The Legacy
About
The Snell-Shillingford Symposium was started in 1999 by then-Bryn Mawr College athletic director Jen Shillingford to encourage women undergraduates to enter the field of coaching. Female athlete representatives and coaches from member schools, including Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore, Ursinus, and Washington College, converge to participate in sessions designed to empower women in the coaching profession and to encourage them to take up the legacy of those who have gone before them.
History
The symposium honors the contributions and commitment of two of the most influential women in the coaching profession, Eleanor Frost Snell and Jen Shillingford. Miss Snell, as she was known to her students, served Ursinus College as a professor of health and physical education, coach, and head of the women’s physical education department for four decades, from 1931 to 1971. In keeping with the program’s emphasis on mentoring and passing on the education of coaches from one generation to the next, the symposium also bears the name of Snell’s student and mentee, Jen Shillingford, who served as a field hockey coach and athletic director for over 20 years at Bryn Mawr and president of the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA).
The Lineup
Learn from leaders, administrators, researchers, and top professionals about how to position yourself for any professional career or a career in athletics.
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Nancy Stevens 
Dr. Ellen Staurowsky
Nikki Binetti
Amy Wilson 
Betsy Butterick
Jackie Slaats
2021-22 Snell Snapshot
Written by Courtney Poetsch
Day 1
My name is Courtney Poetsch, and I am a freshman on the Washington College women’s swim team. I have been an assistant swim coach for my summer swim team for the past three years, as well as a swim instructor for the past four years. I love swimming and passing on my love for the sport to the children I coach. When my head coach told me about the Snell-Shillingford Symposium, I was immediately interested. I plan to continue coaching after I graduate, and I am always looking for opportunities to grow and improve not only as a coach but as a person. I hope to convey all of the valuable lessons and knowledge that I learn throughout this year’s symposium in these snapshots!
Our first talk was about the upcoming 50th anniversary of Title IX, which in the words of Dr. Christine Grant, a pioneer for the title, is “a law about fairness; that is all it is about. It is about treating our daughters as well as our sons.” Dr. Amy Wilson, who is the Managing Director for the NCAA Office of Inclusion, talked about the history, application, and impact of Title IX. Within her presentation, she highlighted the gender ratio of men to women in leadership positions in sports, and I was surprised by the statistics. One that really stood out to me was the fact that the percentage of women’s teams coached by females has dropped significantly since 1972; it has gone from over 90% to about 43% in 2014. Another statistic that I found interesting was that in 2020, the administration team for sports teams was 76.1% male and 23.9% female. As a woman in sports, I am aware that athletics is comprised of predominantly men, especially in the coaching field. However, seeing the numbers really made me stop and think about the implications and what message it sends to young women who may want to pursue coaching.
Ellen Staurowsky, who is a professor at Ithaca College as well as an author, athlete’s rights advocate, and philanthropist, gave a presentation on fearless women in sports. She opened the discussion by asking us who we feel are “fearless women” in sports, and hearing people’s responses was enjoyable. From Simone Biles to the 2021 JMU Softball team, everyone who spoke had wonderful insight and explanations for why they felt those women were inspiring. Staurowsky continually emphasized the “fundamentals” of fearless leadership, which are courage, tenacity, and integrity. Every fearless athlete named hit all three fundamentals, and it was truly inspiring when we realized that they are not only fearless when competing in their sports, but they are also fearless outside of them. Megan Rapinoe was another “fearless woman” mentioned, and we talked about how although she is a phenomenal athlete and teammate, her work to raise awareness and bring attention to the gender inequality within sports is even more impressive and inspiring. This talk ended with Staurowsky emphasizing that we as female athletes need to keep speaking up about the unfairness present within our sports.
During the Officials Panel, Nicole Reiley, Fran Trumbo, and Liz Brush, who are all accomplished officials in their respective sports, discussed how there is a widespread desire for more women officials. They talked about their personal experiences and how it is super important for younger women to get involved. While they acknowledged that sometimes women officials are not viewed the same as their male counterparts, they did not let that discourage them from pursuing their careers. They went into detail about everything they have learned as officials, and their words truly stuck with me. Brush explained that as an official, you “learn to handle challenging and difficult situations with poise and grace,” which is an important life lesson.
The next talk was about the “Many Hats of Coaching,” given by Arcadia’s head volleyball coach, Nikki Binetti. She went into great detail about the various jobs coaches do, some of which are more behind-the-scenes. I found this presentation to be extremely interesting, especially because I want to be more involved in coaching in the future. What I really liked about Binetti’s presentation is the fact that she emphasized that it’s okay to make mistakes and to develop new “hats” along the way; everyone has their own skillset and will shine in different areas, and you shouldn’t try to change that.
Our final presentation for the day was about Leadership Communication, which was presented by Betsy Butterick from Butterick Communication. This presentation was truly eye-opening, and I really enjoyed it. She talked about how we can change the way we communicate with each other, as well as ourselves, to ultimately become a better person. Two points that I found really interesting were using BUT vs. AND and rephrasing what you say to be more positive. When you want to give someone feedback, using “but” comes off as dismissive and negates the positive thing you said before saying “but.” However, when you say “and,” you come off as supportive and inclusive; you’re telling someone what they did well as well as something they need to improve on. In terms of rephrasing to be more positive, taking away the “don’t” at the start of a sentence has a huge impact because you are telling the person what you want, which will stick with them.
We ended this first session by discussing our “takeaway” with the other female athletes from our college. The takeaway gives us the opportunity to take what we have learned from the symposium and apply it to our schools. Washington College has decided to focus on female leadership to enable female athletes to connect with the female coaches at our school. The takeaway preparation was a great way to end the day, for it allowed us all to talk about what stood out to us and how we can go about bringing change to our school communities. I cannot wait to see what Day 2 has in store for us!
Day 2
Day 2 of the symposium continued the wonderful conversations that took place on Day 1, which was exciting to be a part of. Everyone brought in what they learned yesterday and added in what they learned today to create insightful and deep discussions about the presentations.
Dr. China Jude, the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Denver Broncos, kicked off our morning by talking about the different people you will meet on your way to greatness. In order to get her points across, she utilized characters present in the movie, Kill Bill, which was really interesting. I liked how almost every character stood for someone you will ultimately meet at some point in your life. From people who are jealous of you and your accomplishments to people who will try to deflate you, Dr. Jude emphasized that in the end, it’s important to stay true to yourself and to trust your gut. She ended her presentation by showing us the Four Agreements: be impeccable with your words, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best.
Our next presentation was given by Jackie Slaats, who is the Vice President for Career Advancement and Athletics at Lake Forest College. She talked about how to “win” your interview and explained the steps with terminology we as athletes understand all too well: pre-season (getting ready for the interview), pre-game (gotten the interview), game time (winning the interview), and post-game (the follow-up). She went into great depth for all of these steps,
emphasizing the most important parts to keep in mind. I really enjoyed this presentation and I learned a lot about the interview process and what to do and what not to do. Some of her advice that stuck with me is that you should always prepare, be confident, and be yourself.
The final presentation of the symposium was about inverting the leadership pyramid by shifting the focus from the coaches to the athletes. This talk was hosted by Nancy Stevens, the former head coach for UCONN field hockey (however, she is still a volunteer assistant coach there), and something that stood out to me was that she said we need to change the pyramid structure to become a circle structure. Her reasoning for this is that she thinks doing so would allow everyone to have an equal opportunity to step forward, which empowers the athletes.
Our final task for this symposium was to share the takeaways we created the day before, which is something I really enjoyed listening to. Hearing what people plan on doing to make their school community a better place was extremely inspiring, and I cannot wait to see what impact it has on them. From Bryn Mawr’s plan to recognize athletes as individuals and as a whole community by having everyone come up with words that describe themselves as well as their teams, to Muhlenberg’s mission to promote athletes to attend other sporting events with a friendly competition among the teams, I have high hopes for the success of everyone’s takeaway.
Overall, the Snell-Shillingford Symposium was a wonderful experience, and I feel so grateful to have been a part of it. I learned so much over the course of this weekend, and I cannot wait to take all of these lessons with me as I figure out what path I want to follow in terms of coaching and athletics. I want to thank the Centennial Conference, Amber Thomas, and Portia Hoeg for this amazing opportunity for female athletes and for continuously supporting us as we navigate the challenges of life.
The Agenda
For updates on speakers, schedules, and other resources on the Snell-Shillingford Symposium, visit www.centennial.org or follow @CentConf and use the hashtag #SnellSymposium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Experience
2020-21 RECAP
"'I HAVE A DREAM' I hope that some day every Division III Conference will offer a similar symposium. We know that the Centennial Conference has had over 50% of their symposium participants enter the field of women's athletics. Therefore if we play the "numbers game", the possibility exists for the development of over 200 new women coaches in Division III. This would go a long way toward closing the gender gap." -Jen Shillingford