Considerations for facilitating the development of peer mentoring relationships between athletes

Abstract

There is growing evidence that being peer mentored by another athlete is beneficial to one’s athletic and personal development. Drawing primarily on the mentoring literature from organizational psychology, the purpose of this article is to forward strategies for practitioners (i.e., coaches, sport psychology consultants) interested in facilitating the development of peer athlete mentoring relationships. Strategies for facilitating peer mentoring relationships in an organic, informal manner are introduced, as well as approaches that can be employed to formalize mentoring partnerships between athletes. This article concludes with a brief discussion of some contemporary views on mentoring that may be relevant to practitioners.

Keywords:

• Coaching
• group dynamics
• mentorship
• sport psychology consulting