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Annual Snell-Shillingford Symposium Empowers Female Athletes
The Centennial Conference held its 13th Annual Snell-Shillingford Symposium this past weekend at Haverford College. The symposium is a weekend event held for female undergraduates looking to explore a career in coaching and learn about important issues pertaining to females in sport.
Eleanor Frost Snell 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.
Shillingford, former Director of Athletics at Bryn Mawr, created the event in 1999 after reports came out that the number of women in coaching had begun to steadily decline since 1984. The symposium serves not only to provide the students attending with the tools they need to enter the coaching world but also to empower them by providing inspirational role models to mentor and guide them throughout the process.
The topics discussed included title IX, the many hats of coaching, interviewing for coaching jobs, leading with personality and creating your coaching philosophy. Students were paired with current centennial conference coaches who served as mentors and guides throughout the weekend.
Dickinson College sophomore student-athletes Julia Applegate (Field Hockey) and Parisa Kaliush (Women's Soccer) attended the symposium with coaches Caitlin Williams (Head Field Hockey Coach) and Carly Fry (Assistant Field Hockey Coach). Athletes were selected to attend after expressing an interest in coaching and writing a detailed letter explaining their reasoning and future goals.
"It really was an amazing experience. I know that for me, this conference raised my awareness as to how important it really is to support our fellow female athletes of all sports. I have never before felt so empowered to be able to play a sport, and I am determined to continue the fight for gender equality on the playing field!" - Parisa Kaliush
"The Snell Symposium showed me the importance of having women in athletics. Without female coaches and athletic role models, young girls wouldn't be as confident or encouraged to compete. I have been fortunate to have great female coaches to look up to. Hopefully, using the information that I was taught at the symposium, I can also become a great coach and role model one day." - Julia Applegate
