9 Planning and Managing a Mentoring Programme in Sport


The key learning from the pilot programme was that the mentors should have been in place from the outset. It would have helped greatly if, after meeting with programme managers to agree a suitable format and structure, all the individuals concerned attended the first workshop meeting.


It is vital that these events are not simply meetings where individuals are informed about what is about to happen but that they have an opportunity to clarify issues, challenge and input their ideas into the final programme. An interactive workshop format was found to be most valuable.


The coaches, mentors and programme managers involved in reviewing the pilot programme highlighted the following aspects that could have been improved in terms of how the programme was managed and structured:


Both the mentor and I need to arrange a meeting prior to the start of the season. This will enable a stronger impact from the process. Further meetings of all coaches and mentors would be beneficial.


Some form of online community where we can post and share ideas and guidelines to coach and mentor as to what is expected from both of them.


Perhaps better matching of coach/mentor.


In relation to the mentoring role, this should vary to match the coach’s stage of learning and development. In Mentoring in Sport, Berliner’s five stages of expertise are identified as:


Have confirmed mentors in place prior to the start of the programme so the process can begin immediately.


• Novice • Advanced Beginner • Competent • Proficient • Expert.


Greater detail about the characteristics and mentoring implications of each of these stages can be found in Section 9 of Mentoring in Sport 2


The opportunity for cross-sport mentoring. I feel this would be very beneficial as it would let us see what is happening in other sports.


The final point about cross-sport mentoring is an important one. At the time of the review, the programme had not evolved sufficiently to develop cross-sport links and mentoring opportunities. However, in other programmes, this may well be built in from the outset. Whereas beginner and less experienced coaches tend to favour mentors within their own sport, more experienced and expert coaches appreciate the benefits that cross-sport mentoring can bring. This issue of when cross-sport mentoring may be of greatest value links to two key points that need to be addressed:


• The mentoring role should evolve depending on the coach’s stage of development/expertise.


• Any mentoring relationship will evolve and evidence progressive developmental stages.


2 summarises four similar stages of learning and identifies the key mentoring role and skills appropriate at each stage.


Also, regardless of the coach’s stage of the development, most mentoring relationships will evidence a similar general evolution. Clutterbuck and Megginson (2006) provides a useful summary of these phases of a mentoring relationship:


• building the relationship • setting the direction • progressing • winding down • moving on.


sports coach UK has simplified these into three progressive phases of a mentoring relationship as:


• initiation • transition • ending.


. Table


© sports coach UK


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