The purpose of this paper is to present a case study which critically evaluates a mentoring conversation during a third-level student national sports competition in Ireland. In this case study, the sports coach mentor and mentee discuss considerations regarding the team selection of two athletes, both of whom are in contention for a starting position within the ‘All-Ireland’ national collegiate final in *Gaelic Games (These are indigenous Irish games including Hurling, Camogie and Gaelic Football. Hurling is played by males, and Camogie by females). The mentor is a 35-year old, male, with significant sporting experience at an elite-level in an Irish ‘Gaelic Games’ context for the sport of ‘Hurling’. The mentee is a 21-year old, male, with some sporting experience in an Irish ‘Gaelic Games’ context for the sports of ‘Hurling’ and ‘Gaelic Football’. The context of this conversation relates to a two-player athlete selection discussion, between the sports coach mentor and mentee. Following the semi-final victory, the focus of the conversation was to decide upon the starting selection of athlete A or athlete B for the national Camogie collegiate final due to happen on the following day. The authors drawn on models of sport-based ethical decision-making skills for sport managers, which are specific to the intercollegiate environment (Pfleegor and Seifried, 2011). The key components of the theoretical perspective utilise the ‘The Rational Approach Model’ (Bridges and Roquemore, 2004), by acknowledging three decision making strategies which include 1) group decision making, 2) intuition and 3) rationalisation. As part of the process for compiling the data sources and evidence, a structured four step design thinking approach (Goligorsky, 2012) was used within this study as both a data collection and analysis tool. The findings reported within study are specific to those interested in mediation, decision-making, intuition and rationalisation within coach education management. In the reworked conversation, the mentor employed an evidence-based approach to decision making within intercollegiate sports management. The mentee’s decision-making awareness had developed significantly through his positive interactions with the mentor. Whilst the reworked conversation has clear statements of intent from the mentor and the mentee, it is critical that the follow-up conversation would be based upon the principles of the Rational Approach Model (Bridges and Roquemore, 2004).

Bridges, F. J. and Roquemore, L. L. (2004) Management for athletic/sport administration: Theory and practice. 4th ed. Decatur, GA: ESM Books. Pfleegor, A. G. and Seifried, C. S. (2011) ‘Where to Draw the Line? a Review of Ethical Decision-Making Models for Intercollegiate Sport Managers’, Journal of Contemporary Atheltics, 9(2), pp. 133–148.