Toward an Understanding of Best Practices in Student-Athlete Peer Mentorship Programs: Implications for Division I Higher Education and Intercollegiate Athletics Practitioners

Abstract

As Division I athletics now garner enhanced media attention in American media outlets, athletic departments often serve as the front porch to the institution (; ). Furthermore, student-athletes at this level often serve as the face of the institution and must balance roles as both college students and athletes (; ; ; ). Due to this intricate balancing act that many contemporary student-athletes experience, Division I athletics departments now seek to develop and sustain formal student-athlete peer mentorship programs internal to athletics; the primary goal of these programmatic endeavors being to assist student-athletes to become leaders not only in athletics and academic settings, but prepare them to be societal leaders in life after sport (). In turn, it is of heightened interest for higher education and intercollegiate athletics practitioners to understand how to best foster leadership skills transferrable to life after sport. Framed from a constructivist epistemology, this phenomenological study considers the voices of 29 Division I student-athletes who completed a formal peer mentorship and leadership development program at a large Research I institution. Findings and recommendations are presented to enable higher education and intercollegiate athletics practitioners to improve student-athlete peer mentorship and leadership development programming.