Nikhil Berry, a swimmer at Menlo School in Atherton, and Sydney Randolph, a volleyball player at San Dieguito Academy in San Diego, know firsthand how difficult it can be to maintain a positive mental attitude.
“There are high school athletes who often train much longer than the NCAA requirement because there is no (any requirement) for high school athletes,” Berry said. “And at the same time, most high schools aren’t even equipped to handle the regular mental health challenges of their students, let alone athletic mental health challenges.”
GOAT Mentality (the greatest of all time) is a program that will provide coping mechanisms for student-athletes and those who support them. The program consists of a series of interviews with athletes and curricular videos with sports psychologists. The goal of the new initiative is to normalize discussions about mental health in athletics.
Athletes can find themselves stressed and exhausted.
“(I’m) trying to create a more positive environment in my own team, and I do provide some, like tips here and there from the GOAT mindset that I’ve learned in my… research with GOAT, I’ve kind of been able to incorporate that into a bit of my team setup,” Randolph said. “And I’ve noticed there have been some positive and healthy changes, both in the team dynamics and in the mental health of the team and in the way we race a little bit.”
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