Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 3 | January 2020

inside.hokiesports.com 13 student-athletes to share their challenges, and the event ended with a “victory” lap in which each person shared a victory, or win, she has achieved. The group then celebrated each person’s victory with her, and each attendee received an aromatherapy candle, which allowed the workshop to end on a positive note. “As a student-athlete myself, I struggled on many occasions,” said Brown, who serves as a THRIVE ambassador. “Being a part of the planning was an amazing experience and seeing it all come together was very rewarding. Mental health is an important aspect of life that can sometimes be overlooked and unaddressed in many circumstances. I’m so grateful for the student-athlete development team for understanding and valuing the importance of mental health in athletics and creating an open platform for it to be addressed.” “I really enjoyed talking and listening to older girls who have gone through the same experiences of working to balance school and their sport during the busy transition into college,” Tech women’s tennis freshman Sophia Mitchell said. “Opening up about mental health is so important, and THRIVE is a great resource for student-athletes to connect and support each other.” The second THRIVE workshop took place Oct. 21, this time for male freshman student-athletes andwithmale THRIVEambassadors serving as the hosts. This event took on a little different format, consisting of a short video about NBA star Kevin Love’s struggle with mental health and how teammate Channing Frye helped him. There also was a panel discussion with Dr. Gary Bennett (Tech’s associate athletics director for sport psychology), Ty Walz (a former Tech wrestler and current director of performance for the wrestling program), current football redshirt junior Austin Cannon, and current track and field senior standout Jaelyn Demory. The panel addressed various issues, such as meeting expectations when one is physically and mentally run down, remembering one’s “why,” strategies to help with the transition to college, finding one’s place on the team, etc. They fielded questions, drawing from their own mental health journeys and experiences as student-athletes. Just like with the women’s event, the men’s workshop ended with a victory lap, and each attendee received a stress ball. “I attended THRIVE to see if there were any other athletes going through what I am,” Tech football freshman Jaden Payoute said. “After the event, I realized I wasn’t alone in the process of adjusting to the student-athlete life.” “I wanted to be a part of THRIVE because I felt that I could use my experience to impact and benefit younger student-athletes,” said Tech senior swimmer Aaron Boyd, who serves as an ambassador. “I feel that it is important because all student-athletes experience similar issues throughout college, and THRIVE provides a safe place to recognize and express these issues with other athletes in a healthy manner. I enjoyed planning the event because I was able to put myself back into my freshman year mindset and think about what would’ve helped me have an easier transition into the demands of a college student-athlete.” In all, 65 freshmen participated in the two workshops—an incredible number considering the newness of the initiative. More importantly, these student-athletes broke down barriers, opening the doors for future discussions on difficult and even somewhat sensitive topics. And there will be more discussions. THRIVE ambassadors plan to hold two more events during the spring semester—again, one for male student-athletes and one for females. This time, they want those events to be open to all student-athletes. They are currently in discussions with both Forbes and Naldo to determine topics, formats, andpromotionof theworkshops. Rest assured, they understand the importance of their work. Futures are at stake. “THRIVE opened up doors for relationships to be built and not only gave us all an outlet to talk about our struggles, but also provided solutions on how to deal with them,” Brown said. “College athletics is such a rewarding journey because it allows you to dig deep and find yourself on a different level. I’m so glad we learned the importance of not just surviving, but thriving.” IHS extra