From the article:
"I've worked in college football in recruiting and social media for three years. Since I earned my Master's from the University of Washington's Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership program, I have navigated a world where very few women land jobs other than administrative assistants. Thanks to Dorrell's hiring, and the subsequent outing of an inappropriate relationship with Petrino, she has now unintentionally set all women who work in college football back. As if getting a job in college football wasn't hard enough."
Here is the part that is particularly relevant to our discussion of mentoring. Harden describes how in the wake of the Arkansas scandal, a mentoring relationship she had with a coach from another program was derailed:
"Earlier this month, I was supposed to have dinner with a coach from another football program. We had met in an airport coming back from the American Football Coaches Association Convention, and he loved my work at WKU, so we stayed in touch. We were finally going to get together to talk. Then the Petrino story broke. I had expressed my frustration to him about the situation, and what it meant to my future the night before, over text messages. The next day he called to cancel our dinner. I couldn't believe it. Why? The coach said that he respected the hell out of me professionally, but due to the Petrino/Dorrell thing, he didn't want our outing to be misconstrued."
I strongly encourage each of you to read the column in its entirety. I think Harden does an outstanding job of underscoring why it is so critical for women to find other women that can provide mentorship. While I believe that there are a large number of men that are more than willing to provide effective mentoring to women in sports, there will ALWAYS be the inherent nature of male-female relationships and how they are perceived by others. Unfortunately it is not the actual presence of something other than a strictly professional relationship, but rather the mere appearance of it that can make life difficult for women seeking mentoring from male counterparts. Again, I believe Harden's story points this out in vivid, real-world detail.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/04/16/harder.editorial/index.html
For those of you who may not have followed the story, Jessica Dorrell is the young woman that was riding with Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino when he wrecked his motorcycle a couple of weeks ago. Petrino initially lied and told the Arkansas Athletic Director that he was alone during the accident. Eventually however, Petrino was terminated by the school after he was forced to admit that he was with Dorrell and that the two had been in engaged in an "improper relationship" (Petrino is married and Dorrell is engaged to another athletic department employee).
Being an adulterous dirtbag is nothing new for men in positions of power like Mr. Petrino. The real reason that Petrino was ultimately fired by the University of Arkansas was because A) he initially lied to his boss and has shown a pattern of lying to his superiors at previous jobs, B) he apparently hired his mistress to a prominent position within the football program, and C) reportedly gave Dorrell $20K in cash.
Most of you are probably familiar with the incident. What many people (including me until I read Harder's Op-Ed column) are not aware of is how Dorrell's actions make it even harder for women to succeed in the male-dominated world of sports. From the article:
"I've worked in college football in recruiting and social media for three years. Since I earned my Master's from the University of Washington's Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership program, I have navigated a world where very few women land jobs other than administrative assistants. Thanks to Dorrell's hiring, and the subsequent outing of an inappropriate relationship with Petrino, she has now unintentionally set all women who work in college football back. As if getting a job in college football wasn't hard enough."
Here is the part that is particularly relevant to our discussion of mentoring. Harden describes how in the wake of the Arkansas scandal, a mentoring relationship she had with a coach from another program was derailed:
"Earlier this month, I was supposed to have dinner with a coach from another football program. We had met in an airport coming back from the American Football Coaches Association Convention, and he loved my work at WKU, so we stayed in touch. We were finally going to get together to talk. Then the Petrino story broke. I had expressed my frustration to him about the situation, and what it meant to my future the night before, over text messages. The next day he called to cancel our dinner. I couldn't believe it. Why? The coach said that he respected the hell out of me professionally, but due to the Petrino/Dorrell thing, he didn't want our outing to be misconstrued."
I strongly encourage each of you to read the column in its entirety. I think Harden does an outstanding job of underscoring why it is so critical for women to find other women that can provide mentorship. While I believe that there are a large number of men that are more than willing to provide effective mentoring to women in sports, there will ALWAYS be the inherent nature of male-female relationships and how they are perceived by others. Unfortunately it is not the actual presence of something other than a strictly professional relationship, but rather the mere appearance of it that can make life difficult for women seeking mentoring from male counterparts. Again, I believe Harden's story points this out in vivid, real-world detail.