Mentorship of Black student-athletes at a predominately White American university: critical race theory perspective on student-athlete development

Abstract

Mentoring programs are evolving as common practice in athletic departments across national collegiate athletic association member institutions in the USA as means to address sociocultural issues faced by their student-athletes and to enhance their holistic development. There is a dearth of research exploring mentoring in the contexts of intercollegiate student-athlete development with consideration of the role of race and racism. Drawing upon the framework and analytical lens of critical race theory, this qualitative case study investigates a student-athlete mentoring program at an American institution of higher education to illuminate how black student-athletes (N = 15) make sense of the role of race and racism in their lived experiences. Data analysis revealed two emergent themes identified as (1) navigating privilege and property interests and (2) advocacy. The findings suggest the case of student-athletes was challenged and encouraged by their mentors as well as through discussion with others in the mentoring program to critically consider the presence and impacts of Whiteness, to elevate their sociocultural consciousness of how race manifested in their experiences, develop their social capital and become greater self-advocates. Additionally, an interesting finding in this study was how social capital and educational resources were framed as entitled rights to black student-athletes. Implications from this research are expected to contribute to scholars' critical understandings of black student-athlete mentoring and improve practitioners' programmatic and curricula design of future student-athlete mentoring programs.

Keywords:

• Intercollegiate athletics
• Mentoring
• Student-athlete development
• Black athletes
• Critical race theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The term person of color is used to draw attention to the dynamic of racialization in the USA and inclusively characterizes groups and individuals racially identified as a non-White.

2. Freshmen characterize students in their first year of study at a US institution of higher education.

3. Sophomores characterize students in their second year of study at a US institution of higher education.

4. Juniors characterize students in their third year of study at a US institution of higher education.