More Than a Poster With Lindsay Mann

Editor’s note: Every once in a while at SRM, we stumble upon a real gem, or as a mentor of mine used to say a “nugget” of content, that illuminates an issue in just the right way. A few weeks ago we got an email from Keely Kelleher. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kelleher’s contributions to the ski racing world – past, present and future – just do a quick google search and you will find an amazing athlete, businesswoman and forward thinker. In other words, when she has something to say, you tend to want to listen. In this email, we were introduced to another amazing young woman from Jackson, Wyoming named BB Hall. For her senior project at the Jackson Hole Community School (yes, high school) she explored the idea of empowerment though a series of interviews with female role models. The project is called “More than a Poster: Female Role Models in Sports.”

In Hall’s words, “Empowerment leads to motivation, happiness, and a feeling of control over the world. These three results of empowerment are components of a life filled with success, encouragement, and contentment. A great deal of empowerment comes from sports because of the hard work and rewards that come with physical accomplishments. Many people subsequently idolize those who are very successful and powerful within their sports. This idolization acts as a very powerful force in childhood and thus affects a variety of people including both males and females in a variety of athletics. Specifically, a great deal of research has been revealed in the past decade investigating the impact of female role models in sports. Hundreds of organizations have been recently established with the target of empowering young girls through female mentor relationships in their specific sports. This project investigates the specific impacts of female role models and why they act as a critical factor in confidence development within athletics and life for many women and girls today.”

After listening to her interviews, we decided it would be fun to run a few of them here on skiracing.com.

In the first episode of her podcast, Hall sat down with athlete, ski coach, and mountain guide Lindsay Mann. During the episode she discusses the value of female mentors throughout Mann’s different experiences in both the mountains and her life in the valley.