University of Connecticut Athletics
Manno Earns Spot in Mentorship Program
4/21/2020 12:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
It was finals week, one of the most stressful times of the year for a college student. But Jacqueline Manno of the UConn women's lacrosse team was about to get some good news to brighten her day. She had been accepted into the Women's Sport Foundation and NBC Sports Group Female Student-Athlete Mentorship Program.
"I was so excited about it," Manno said. "I was definitely really jazzed to see that I was accepted. It was nice because immediately, my coach was so happy for me, my friends and family were so supportive. So it was definitely nice to have kind of a silver lining especially at a time when I was grinding for finals."
Manno was one of nine female student-athletes to be selected for this super competitive program. She found out about it through her role as a representative on the UConn Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Her former teammate Kiera Dalmass told her about the program and encouraged her to apply.
As a participant in the mentorship program, Manno was assigned a mentor from NBC Sports. Her mentor is Lyndsay Signor, the Vice President of Consumer Engagement for NBC Sports Group, and Manno said she has been an excellent resource.
"Right off the bat I think, Lyndsay was just a great match for me," Manno said. "We both have kind of the same energy and we're very similar personality-wise. But she's just been great. She's so comfortable to talk with … She makes herself very accessible to me which is so nice."
Manno said she connects with Signor a couple of times a month to catch up and talk about how things are going in both of their lives.
Manno attended a kick-off event in January at the NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, where she got to meet Signor and the other participants and mentors. Since then, there have been different events and activities every month, which have now had to become remote due to the coronavirus situation. These include presentations and webinars about things like transitioning from being an athlete in college to the business world, the experience of being a woman in the workforce and building a personal brand.
"For me, I think the program has been really, really great," Manno said. "I feel really blessed to be able to have been given this opportunity to participate in it. I would definitely recommend it to whoever is deciding to apply next because I think it's really helpful … I think the people that I've met through it have been so beneficial."
She said having a contact like Signor, who has already helped her in applying for internships, will really help her transition into the sports business world after graduation.
"Obviously, I'm very passionate about sports being an athlete, so that's an industry that I'd eventually like to end up in," Manno said. "So being able to hear their stories and their paths and how they got to where they are today has been really helpful. And I think even just having them as contacts … has been really helpful to have those people kind of guide me and shape those skills that I know will eventually help me in my career."
Head coach Katie Woods said she knew that Manno would be an ideal candidate due to her hard work on and off the field.
"When you look at her lacrosse path and working so hard to establish herself in our program, but then also really working hard in the classroom and being in the sports management realm, I think it was a perfect combination of things that put her in a situation where she was a desirable candidate," Woods said. "She's bright, she's motivated and she's gonna work really hard. But she also understands all the values you take away from being on a sports team."
When Manno came to UConn, she didn't know if she would even be playing lacrosse. She wasn't recruited, so she had to walk on to the team.
"I think coming in as a freshman, I really just wanted the opportunity to be a part of the team and play for the program," Manno said. "The focus was never really on playing time. It was just being a part of the team and the culture and getting to make those relationships with the team."
However, through her hard work, she went from being a walk-on reserve as a freshman to being a starter on defense each of her last two seasons.
"The biggest thing I think of when it comes to Jac is her relentless work ethic," Woods said. "She came in and it was uncertain what her role was gonna be, and she just put her head down and got to work. She did some really good things, and she just kind of leads the way with that work ethic."
Manno's work ethic has led her to unexpected success in lacrosse, but it also put her in a position to be selected for this esteemed mentorship program, which will help her achieve even more success in life. And for Woods, that is what it's all about as a coach.
"She has put herself in a great position and then for her to be rewarded with actually being selected to be in this mentoring program, I think it's awesome," Woods said. "It's awesome for her and her career and her path, but I think it's also great for the program. It's always nice for the program to get recognition that's also professional-minded. At the end of the day, our student-athletes are going to go on to be professionals in whatever field they so choose."
Thanks to Manno's new connections via the WSF/NBC Sports mentorship program, she is opening up more opportunities for professional success.
