If you think just making it to class is difficult, try juggling extensive basketball practices, competitions, classes, excellent grades and a mentor.
Lady Tiger basketball player Lauren Jackson, a senior architecture major, does just that. During basketball season the players practice three to four hours a day, six days a week. Even under time constraints like those, Jackson has managed to maintain a 3.96 grade point average throughout her four years on the team.
She has also maintained a friendship with her mentor Laurie Laing.
“Each year that she was my mentor, it eventually grew into a friendship,” Jackson said. Because of the extra stress college athletes may face, the Lady Tigers started a mentor program four years ago in conjunction with the Women’s Leadership Council of the Alumni Association. The program pairs each Lady Tiger player with an older mentor who can offer advice during stressful times.
“The program is going great,” said Blair Savage-Lanston, Lady Tiger assistant coach. “There is a lot of diversity in the mentors, from judges, lawyers and homemakers. They do a good job of keeping our players upbeat.”
During her freshman year, when the program first started, Jackson was paired with Laing, and they have remained together throughout Jackson’s four years here.
Laing, a 1992 graduate of The U of M, is now a sales representative for Abbott Pharmaceuticals.
The program usually pairs players with a mentor who has a similar career or academic background to what the player is interested in pursuing.
“They look for some similarities, so that the mentor can give some guidance to tell them how they got to where they are,” Laing said.
Though Jackson and Laing do not have similar academic backgrounds, both have learned from each other in their four-year partnership.
“The idea behind it, what the coach was looking for, was someone for the girls to have other than the coaches to talk to for guidance and friendship,” Laing said.
Jackson said having a mentor is an opportunity to vent about athletic frustrations to someone with an outside perspective, though this isn’t the only thing they talk about.
“We talk about anything from boyfriends to basketball,” Jackson said.
Jackson, who is originally from Kansas City, Mo., appreciated having Laing around to share her expertise about The U of M and Memphis.
Though at first it began as just a few meetings a year, Jackson said the mentor partnership has turned genuine friendship.
The most frequent activities Laing and Jackson do together are attending church and talking on the phone.
“It’s really funny how the things that she was going through were some of the same things that I’m going through in work,” Laing said. “It’s good to talk about it, get it out, and figure out what you want to do, but also maybe to help her realize that whether it’s basketball, school or work, all of those demands are still going to be there later in life.”
Jackson said that besides having someone to talk to, the mentor program is good for helping out with little things.
“Maybe you’re going out of town and need a ride to the airport,” Jackson said. “Though some of the things may not seem important, these people (mentors) are more than willing to help.”
Laing said she appreciates the opportunity to keep in touch with The U of M and give something back, as well as the opportunity to meet some amazing girls.
“My friends always joke around that I need to realize that she’s my mentor,” Laing said. “She’s waking up at the crack of dawn, working out and then going to class, and she always has all these projects to do,” Laing said. “It’s really amazing.”
Jackson thinks having Laing as a mentor and as a friend has really helped her out a lot.
“They’re great people, and certainly the program is worthwhile,” Jackson said.
