Understanding Interscholastic Athletic Administrator Experiences and Challenges: The Importance of Mentoring and Collaboration

It was not known how 12 full-time public high school interscholastic athletic administrators in southeast New York explained and described how professional mentoring and collaboration influenced their leadership skills. Bandura's social cognitive theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. A purposeful sample was drawn from a population of 30 administrators in Southeast New York State. The study utilized a triangulated design including interviews, a sociogram, and a learning history questionnaire to explore the lived experiences of administrators in order to understand how mentoring and collaboration influenced their leadership skills. Five themes emerged in the analysis that demonstrated the collective experience behind how mentoring and collaboration influence leadership skills: uniqueness of the position; understanding community and culture; importance of mentoring; effects of collaboration; and experience and confidence. The major theoretical implication of this study is that interscholastic athletic administrators partially base their professional leadership development on past mentoring and collaborative experiences. Practical implications suggest the importance of school districts providing mentoring and collaborative opportunities for athletic administrator's both in and out of district. Additional research is warranted on the perceptions of athletic administrators outside New York, as well as in non-public schools to determine if the findings of this study can be generalized throughout athletic administration.