Progress on Mental Health and Sports

The topic of mental health is finally starting to gain a foothold in the sports arena. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was one of the first to discuss his struggles, followed by Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last week the Pac-12 announced a $3.6 million-a-year program to provide mental health services to it’s student athletes. In my opinion, Phelps laying it out, is a big step forward for all athletes

I struggled with anxiety and depression and questioned whether or not I wanted to be alive anymore. It was when I hit this low that I decided to reach out and ask for the help of a licensed therapist. This decision ultimately helped save my life. You don’t have to wait for things

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) May 26, 2019

When I speak with high school or college athletes about this topic, many times off-camera they will admit that they are “stressing out” or having a “panic attack” over their performance. Recently I did an interview with a college athlete who spoke very openly about the topic. Later in the day i received a phone call from one of the parents asking that I don’t use that part of the interview for fear it could hurt the player down the road. There’s still work to do…

Memorial Day is one of the bench marks during a baseball season. The Diamondbacks are not going to win the National League West, but they are in position to battle for a wildcard as the calendar turns towards June.
While interest in the 2019 season looks like it will extend into September for the hometown 9, there’s anticipation among Diamondback fans for next weeks Major League Baseball Draft. Baseball drafts don’t usually yield excitement, but the Diamondbacks are blessed with 7 picks in the first 75 selections. IF GM Mike Hazen and staff hit on most of those picks and suddenly the franchise is set up for several years. Miss on those picks and it would be doomsday…

How much longer can Grand Canyon University stay in the Western Athletic Conference? Both the baseball and men’s basketball teams made it to the conference title game, only to lose and be left out of postseason play. The WAC is never going to get a At-Large team in the NCAA’s. The complexity of the expiring TV contracts within big conferences means that there’s going to be some schools shaking free to potentially form a new conference. I don’t believe for one moment that Jerry Colangelo is happy to have GCU in this predicament…