The Women Sport Australia Mentoring Program is a one-of-a-kind program delivered to passionate women all around Australia! Krystal Kirkman, a recent mentee of the program proudly shared this update with us about where she’s at in her career after completing the mentorship program.

The mentoring program matches mentees with a mentor that’s perfect for their skill set, career goals, aspirations and more. Women Sport Australia was thrilled to hear this update from Krystal about her recent experience working on the Oceania Rugby competition.

My mentor is Erin Hatton. To say I’ve hit the jackpot with Erin is a huge understatement. Not only is she passionate about sports & development, she is also extremely passionate about progressing women in rugby in the Oceania region.

I arranged to meet Erin face to face at the end of May while I was in Brisbane. We hit it off, she was easy to talk to and is also extremely knowledgeable in everything I’m interested in! From applying for roles in departments she has worked into the work she does in the region with rugby and using rugby as a development tool. I can’t believe how lucky I am scoring such a legend of a human for a mentor!

The cherry on the top is the phone call I got after I met with Erin that day. It was from Wayne, the tournament manager for Oceania Rugby. Oceania Rugby were hosting a pre-Olympic Rugby 7s tournament for Fiji, Australia and New Zealand men’s and women’s Rugby 7s teams and needed someone in Townsville to work on delivering the tournament. I ended up being engaged as a contractor to Oceania Rugby in the position of Rugby Operations Manager and delivered my first international tournament on the 25-27 June – I have been on a high ever since! Erin and I worked alongside each other during that weekend and I can genuinely say that she’s now a friend of mine.

I was hesitant to do the WSA mentoring program but knew I needed to do something different after learning my 13 odd years of volunteer experience in sport is near obsolete when you want a job in sport!! I bit the bullet and with WSA’s help, was partnered with the best possible mentor.  So thank you for this amazing program. I hope future cohorts get as much out of the mentoring program as I did.

I’ve included a pic of Erin and I, it’s post-tournament and we were both buggered but the smiles are as genuine as they come!

Thanks to Shona Joy, any women working in sport or aspiring to work in sport can participate in the Mentoring Program for just $250, with the next session to take place on September 22. Registration information and upcoming intakes can be found on the Women Sport Australia website: https://www.womensportaustralia.com.au/mentoring/