Gamecock Gala Awards: Gamecock Leadership Award - Franky Harrison

Personal experience led South Carolina beach volleyball student-athlete Franky Harrison to become an advocate for mental health awareness by hosting the “Hear Me Out” podcast, which was sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. The senior was recently honored with the Gamecock Leadership Award, which is presented from South Carolina Athletics to individuals who go above and beyond what is expected as part of the Athletics Department to elevate an issue or cause within the community

“As it pertains to college athletics, I don’t think mental health is talked about enough,” Harrison said. “It can be an uncomfortable conversation, which is understandable. I wanted to bridge that gap between on-campus activities and an athletics department and be a liaison between the two. At the same time, I want to normalize the conversation a little bit more. I want to make people feel comfortable in talking about it. I’m a student-athlete and somewhat in a spotlight. If I can get out there and make it public, then hopefully more people will feel more comfortable.

“I was super-surprised when (Director of Student-Athlete Development) Megan (Stoltzfus) called to tell me about the award,” Harrison said. “We have a really close relationship, so it was great to hear it from her. I never think of myself as a leader, so receiving that is a cool testament to the work I have tried to put in and the extra things I’ve tried to do for the University. It’s also really cool that the podcast could get the recognition. I’m really thankful.”

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health sponsored the grant-funded podcast and Harrison jumped at the chance to interview for the position as host.

“The theme around the podcast is resiliency and how people in the South Carolina community make it their own in the way they struggle with everyday things or big events, how they get through them, and how they show their resiliency through that,” Harrison said. “It’s just so cool to hear different types of people talking and relate to them. I’ve had the best time with it.”

Harrison’s inspiration to be involved stemmed from an accident that occurred during her sophomore season with the Gamecocks when she and teammate Hannah Edelman collided during a home match. Edelman broke her jaw and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. While the accident was obviously traumatic for Edelman, Harrison also suffered psychologically.

“It was a lot of feelings of shame and guilt, and I was depressed for a while.” 

“My knee clocked her right in the face,” Harrison recalled. “She was on the ground screaming. I heard it and felt it. I went to the hospital with her. It took a while to get over that. That sparked my first really big struggle with mental health. That’s what kind of led to all this. While it was awful, I think a lot of good game out of it.

“I blamed myself for long time. It took me so long to get over it and talk about it. Now I’m more than happy to talk about it. We were in the middle of our season and I had to keep playing. It took me a while to feel normal again in practice. In my head, I was thinking that everyone was blaming me and that I shouldn’t be playing anymore. Hannah would be on the sidelines the rest of the year, and she would be screaming her heart out for us. She would always be on my court, and I’d write her number on my hand every game. I felt so guilty that I was out there playing, and she had her season taken away. It was a lot of feelings of shame and guilt, and I was depressed for a while. I started seeing a sports psychologist at the recommendation of my coach and athletics trainer. Talking to Hannah about it was probably the most therapeutic thing for me.”

Harrison noted that mental health has been a large part of her collegiate experience as she became aware of the different struggles many of her fellow student-athletes deal with.

“There was the accident with Hannah my sophomore year, and then I had shoulder surgery that same year, so mental health has taken on a lot of different forms over my four-year career,” Harrison said. “I’ve seen friends, teammates, and peers struggle with their own. Coming into my senior year, I wanted to make mental health a big focus on our team, and the podcast went hand in hand with that.”

South Carolina Athletics provides student-athletes access to a broad scope of mental health professionals through the Gamecock Sports Science Network, and her ability to talk about the topic on the podcast was helpful as well. Harrison hosted more than two dozen episodes with each featuring different guests with topics centering around mental health, including some fellow student-athletes.

Harrison with Hannah Edelman & co-host Dani Johnson

“We’ve had so many awesome people on the podcast. The coolest part is that they’re so different,” Harrison said. “In our first episode, we had (South Carolina freshman quarterback) Ryan Hilinksi, which was really cool to have him talk about Hilinski’s Hope (non-profit foundation focusing on destigmatizing mental illness). To hear someone at his age talk about mental health so eloquently was really impressive.

“We had Hannah on, which was really cool because we could talk about our story. That allowed me to bring in my own struggles with mental health. It was emotional, but it was really good. It was just important for me to normalize talking about it as much as possible and continue the conversation. It’s so relevant now. People are talking about it more and more.”

Harrison is the kind of person that has never met a stranger. In addition to the “Hear Me Out” podcast, she has been one of the faces of the program during her career, not only for her outstanding play in the sand, but for her ability to put herself out there in community service efforts as well as the entertaining social media video interview series, “Let’s Be Frank.”

“My experience at South Carolina has been so good for me to grow and really find myself,” Harrison said. “I feel like all these opportunities that were presented to me that I took advantage of, helped me figure out what I’m good at. I’m just someone that loves talking to people, getting to know them, and hearing their stories. I love to tell stories as well. When people ask me what I’m most passionate about, the answer is always, ‘entertaining people.’

“It’s been really cool to be a part of a team that takes community service so seriously. Our team has been so consistent in doing quality community service and not just worrying about putting a certain amount of hours in. I think my favorite things we’ve done was volunteering at a couple of races. We did one with some firefighters and some that were involved with 9/11. The firefighters had their full uniform and gear on. It was emotional and cool opportunity to be a part of. I’ve also been pretty involved with mentoring kids at two different elementary schools. It’s just cool to give back in the Columbia area. I’m just fortunate to be part of a team that emphasized community and giving back.”

The Knoxville, Tenn., native is studying public relations and is open to pursuing many facets of journalism. She plans on attending graduate school next year to further her education.

“I want to stay in the journalism/entertainment industry anyway I can,” Harrison said. “I love to make people laugh and smile. It fuels my fire to tell a story that people find entertaining.”