Building a Mentoring System

Today in the Keith asked if any of us had a mentor. All of us sat dumbfounded and didn't say a word. I was thinking to myself, who would even be a mentor?
As the lecture progressed, I built a basic description:

• Some who is available to provide advice e.g A coach with 30+ experience providing a new coach with ideas on developing a training plan
• A person that is easily assessable whether that be through communication devices or in person
• Somebody with more experience then the Mentoree 

During the lecture Keith provided us with us some resources where we could further to explore this idea. On the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) website I found this document "Building a Mentoring System for Coaches and Officials" developed to help coaches and athletes implement mentoring programs. I liked the idea of this resource because 1. Before today's lecture the term 'Mentor' had little meaning to me and 2. After establishing a definition, I still had no idea how I would be able to implement such a program.

The article states:

"Most successful programs have evolved through experience. Initially, many have little structure and even less documentation and reporting. Some, however, grow to become a national program, co-ordinated by a central contract person, with training programs and learning materials for mentors and the coaches/officials they mentor."

I think this is a perfect first statement. As many people assessing this resource will most likely be new to the notion of such a program it provides encouragement within the first paragraph that the program WILL take time, failures and most importantly experience. Not only has the audience been exposed to encouragement in the first paragraph, there is already a sense of achievement in recognising the potential for the program to reach national level.

Resources like these are essential for the sporting community to develop and in particular coaches of every level. I find it encouraging that ASC resources like these easily assessable to all coaches (even the general population) and believe that in providing these opportunities for future development, Australia's sporting community will only continue to improve.