The stigma surrounding mental health in college athletics has been around since the dawn of collegiate competition, and only now is it finally starting to be addressed.
Victoria Garrick Brown, a former University of Southern California Division One volleyball player, took matters into her own hands after personally struggling with mental health and created a program called The Hidden Opponent. In her TED Talk back in 2017, she detailed her experiences battling with anxiety and depression while being a college athlete, creating the non-profit to help other athletes around the world with their own mental health.
The Hidden Opponent has a presence in over 750 college campuses, operating through Campus Captains, with more than 2,000 athletes having participated in the program. Sophomore Grace Fagan, with the help of Dr. Lindsey Kellar, restarted the program on Illinois Wesleyan’s campus just this year, since the club fizzled out after losing its founding leadership.
“On a campus with so many student athletes, there was a need to create a sense of community between all these different people with shared experiences. I think we’re all so close with our teams, but seeing our similarities, common goals, and shared struggles is so important with all other athletes. I hope THO is creating a space for that,” Fagan said.
The Hidden Opponent hosts a meeting every month featuring either an interactive activity or a lesson to educate members on a specific topic regarding mental health. The club’s most recent educational meeting featured Taylor Lund, a Licensed Professional Counselor, who graduated from Quincy University, where she played collegiate soccer. Her meeting detailed how to rebound and come back from a tough performance with confidence, a topic that every single athlete, no matter the level, can relate to.
Themed games are a great way to spread awareness for events or issues on college campuses. IWU hosts several events through its collegiate teams, including awareness for St. Jude, a non-profit research hospital.
THO got its first awareness game going April 4 for Titan men’s lacrosse against the North Central Cardinals to open up the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play where they came away victorious 11-9.
During the game, the Titans sported stickers from THO on their helmets, helping to advocate for student-athlete mental health.
“The games bring awareness to what we’re doing as an RSO and hopefully invite more people to join us. They also do a great job of destigmatizing mental health, which is super important, and I hope that our club can grow and host multiple awareness games in the near future,” Fagan said.
The week of April 13th features “Hidden Opponent Week,” a week of education, activation, community pride, and advocacy for mental health. The spirit week is open to everyone, not just student-athletes, and they, along with the Campus Captains at IWU, encourage as many people to participate as they can. You can find more information on the THO Instagram @thehiddenopponent or on their official website https://www.thehiddenopponent.org
