Athletes and Mental Health: The Hidden Opponent
USC volleyball player Victoria Garrick shares her experience with depression and anxiety as a college athlete — and why the sports world needs to change how it handles mental health.
About This Talk
Victoria Garrick was a Division I volleyball player at USC when she realized she was struggling with depression, anxiety, and disordered eating — and had no idea how to talk about it in an athletic environment where toughness was everything.
In this TEDx talk she shares her story openly, calls out the culture of silence in competitive sports, and argues that mental illness deserves the same treatment as a physical injury.
This talk has been watched over 600,000 times and has been screened at athletic programs across the country.
Why This Matters
Victoria's experience — loving the sport, performing on the outside, falling apart on the inside — is one of the most common stories in college athletics. The fact that she named it publicly changed the conversation for a lot of athletes who thought they were alone in it.
She went on to found The Hidden Opponent, a nonprofit dedicated to student-athlete mental health advocacy.