Started just over two years ago as one of the first Student-Athlete Resource Groups (SARG) on campus at UC Davis, Athlete Guidance & Support (AGS) has become one of the leading organizations of its kind in the collegiate athletics space. Utilizing various grant funding, AGS hosted a major fall event featuring former USC volleyball player Victoria Garrick as a guest speaker, and have continued their work even virtually to help overcome the stigma surrounding mental health in athletics — especially during this unusual time.
The fall event, branching off from the typical de-stress "fun" events that the group has done in the past, was a catered formal event with key speakers Garrick and UC Davis' own Sule Anibaba, as well as a Q&A panel featuring current and former Aggie student-athletes. Scheduled to be a two-hour event, the dialogue and panel answers were so captivating that it ran over time, but majority in attendance wished it could've been even longer, further showcasing the need for conversations in the mental health area on campus.
"It was a cool collaboration with money from the NCAA and the SHCS Wellness grant," said AGS founder and recently named track and field team captain Sydney Holmes. "We also got funding from athletics for the room, which was really awesome because when you're planning an event like that, you don't always know how much things are going to cost and the bumps you're going to hit in the road until you're halfway through it. The Health Fee Oversight Committee gave us the SHCS Wellness grant— they gave us the full amount they could — and it really showed they believed in us and what we can do. We told them exactly what we were going to do, and they were really excited about it. We wish more people were able to come, but we wouldn't be able to feed everyone, so we were glad that the people who did, got a lot out of it."
"We sent out a survey after the event and got awesome feedback," added Jackie Graves, another senior member of AGS Leadership. "A lot of people commented saying how much Victoria's insight meant to them, and a lot of people absolutely loved the Q&A panel that we had. We went 30 minutes over, but people were so into it that they were totally fine with the fact that it went over. It was really rewarding for us to see how impactful the event was tangibly through survey responses, and we hope this was an inaugural event and that this will become an annual thing."
Baseball student-athlete Logan Denholm has been a member of AGS in various roles, and transitioned to a leadership position the past year. Helping curate the AGS website, along with organizing events and running assessments, Denholm stepped up on a personal level to be part of the Q&A panel in the fall.
"Being a part of the panel was a surreal experience for me," said Denholm. "It was a moment I dreamed about, but never truly thought would come to fruition. To be able to share the stage that night with so many amazing and strong people is an experience I will always hold close to my heart. The feedback I got was again, truly amazing; I was blown away by the response and support I got from so many different people, some of whom I had never met before that night. The same goes for the event in general — I think it was a unique opportunity to hear people open up and be very vulnerable sharing their individual story helping others realize they are not alone in their journey."
Denholm spoke to the room about a moment of transparency with his teammates his junior year, with his example hitting close to home for many.
"Choosing to open up to my teammates about my mental health journey was an incredibly nerve-wracking but rewarding experience," continued Denholm. "I wrote a letter addressed 'To All UC Davis Student-Athletes,' with zero intent of it ever being read or shared. The content of the letter included my detailed experiences with depression and anxiety. Eventually, I felt like I was hiding what made me who I was to the people I cared about the most."
"I started by reading the letter to my roommates. Their support gave me the confidence to share it with my team. In both cases, with my roommates and teammates, reading the letter sparked conversation. In a sense, it freed me; this big secret I felt I was keeping was finally out in the open."
"The best part was the impact it made on our ability to share. 18-24 year old athletes were opening up to our teammates about their own experiences, hardships, pain, and fears. This moment feels like our team's catalyst for growth. Since sharing, we have had numerous conversations about mental health, we value taking care of ourselves, opened a dialogue for breaking the stigma in athletics, and they have shown an insane amount of support by coming to all the AGS events," finished Denholm.
"A lot of people felt so seen, and even if you didn't go through the exact same things that Victoria or Sule went through, there was a lot of truth in their stories that you could relate to," added Holmes. "The panel for sure — Logan's story… I loved Logan's story and what he's done. And a lot of people wrote about that too in their survey."
Following the major fall event, AGS hosted a trivia night in winter quarter with nearly 70 student-athletes in attendance. Featuring mental health questions, AGS integrated learning into a de-stressing event, and are hopeful about the future of the group.
"We didn't order enough pizza, we didn't have a big enough room, but it was awesome," said Graves. "Those were all really good signs that we're growing, and people know about us."
With the onset of the global pandemic and the cancellation of spring activities on campus, AGS had to unfortunately cancel their CAREnival — one of their biggest annual events — and have shifted their platform online to accommodate the situation.
"Our first trivia night was such a big hit that we are doing a virtual trivia night on May 1st in partnership with CADSA [Coalition of African Diaspora Student-Athletes]. We're going to be doing that through Zoom, and utilizing Kahoot," Graves said. "We've also been doing Instagram Lives on the AGS Ambassadors Instagram account (@ags.ambassadors). We've done two so far with former AGS members, and they have been a hit! We've had 60 or so people tune in, and there's been some really awesome tangible resources that we've been able to gather from the advice of Ethan Hicks and Nina Gonzalez so far."
Like most things, whether it's classes, or jobs, or focus groups, AGS has become a virtual platform where the members meet regularly, and try to encourage mental health discussions among student-athletes.
Graves said, "we are continuing to meet as scheduled, just through Zoom, and have shifted towards giving AGS Ambassadors resources and ideas to check in on their teammates without being near them. Whether that's holding a Zoom meeting without your coach, or hosting a game night, or simply just checking in on teammates, we really tried to push that."
Perhaps less talked about is the work that the AGS Leadership has done behind the scenes on a scale larger than just UC Davis. With Holmes using the APPLE conference as inspiration to start the AGS group, it was only fitting that Holmes returned to APPLE two years later to present what AGS is, how it was developed, and the two-part process of events and check-ins with AGS Ambassadors. Along with the feedback from many of the 80-100 people in attendance, AGS was featured in a recent APPLE newsletter, and their presentation slides can be viewed here.
Thinking back to the APPLE Institute weekend, Holmes reminisced, "during our presentation, the man who made this conference 40 years ago stood up to say 'this is what APPLE is all about, and this is so awesome to see; take notes everyone!' It was so much fun to have student-athletes from Oregon, Arkansas, Florida, and all over the place, come up to us to ask 'how can you help us do this?'"
Graves added, "we had a coach come up to us afterwards asking 'HOW did you guys do this? We've been trying so hard to do something, but we have no one in our corner.' It was so crazy to hear that! If we didn't have Mike Lorenzen [senior associate athletics director, student-athlete outcomes], would we be able to do this? I don't know."
"We explained that other schools should take whatever program they're trying to create and to tailor it to their school," continued Holmes. "At UC Davis, we don't have a huge alcohol problem compared to other places, so we had to think about where we could help that might also help someone going through alcohol or other substance abuse. It came full circle for me since the APPLE Conference was exactly what started AGS. I remember going the first time and feeling like I didn't belong there as a new Division I athlete. And coming back, I realized there's more to being an athlete than just being an athlete."
Continuing the work designated by the NCAA grant, which is outlined in a check-in last summer, AGS Leadership has been working through the three parts — developing AGS, running a needs assessment, and implementing a campus-wide campaign on alcohol and substance abuse. AGS has been reaching out to as many different areas of campus as possible, including Greek life, student-run mental health clubs, club sports, and ASUCD, to build their campaign through interviews and video stories. Raeann Davis, the UC Davis SHCS' health promotion specialist for alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, has been heavily involved with AGS, from writing the grant proposal for NCAA CHOICES, to helping canvas UC Davis athletics administration on how to improve and support mental health initiatives within athletics.
As the current AGS Leadership group is in its final year together in the position, they remain positive over the future of the group. With Graves looking to attend law school in 2021, Holmes entering a Masters in Public Health program this fall, and Denholm's ambitions to continue baseball as long as possible while sharing his story within the athletics communities and focusing on educating athletes on mental health and the resources available to them, the trio welcomes the new ideas of the incoming leaders.
"I'm so excited for the new people to step in and take over," remarked Holmes. "Alexa Bolanos [cross country/track and field], Ryman Crone [cross country/track and field], and Natalie Wilson [lacrosse] attended APPLE with us, and Haileigh Rose [soccer] and Sophie Murff [swimming and diving] are stepping up. In terms of what's next, we'll be implementing new programs and training our members to give their own wellness workshops to their teams. When peers are the ones giving this information it becomes so much more effective. We'll always do events, and we want our check-ins to be better, and to get more buy-in from coaches."
In today's challenging times, the leadership trio have a collection of tips that they've been utilizing for their mental health, including working out, focusing on studies, having conversations, and meditating.
"For me, like many others, the coronavirus has presented a new set of challenges trying to maintain a good headspace," said Denholm. "It has been difficult — the biggest adjustment for me is not having my 'daily escapes' of practice, games, weights, and how my daily mental health practices fit into all these. During this time of being stuck in my house, I find it can be easy to let myself sit there and really dwell on things if I am having a bad day; letting it spin a little more out of control. The biggest thing for me to get out of a funk is to make myself go do something and avoid sitting there letting things continue to overwhelm me. Some days it might be harder than others, but I have found that once I get up and move, I am in a much better headspace."
"Some of the things that work for me are going for walks, meditating, working out, and spending time outside with my roommates. One tip I might have for other people struggling with their mental health is to reach out and talk to the loved ones who surround you; this isn't always the easiest, but I find even just talking things out goes such a long way. Another tip I think is underutilized is meditation. I introduced this to our team and we did it everyday to begin practice. Some of the guys came up to me and just talked about how powerful this was for them and how they have begun implementing it into their daily lives."
"Ultimately, it's about finding whatever works best for you."
On the other side of the coin, sometimes it's healthy to not do anything at all.
"There are a bunch of tips and tricks being thrown your way too," added Holmes. "You don't have to do them all. You don't have to do any if you don't want to. Just be okay with the emotions that you're feeling, and talk to people about it."
In closing, resources for student-athletes have moved virtual at this time. If you or a teammate you know may need help, don't hesitate to reach out to the sports psychologists by emailing sportpsych@ucdavis.edu, or through Health-e-messaging. The SHCS is also offering online appointments that can be scheduled through health-e-messaging. For any emergencies, call 911 directly.
For additional support: Crisis Text Line - Text Relate to 741741 or visit the SHCS Website https://shcs.ucdavis.edu.
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