ABSTRACT
Mentor coaches build relationships with their proteges by getting to know their backgrounds, hopes, and needs with the aim to help them succeed as both athletes and human beings. Archetypal mentor coaches not only guide the athletic development of their protégés but also care about their personal health and growth beyond the arena. Mentor coaches, then, advise their athletes on their performance in the arena and in their personal lives, but they allow the athletes to perform on their own. In The Contender, Alfred has the luxury of having three mentor coaches—Spoon Witherspoon, Henry Johnson, and Vito Donatelli—as he learns how to box and how to live. Henry Johnson, a trainer apprentice working in Donatelli’s Gym, also serves as a mentor coach for Alfred. Bud Martin reflects the coach archetype of the maven, coaching up young Alfred Brooks in practice and in official bouts while tending to his health and wellbeing all the way through.
