Meaningful, lasting relationships, bolstered by shared understanding and experience
The demands and pressures on today’s student-athletes are many: go to class, go to practice, pass the test, win the game, be a good teammate, be a good role model, call your mom, learn your playbook, do your laundry, brush off the bad play, push your body to the limit, meet with the professor, get your lift in, write the paper, get the treatment, watch the film, figure out what you’re gonna do with your life when you graduate. And the list goes on…
But, it’s largely the same stuff now as it was then. And it’s in these moments where the wisdom that comes from experience and perspective proves itself invaluable.
How it works
The Brotherhood begins when a player arrives at JMU and gets paired with a mentor. Year One.
Those relationships deepen over the subsequent years as the player navigates college, football, and life. Conversations are had, meals are shared, families are introduced, connections to other alumni are made, discernment is discerned. All the while the iron is being mutually sharpened as both sides give and receive.
And though the formal commitment is fulfilled when the student-athlete graduates, it never really ends. The inter-generational friendships continue to grow, The mentee keeps stewarding the Brotherhood, gains his own wisdom in the world, and, in time, becomes the mentor.
Meaningful, lasting relationships, bolstered by shared understanding and experience
The demands and pressures on today’s student-athletes are many: go to class, go to practice, pass the test, win the game, be a good teammate, be a good role model, call your mom, learn your playbook, do your laundry, brush off the bad play, push your body to the limit, meet with the professor, get your lift in, write the paper, get the treatment, watch the film, figure out what you’re gonna do with your life when you graduate. And the list goes on…
But, it’s largely the same stuff now as it was then. And it’s in these moments where the wisdom that comes from experience and perspective proves itself invaluable.
Permissible
- Mentorship Program Guidance from JMU Compliance:
Alumni can provide occasional meals to a student-athlete at any location. A meal should not occur more than once a month (on average). - Alumni can help a student-athlete with guidance about career opportunities and/or other personal endeavors.
- Alumni can assist a student-athlete engage in networking and obtain legitimate employment.
- Alumni can employ a student-athlete as long as he is performing work and is compensated at a rate commensurate with his experience and at the going rate in that locality for similar services.
Impermissible
- Alumni are not permitted to make special arrangements for a student-athlete that aren’t available to other students (extra benefits).
- Alumni aren’t permitted to provide a loan or co-sign a note for a student-athlete.
- Alumni are not permitted to provide the use of an automobile, house, boat or similar types of items to a student-athlete.
- Alumni are not permitted to pay for travel or transportation for a student-athlete.
- Alumni are not permitted to pay for entertainment, groceries, rent, services or other day-to-day activities for a student-athlete.
Name Image & Likeness
- If a student-athlete and alumni engage in a name, image and likeness opportunity, it must be independent of the mentorship program.
- A student-athlete’s name, image or likeness opportunity cannot be pay-for-play or an inducement to remain at the JMU.
