What Does It Mean to Matter? Natural Mentors in the Sporting Life

• In Event: 2484 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 13. Mentorship

Abstract

Mentors for adolescents are widely believed to have a positive impact on young people, both in terms of reducing problem behavior and improving life chances. These findings, however, are complicated by factors such as type of mentor and characteristics of the mentoring relationship. In this paper, I use life-course and social learning theories as frameworks for investigating what it means to adolescents to matter to their school-based natural mentors. I conducted 42 retrospective qualitative interviews with college students who were high school athletes and identified teachers or coaches as mentors. I find that natural mentors represent a key social connection that made participants feel like they mattered. First, learning to matter is a process that involved making connections with non-kin, feeling important, and creating obligations. Second, the mentoring relationships amplified athletic identity with intensity, as an extension of family, and in leadership opportunities. Finally, mentoring was a mechanism for doing gender, contributing to the structure of traditional gender roles. Throughout these findings it was clear that natural mentors allowed participants to enjoy a degree of freedom and benefit from social privilege. While some findings would seem to apply across many types of mentors, some were quite specific to the sports setting. The implications of these findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research.

Author

• Margaret S. Kelley, University of Kansas