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The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association hosted a Women's Leadership Symposium Friday, May 24 to provide discussion, networking, and educational opportunities for female coaches, administrators, and student-athletes of the membership. Over 50 women gathered at the Michigan High School Athletic Association headquarters in East Lansing, Mich.

The symposium was planned and offered by a collaboration of MIAA Commissioner Penny Allen-Cook, Alma College Associate Athletic Director Sarah Dehring, and Adrian College Senior Woman Administrator Meg Sharp. Central Michigan Graduate Intern Anna Kenny also assisted with the event.

Presenters included Anna Baeth, a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota's Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport; Cheyenne Luzynski, an assistant professor at West Virginia University and former Alma College administrator and coach; and Jillian Kochanek, a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sport. 

Topics discussed by the presenters included organizational leadership; addressing bias with emotional intelligence; developing a culture-centered team; and the current state of women in coaching.

"As coaches and administrators, we spend so much time and energy into developing others that we can lose sight of setting aside that time for ourselves," said Meghan Gorsuch, women's soccer coach at Alma College. "The MIAA Symposium provided an eye-opening day dedicated to furthering our understanding of where we came from and where we are going in our career paths, as a conference and as individuals. The group walked away with additional tools and a broader perspective to assist in executing our roles more effectively and efficiently, proving our conference is committed to producing a high quality product all around. It is inspiring to see the participation of the women from the top down and there is certainly much to be said about the personality and playfulness with this group. The easy going environment we created together always makes absorbing the information more natural and effortless to retain."

Participants were able to engage in not only discussions with the presenters, but activities to better understand topics and others' perspectives. Luzynski led a group in demonstrating how limitations can be solved with group effort and communication.

"I really enjoyed the presentation from former Alma head volleyball coach Cheyenne Luzynkski and how she uses reflective conversations and activities for growth," said Albion College volleyball coach Kristin de St. Aubin. "I loved being in the same room with so many women who are passionate about athletics and student athletes. It felt supportive and collaborative and that is a very unique opportunity.

"It was great to hear about the changes in female sport participation and some of the unique reasons why we need to continue to give women opportunities in careers in athletics," de St. Aubin added. "I had a few light bulb moments, and I thought back to when I was a first-year college assistant coach in a department with only a few other women. I did not know this kind of support existed back then, and having young female student-athletes see these types of opportunities are available to them is great for women in athletics."

Overall, the opportunity for MIAA-membership females - despite competing on the courts, fields, pools, tracks, and courses of the conference - provided a place of unity for the participants.

"We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend national level programming at the conference level," said Jamie Wozniak, volleyball coach and Senior Woman Administrator at Trine University. "It is empowering to see our conference invest in our female leadership on our campuses. We tend to face different issues as females in athletics, and to meet other coaches in our conference, building our support system is invaluable, not only for ourselves, but also for the female athletes we lead."

--MIAA--