Becoming a Mentor
“(Mentorship is) a relationship in which a person with useful experience, knowledge, skills, and/or wisdom offers advice, information, guidance, support, or opportunity to another for that individual’s professional development.”
Berk, R. A., Berg, J., Mortimer, R., Walton-Moss, B., & Yeo, T. P. (2005)
The Importance of Mentorship
Any book or lecture can tell you how to do a thing. But in any craft, whether painting or writing or leadership or performance sciences, there are certain forms of knowledge that cannot be put in to polices, rules, frameworks, or succession plans – practical forms of knowledge that only the people who have experienced it can teach.
When we talk about practical knowledge, we use metaphors. We say that someone has a touch or feel for the game, an intuition for how events will unfold, an awareness of when to push on through or put it aside. When experts use practical knowledge, they are not thinking more, they are thinking less. Experts have a built-up repertoire of skills built through experience that was likely passed on by a mentor who let them come alongside and participate in thousands of situations. A textbook can teach you the principle of sports science, but a mentor shows you how to think like a sport scientist in a personal, friendly, shared and conversational way.
The WiSS and LEAD programs emphasize mentorship and empower both mentees and mentors to learn and grow both personally and professionally. Mentorship is a foundation of developing the next generation of sport scientists.
Interested in Becoming a Mentor?
Sport Scientist Canada is recruiting mentors year round that can be contacted for both the WiSS and LEAD programs this year and for years to come.
Please note the Women in Sport Science (WiSS) program deadline to express your interest in being a mentor for the upcoming 2023 cohort pairing is Monday, December 12 at 5pm ET; however, mentor applications will remain open for future engagement as we continue to build a pool of mentors.
To learn more about the programs where you could be involved as a mentor please click on links below
Mentor Expressions of Interest
Expressions of interest are accepted year round.
CONNECT (Mentorship) Module
CONNECT is a module that focuses on the foundational principles of mentoring. It is available to Sport Scientist Canada members and provides knowledge and skills regarding three types of mentor support:
- Skills and knowledge support
- Career-related support
- Psychosocial and emotional support
The CONNECT module also plays a critical role in preparing sport scientists for participation in other programs such as: LEAD, WiSS, and Paralympic Practitioner Development initiatives.