The College Experience as a Student-Athlete: The Coach Perspective

Imagine playing the sport you love, having a built-in community, and earning a degree at the same time? In many ways that sounds amazing, but is that the whole picture? This week we start our student-athlete series with Dan Rickard, the assistant coach of the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball team at State University of New York at Stonybrook. Dan brings the perspective of coach and player. Not only has he been coaching for 19 years, but he was also on the court as a Seawolve as an undergraduate. 

Since Dan is on the front lines, we wanted to hear his perspective on the mental health of college athletes, on the court as well as off. Dan offered some key insights into:

• the role coaches have in supporting the whole athlete, mind as well as body

• the difficulty of a coach to navigate the team’s needs vs. the individual’s needs

• how his team navigated the social isolation of the pandemic

• the cultural shift in accepting mental health needs in college athletes, and

• his personal reckoning with when and how to get help. 

A coach to his core, Dan delivers that perfect balance between “drive” and “pause.”

RESOURCES:

*Mindset, the Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

*It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Take Control of Your Life by Trevor Moad

NCAA Mind, Body and Sport:

https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2014/11/3/an-introduction-to-mind-body-and-sport.aspx

PsychSport Podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sports-psychology-psychathletes/id1536068585

*Dan recommends