Mental Wellness Among Topics of Discussion at SEC/SAAC Summer Meetings
Mental wellness and making the student-athlete experience better were a big part of the annual SEC/Student Athlete Advisory Committee (S.A.A.C.) Summer Meetings that were held at the league offices in Birmingham last weekend. The meetings are held each year to allow student-athletes from all of the SEC schools to become more informed about new and proposed regulations that may affect them, while also allowing them to have a voice for change.
“When we all get together from all the SEC schools, we’re one team, rather than rivals,” said track & field rising senior Darrell Singleton, Jr. “We’re all trying to come up with proposals to make our experience better.”
“It was really cool. We had a lot of meetings about professional development as well as issues that are going on in the SEC and what life is like after our days of being a student-athlete,” said rising senior beach volleyball student-athlete Franky Harrison. “We had meetings where we could bring up issues that affect us on our campus or issues with the NCAA and new laws that were passed. I was so pleased with the amount of people who spoke up and brought up something to the speakers about what was happening on their campus.”
“It was amazing just to hear all the student-athletes share their stories,” said women’s basketball redshirt freshman Laeticia Amihere. “It shows where we need to grow and also all the fantastic things we are doing in the SEC. I don’t think any other conference does this. We’re really lucky to have this.”
Harrison and Singleton represented South Carolina as members of S.A.A.C., while Amihere, football freshman Ryan Hilinski, and men’s basketball redshirt freshman T.J. Moss were leadership representatives for their respective sports.
“Everyone wanted to do more when it comes to mental health and how we can get more resources to student-athletes at all the schools.”
– Darrell Singleton
Mental wellness proved to be big topic of the weekend for student-athletes around the SEC.
“One of the speakers was (Mental Toughness Coach) Dr. Rob Bell,” Harrison said. “We talked about how mental wellness is so prevalent now, and that’s something that wasn’t talked about very much before. A lot of people talked to SEC Commissioner (Greg) Sankey about it, and how we can get more conversations going in that area. It’s great that it’s being noticed more now at the SEC and at the schools.
“I really enjoyed that it was centered around mental wellness. When you talk about mental health, people think it is mental illness. It has a negative connotation, but he flipped the script on that and talked about mental wellness as a positive thing.”
“That was the most common thing discussed among all of us,” Singleton said. “Everyone wanted to do more when it comes to mental health and how we can get more resources to student-athletes at all the schools.”
S.A.A.C. at South Carolina is composed of two or more student-athletes from each varsity sport. Each representative acts as a liaison between the committee and his/her respective team. The purpose of the committee is to provide a voice for student-athletes within the athletics department, university, the SEC and the NCAA.
In addition to listening to various guest speakers, the student-athletes enjoyed discussions on programs that exist on their campuses that others may want to emulate. The Gamecocks were able to boast about programs for which South Carolina has taken a leadership role, such as the Beyond Sports Professional Development and Summer Internship Program.
“I think a lot of (the student-athletes from the other schools) are taking that information back with them to their schools,” Singleton said. “We told them how we have paid internships and have weekly professional development activities. They were all psyched to hear about that. So, they want to go back and talk to their schools about that.”
“A lot of other schools were really excited and intrigued about that program because we really have that figured out here with Beyond Sports,” Harrison said. “The Beyond Sports program is a big deal. I was shocked that more schools don’t really have that like we do. Other schools are working on it and working out the kinks, but it’s been going well here for a few years already. It’s been successful. It made us feel how lucky we are to have that program.
“We also talked about community service and reaching out more. I learned that we did the most hours of community service here at South Carolina than anyone else, so that was cool! It’s good to hear what program student-athletes are involved in that we don’t have here.”
The dialogues with administrators aren’t falling on deaf ears, and the student-athletes felt as if they could make a difference in shaping future policy that affects them.
“They are listening. They’ve told us how some legislation in the SEC has come out of these meetings,” Harrison said. “We brought up a lot of stuff that we wanted to see changed, such as tightening up time restrictions for sports like basketball and football who are in-season on holidays.
“Bringing together so many student-athletes from different backgrounds is a great way to bring up issues and see if they are common at other schools. You can tell that they truly wanted to know if we’re happy as student-athletes. We’re student-athletes, so we’re a huge part of the SEC. We have a voice, and they are listening.”
