Own Development Youth Sports And Mentoring Data example essay topic

Mentoring and Discipline The Role They Play In Youth Sports Gen 101 Skills for Lifelong Learning I Sue Reynolds September 15, 2003 Abstract Educational or academic mentoring helps mentored youth improve their overall academic achievement. Career mentoring helps mentored youth develop the necessary skills to enter or continue on a career path. Personal development mentoring supports mentored youth during times of personal or social stress and provides guidance for decision making. Educational, Career, and Personal Development Mentoring initiatives can all be successfully delivered through the efforts and guidance of managers and / or coaches of youth sports programs; therefore mentoring in your sports provides a positive direction for today's youth. Youth Sports establish discipline. Discipline leads to success.

Mentoring and Discipline The concept of mentoring goes back to ancient Athens. The term "mentoring" comes from Homer's The Odyssey, in which the character Mentor was a tutor to Telemachus. She guided Telemachus during his travels in search of his father. (Edmunds, Gladys USA Today Entrepreneurial Tightrope. May 9, 2001) A mentor is invaluable in the entrepreneur's life. A mentor delivers guidance and is selected for his or her experience and wisdom.

May 9, 2001) I believe that we are a product of our environment. Therefore it is wise to surround ourselves with successful people. Successful business people build a support system around them. A mentor becomes a critical part of that support system. May 9, 2001) We must establish where we are going and what our needs are when selecting a mentor. By asking someone to be a mentor, we have extended them a compliment.

We have told that person that we value his or her advice. We recognize the impact that mentoring has at the entrepreneur level. What impact does it have at the youth level? It is my belief that every child should have a mentor - someone to offer them encouragement and support. The best opportunity to serve as a child mentor is through youth sports.

Mentoring in Sports provides a positive direction for today's youth. A person who leads this discipline, typically a Manager and or a Coach is considered a mentor. Combined, mentoring and discipline can be considered the base foundation for a successful career path. I am an advocate of this because I never had a true mentor in my life until 8 years ago, a gentleman whom I also consider an "Adult Learner", and spoke about in my! SS Adult Learner!" paper. My belief is that if I had a mentor during my youth years, I would have taken a different path in life.

While we cannot dwell on the! SS What Ifs!" , having entrusted myself to a mentor may have made the path a little less rocky. What is a Mentor A mentor is a trusted person or persons who look to a person's best interest for knowledge development in a designated area. What Is Mentoring If you are a mentor, mentoring is not just a 'good deed'. Mentoring is a learning opportunity for you to gain insight into others' perspectives, enhance leadership skills, and increase your knowledge. The role of the mentor can vary depending on the stage of the relationship with the mentee.

At any moment, a mentor might be a coach, an advisor, a network facilitator, or a role model. An effective mentor: "Q is a good listener "Q is actively interested in the mentee and his or her development "Q trusts others and can be trusted "Q is encouraging and shows support in the mentee "Q is able to respect the integrity of the relationship between the mentee and their manager An effective mentor will: "Q Listen with Empathy: Listening with empathy means that a mentor is not simply listening for content and trying to "solve the problem". An empathic listener tries to understand the speaker's point-of-view and often responds in such a way that conveys this understanding. The outward expression of empathic listening can be as simple as an understanding nod of the head or a quick phrase like, "I see" or "That's a tough situation."Q Share Learning Experiences: Mentors who share their learning experiences often benefit their mentees as well as the relationship by: providing real-life examples of how difficulties were met and overcome, increasing the level of mutual trust, and facilitating the bi-directional flow of communication. "Q Be Mindful of Cultural Differences: Mentoring someone of a different culture or background can often present a challenge. Good mentors tend to recognize, embrace, and bridge cultural differences.

"Q Stay in Touch: While the frequency of contact is largely up to the mentee, it is important for the mentor to keep his or her mentee on the "radar screen". An effective mentor will avoid: "Q Sharing too many war stories: A huge part of the mentor role is the ability to listen to experiences of the mentee. While sharing personal experience can help the mentee relate, it is important to ensure the stories do not distract focus on the progress of the mentee. "Q Becoming prescriptive: Mentors should avoid the temptation to resolve issues that the mentee may be dealing with. Mentors help the mentee take responsibility for their own development. An overriding question that mentors should constantly ask themselves is, "What can I be doing right now to help the mentee think this through?"Q Becoming the therapist: Although the mentor's role is to support the mentee, the mentor cannot and should not be responsible for solving particular behaviors or issues.

As a mentor, you need to know and communicate when you feel the mentee's needs go beyond what you can provide. "Q Disciplining: A good mentor does not discipline the mentee. Instead, mentors should act as a sounding board and help mentees realize why certain behaviors are unacceptable. What Is a Mentee If you are a mentee, mentoring can be a chance to enhance your knowledge and experience outside your immediate area. Mentoring can offer personal career advice and support, expand your professional network, orient and transition new hires and build skills. A good mentee: "Q knows what he or she wants to achieve from the relationship.

"Q clarifies expectations for the mentor and understands the mentor's expectations. "Q sets realistic aims for what can be achieved "Q takes responsibility for his / her own development Youth Sports and Mentoring Data clearly shows many youths have a desperate need for positive role models. The most compelling data describes changes to the American family structure: the number of single-parent homes has radically increased, as have two-parent working families. More preventive care is needed, as are support networks to fill the void left by busy or absent parents. Other statistics are equally troubling: each day in the United States, 3,600 students drop out of high school, and 2,700 unwed teenage girls get pregnant (Petersmeyer 1989). Research studies have confirmed that youth programs!

SS keep children off the streets, !" offer encouragement, promote education, and establish positive goals. In fact, local communities consider youth sports programs when instituting their crime prevention plan. Sports can play a major role in a child's development and introduce them to a diverse group of individuals of different ethnic backgrounds. Several youth sports programs offer academic scholarship programs. In order for these foundations to successfully deliver their mission, they require wise and faithful counselors. These counselors are Mentors.

These Mentors are Managers and Coaches of Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Soccer to name a few. Many professional athletes can identify a special person, a mentor, who provided what they needed to develop as a person and an athlete. A manager or coach mentors a child through positive encouragement. They look at ways to get the players to believe positive and empowering things about themselves, their team as a unit, and their capabilities.

(O! |Keefe, Ed. Coaches Corner. 5 Keys to Building a Winning Baseball Team.) Through this initiative, the manager and / or coach (mentor) has established a discipline for a child to follow.

Essentially preparing that child for what lies ahead. Committing to a sport is a discipline within itself. A child may experience difficulties managing through both the team they have committed to and their schoolwork. Since the sports program offers enjoyment and rewards, most often a child will seek to find balance to juggle between the two - a discipline they will benefit from throughout their life. I am actively involved in my community and have shared many a conversation with a number of professors at the local college. They have confirmed, through interaction with highly skilled recruiters, that most of the Fortune 500 businesses around the country tend to request "Student Athletes" when seeking new employees.

They have recognized that students who maintain good grades and participate in sports programs are usually disciplined individuals and therefore will work well as business professionals In conclusion, I firmly believe that effective mentoring and discipline can be achieved through youth sports programs. My long-term goal is to build a "Youth Mentoring Program" in my local Community. I have written a business plan on this ambition and introduced my concept to the local economic development group. I thoroughly enjoy sports and have served as a mentor across several different programs. I also sit on the board of a local little league organization. Since I enrolled in UOP, I had to focus my efforts on attaining my college degree and hence put my coaching and directing initiatives on hold.

Bibliography

O! |Keefe, Ed. 5 Keys to Building A Winning Baseball Team Retrieved September 18, 2003, from web Edmunds, Gladys USA Today Entrepreneurial Tightrope.
May 9, 2001.
Retrieved September 18, 2003 from web Bordenkircher, Thomas G.
A Directory of Youth Mentoring Programs and Materials. Pittsburgh, PA: The Plus Project on Mentoring, 1991.
Cave, G., and J. Quint. Career Beginnings Impact Evaluation: Findings from a Program for Disadvantaged High School Students. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, 1990.
Petersmeyer, C.G. "Assessing the Need" in M. Newman, Beginning a Mentoring Program. Pittsburgh, PA: One Plus One, 1989, p.