By Maddy Gaydon '26 and Grace Walsh '27
 
Senior Maddy Gaydon (women's soccer) and junior Grace Walsh (field hockey) along with head softball coach Sally Snover attended the Centennial Conference's 27th annual Snell-Shillingford Symposium that was held on January 24th at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania and January 25th virtually due to a winter storm. The symposium was founded by Jen Shillingford, former athletic director of Bryn Mawr to motivate female student athletes to pursue careers in athletics. Shillingford along with Eleanor Frost Snell are two Centennial Conference coaching legends who demonstrated the pinnacle of leadership, integrity, and empowerment for women in sports. The conference is held every year to give female athletes the chance to network and learn about leadership in and out of sport. Here is their experience…

The weekend of January 24th-25th, we had the opportunity to attend the 27th Annual Snell-Shillingford Symposium at Haverford College on Saturday and virtually on Sunday due to the weather. This event is held for female athletes in the Centennial Conference with interests in leadership, collaboration, and staying connected to sports. The symposium provided us the opportunity to converse with fellow Centennial Conference athletes and mentors, allowing us to hear new perspectives and share ideas about how to improve the athletic experience for females across the country. The themes of the weekend were to elevate ourselves and each other, as well as to be where our feet are — to be present, engaged, and live in the moment.

On Saturday January 24th, we met at Haverford College with other women from around the conference. Every school was represented with current athletes, as well as mentors that helped to facilitate the discussions. Going around the room and introducing ourselves allowed us to personally get to know our peers and learn about some of their aspirations and goals. From there, we listened to the first speaker of the day, Megan Weisheipl. She is a mindset coach and shared her insight on changing your mindset to fit a more positive narrative and explained the most effective way to set goals as female leaders. What stuck with us the most from this presentation was Weisheipl discussing how failing is an essential part of each of our journeys toward success. She explained that fearing failing holds us back a lot of the time. Changing your mindset to be okay with trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone is something that she homed in on.

Next, we heard from the Senior Women Administrator (SWA) panel. The panel members included Dr. Val Gomez (Swarthmore), Sandy Lagana Bly (McDaniel), Kelly Mannix (Johns Hopkins), and Annette Hunt-Shepherd (Gettysburg). They discussed, from their perspective, what it was like to transition from a coaching position to a higher-up role as an athletic administrator. It was interesting to hear how their career paths have evolved, yet how they always managed to find a way to be involved in athletics. Their advice for female leaders was to be a sponge — ask questions and soak up as much information as possible. They also said that the best leaders start as being good followers. Lastly, they suggested to be where your feet are! Be present and make the most out of the opportunity.

After lunch, Dr. Amy Wilson (NCAA) gave an educational lesson on Title IX's history and how this applies to athletics. This law impacts our collegiate experience as females that most people do not realize or even think about. It states that access to higher education is not centered based on sex and individuals should not be subjected to discrimination. Originally, the law did not mention sports. When athletics were eventually included in the law, female participants increased 10 times throughout the country! We think it is important to be educated on Title IX and start conversations around its equity.

The last presentation of the day was given by Swarthmore's head volleyball coach, Harleigh Chwastyk. She went through and explained the various roles that coaches have. Coaches are leaders, organizers, advocates, motivators, communicators, relationship-builders, and so much more. Chwastyk explained how coaches are responsible for more than just teaching skills — they influence their athletes' identities, confidence, habits, and futures. She encouraged those going into coaching to consider what roles we felt were most important and to focus on setting standards for ourselves in each. We appreciated hearing her perspective on this and putting ourselves in our coaches' shoes.

The second day of the symposium took place on Zoom due to the weather but it was no less interesting or empowering. Our first speaker of the day was Sherryta Freeman, the Director of Athletics at Lafayette University. Freeman presented "Leadership through Gratitude" where she detailed her experiences leading to her current role and shared her own leadership style. Something that stood out was her gratitude loop in which she ensures she is showing appreciation to her team in public and private. She also explained how crucial it is to stay connected to your mentors and mentees because leaders should be constantly growing and facilitating the evolving future of women in sports. Freeman shared her favorite quote with us as well, "lift as you climb." This seemed to stick with many members of our cohort as a reminder to advocate for others and lift each other up especially as women.
 
After the amazing discussion with Freeman, we met with our mentors which we had been doing so in between speakers to debrief and share our thoughts. Our mentors were coaches and administrators from different schools around the conference. All of them had really amazing insights on how to break out into the field of coaching or any professional setting. They recommended books to read, mentors to email, and shared their personal stories of improving as leaders.
 
Our last speaker of the symposium was Anna Goorevich, a former Franklin & Marshall soccer player who now works with the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Goorevich shared with us data from the Tucker Center on coaches in female college sports. It was shocking to see how few female coaches there were in many Division I athletic programs. She shared with us the increase in percentage of female coaches for women's sports and while it's moving slowly, we are seeing improvements which is so important. Women need fellow female role models in athletics to empower them to continue sport. We also discussed menstruation and how it affects all female athletes differently. Learning about the research the Tucker Center does was extremely interesting and eye opening about the reality of women's opportunities in coaching.
 
A common theme we noticed in many of these presentations from women leaders in athletics were they all had a "Why," their reasoning for choosing a career in sport. It made us think about our whys and our goals for the future. More than ever, we felt capable of accomplishing our dreams because we heard from so many successful women who did just that. We would definitely say that we left the Snell-Shillingford Symposium feeling elevated. Our voices are ready to stand up for ourselves and others to improve the future of sport for women and girls.