Snell-Shillingford Leadership Symposium

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. 

The Snell Snapshot 

Written by Anna Goorevich  

Day 1

My name is Anna Goorevich and I am a senior on the women’s soccer team at Franklin & Marshall College. As someone who intends on entering a career in sports after graduation, I am grateful to be able to participate in the Snell-Shillingford Symposium this year and learn valuable lessons from the extensive legacy of trailblazing women in athletics. With these “Snell Snapshots,” I hope to capture all of the empowering experiences at this year’s Snell!

To kick-off the symposium, Commissioner Portia Hoeg and symposium-namesake and coaching legend Jen Shillingford offered words of wisdom to prepare us for the weekend. Both emphasized the value of utilizing networks to help elevate more women into athletic careers, a key theme throughout the Symposium. Coach Shillingford’s first-hand experiences of the inequalities that women have historically faced in athletics were inspiring; knowing how far women in athletics have come over the past decades is important for continuing to push for gender equity.

Esther Wallace’s talk was undoubtedly one of today’s most empowering moments. Wallace, former collegiate and professional basketball player and Founder/Content Director of Playa Society, spoke about the importance of increasing the visibility, exposure, and representation of female athletes. Drawing from her own experience of being inspired by Tina Charles and Candace Parker of the WNBA, Wallace spoke about the pattern of representation; seeing women achieving extraordinary things in sports will lead to younger generations having a stronger belief in their own ability to reach any goal. Wallace challenged us to have the audacity to remain true to our vision despite potential challenges. In the breakout session following Wallace’s talk, my group spoke about ways we as female student-athletes can establish ourselves as visible role models within our local communities.

Dr. Anna Baeth’s presentation illustrated the realities faced by women in sports. Baeth, a sociologist, coach, and activist, described how women are severely underrepresented in coaching roles, athletic director positions, and in the media. Despite the data painting a troubling picture of persistent gender inequality, Baeth’s research highlighted the resilience of women in athletics. For instance, compared to men, female coaches were just as likely to attain career longevity. Baeth emphasized that leveraging support networks was a key to women’s resiliency in coaching roles. Although the data was shocking, my breakout group agreed that it was yet another reminder of the importance of spaces like the Snell-Shillingford Symposium that encourage women entering athletics careers.

Coach Bernier’s “Many Hats of Coaching” presentation was eye-opening; while one might think that a coach only needs a well-developed knowledge of the X’s and O’s of a particular sport, coaching is a highly dynamic and multi-faceted endeavor. Being a successful coach requires an ability to manage finances like a banker, market, and publicize the program like a salesman, be innovative and creative like an artist, and so much more. Bernier made it clear that coaching demands a variety of skill sets that can then be applied to any career field in life.

The SWA panel was a great opportunity to learn more about careers on the administrative side of athletics. Hearing the first-hand experiences of SWAs in the Centennial Conference was extremely inspiring. In particular, the panel emphasized the importance of fostering a mentorship relationship that can be a guiding force within a career in athletics. Additionally, the panel exposed a wide variety of responsibilities necessary for a functioning athletic department, underscoring the multitude of options available for careers in athletics that fit with many different skill sets.

Today’s sessions ended with takeaway preparation. This was a highlight as it offered an opportunity to translate our newfound knowledge into action. Collaborating with the symposium’s other Franklin and Marshall participants, we developed a plan to create a community service program at F&M that would establish F&M student-athletes as community role models. Finishing the day with Takeaways was energizing; it is empowering to envision how myself and the other female student-athletes across the Centennial Conference can enact changes to promote gender equity and positively contribute to the athletic landscape. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s sessions to build upon today’s inspiring conversations!

Day 2

I first thought that Day 1 of the Snell-Shillingford Symposium would be impossible to top. Day 2, however, rose to the challenge; with a day full of action-focused programming, the symposium built on themes of empowerment and self-belief from Day 1 by teaching us how to use our power and knowledge to invest in ourselves and in our communities.

Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams of the CIAA started off our second day with a presentation jam-packed with gems of wisdom that illustrated how to thrive in athletic administration. Sharing HERstory of a 30-year career across many facets of the college sports realm, McWilliams taught us the importance of discovering our personal mission, creating a strategic plan to achieve our goals, and exercising our voice to advocate for ourselves and others. McWilliams also illustrated how we can practice effective leadHERship, where our roles, responsibilities, and responses are intentionally aligned with our core mission. No matter what career path any of us decide to undertake, McWilliams emphasized that our journey is a puzzle; the pieces of this puzzle will come together so long as we work hard to remain prepared, make strategic decisions, feel empowered to use our voice to advocate for our needs and desires, and surround ourselves with supporters. Commissioner McWilliams’ presentation was definitely one of the highlights of the symposium; you couldn’t help but feel inspired to chase your goals after witnessing her passion for elevating women in sport. 

The morning continued with a presentation on the state of women’s sports by Dr. Ellen Staurowsky. Prominent sports researcher Dr. Staurowsky chronicled the many resilient achievements that fearless women and girls have made in athletics this year, despite added challenges from COVID-19. For instance, female athletes like Naomi Osaka and the players on the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA have emerged as advocates for racial justice, helping to contribute to positive societal and political changes as well as garnering greater publicity. Additionally, more women in predominantly male athletic spaces are slowly breaking glass ceilings and sidelines and challenging gender stereotypes, such as Miami Marlins General Manager Kim Ng. Women’s sports are also an area of innovation, with emerging professional leagues and teams highlighting how people are increasingly seeing the value in investing in women’s sports. The final message Dr. Staurowsky left us with is the importance of recognizing how connected athletics is to the wider society; sport is often a mirror that reflects greater societal patterns, like the growth of women in powerful political positions. No matter what career we undertake, understanding the cultural, political, and gendered context that surrounds sports is vital to having success in an often male-dominated realm. 

Dr. Amy Wilson, Managing Director of Inclusion at the NCAA, taught us the importance of honoring our past in order to continue to make strides towards equality in athletics. Explaining the history, application, and impact of Title IX, Dr. Wilson illustrated the rollercoaster-like story of women’s athletics. Myself and many of the participants I spoke to in breakout rooms had not previously deeply investigated the extraordinary impact that Title IX, a bill that wasn’t originally intended to impact athletics, has had on all of our lives. In addition to learning to honor the Title IX legacy, we also discovered how the policy functions within our institutions’ athletic departments, such as enforcing gender equality in a wide range of topics like facility access, equipment, and participation opportunities. Ultimately, knowledge is empowering; for any of us to continue on our career journey and make a difference in the athletic world, is it crucial that we honor the legacy of the pioneers that came before us.

A recurring theme today was learning how to transfer the symposium’s lessons into action within our institutions and communities. Our institutional “Takeaways” are a key step in ensuring that the Symposiums’ messages of empowerment and equity have an impact far beyond this weekend. To close the Symposium, each institution presented their strategic plan for an initiative that helped to promote community service, athletic department unity, women’s empowerment, mentorship, among many other topics. For instance, Dickinson plans to implement allyship and inclusion education sessions among female student-athletes. Johns Hopkins intends to create free sports clinics and information sessions for girls in the Baltimore area. All of the Centennial Conference institutions had concrete plans to make sure that we are able to use our newfound knowledge and our empowered voices to positively impact others. It was definitely inspiring to see so many other like-minded women determined to make a difference in their communities. 

Ultimately, the Snell-Shillingford Symposium was a transformative weekend. From learning from leading experts in women’s athletics and planning how to use these lessons to influence others at my own institution, the symposium taught me about the power in using knowledge to make a difference. Additionally, having the rare opportunity to connect with so many other female athletes and coaches across the Centennial Conference was extremely valuable in cultivating a vast network of women all with similar goals and interests. I left the symposium feeling prepared to chase my goal of working in athletics, empowered to use my voice to advocate for myself and others, and supported by a community of equally passionate and determined women. I am deeply grateful for the Centennial Conference, Commissioner Portia Hoeg, and Amber Thomas for providing myself and so many other student-athletes with this opportunity for us to develop and grow.

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 

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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