Can't wait to see the exercise ideas, Phyto! Sounds great!
As to your mentoring comments: Agreed. I'd be happy to be a mentor too, and could organize partnerships as well; although it may make more sense for one person to do it, to avoid miscommunication, things slipping through the cracks, etc.
I suggest we have two threads: one for "Traceuses seeking mentors" and another for "Traceuses willing to be mentors." Ladies can post in both threads. I can make up a specific format to fill out in both, that helps us match people. We could make the formats complete enough to give us an idea of the person's strengths, weaknesses, and needs; but still would protect privacy so people feel comfortable posting there.
We can review the "Seeking" posts, and match them up with the "Willing" posts. I suggest we notify both parties via PM, "Your mentor is So-n-so (or 'Your mentoree is Such-n-such')."
I also propose that the mentor be responsible for making the initial contact with the mentoree, within 48 hours of getting the PM. Then the pairs can decide together what their preferred mode of communication would be, and how often they would get together, etc.
I envision the mentor being the initial "go to" person for questions. So if a mentoree has a question about training, diet, jams, techniques, anything at all; she can contact her mentor if that is preferable to posting a question on the forums. This means the mentor must be intimately familiar with the forums, in order to direct the mentoree to the appropriate place (if the answer can be found here); alternatively, of course, the mentor can and should share personal experience, advice from other sources, etc. Whatever is needed to best guide the mentoree.
Sometimes between mentor and mentoree there is initial awkwardness, as neither party knows, really, what the mentoree needs. So some initial topics to get the ball rolling might be:
Training: goal-setting, advice, program design, encouragement
Diet: advice, tracking, directing towards resources
Parkour History and Culture
Jam etiquette and "what to expect," travel arrangements, etc.
Shoes
General issues: being a woman in a male-dominated discipline (pros and cons), social aspects, training differences, etc.
Common ground with prior experience (martial arts, gymnastics, etc.)
It may be useful, at some point in the future, for "The Women of APK" to have a jam where mentors and mentorees can meet in person and have not only a women's jam, but also kind of some time to connect, reflect, and celebrate the mentoring experience. Something to think about for the future, maybe.
Lastly, I propose a limit on the mentoree:mentor ratio of 5:1. Does this sound good? Too high? Too low?
Thoughts/suggestions?
