Good evening everyone. I wanted to welcome you all to the Roundtable podcast. I'm Dr. Derek Vigon, Coordinator of Sports Psychology. This is a collaboration between the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and Counseling and Psychological Services, at George Mason University. Hello, Mason nation, and welcome to the Roundtable podcast. We're going to be discussing a number of ways that student-athletes have been managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Oftentimes as athletes or people in general, we tend to think that we're the only ones that are struggling. We don't share our struggles because we don't want to overwhelm others. Though we would realize those around us oftentimes struggle with the same things. The hope of this podcast is to normalize some of the stress that student-athletes have been feeling. It's important to realize that we're all in this together. We relate and get some inspiration to keep moving forward. What were some of the things that people felt during the pandemic? To be honest, it was probably the hardest year I've ever gone through psychologically. It was pretty tough, but I found that talking about it really helps, especially with other people. Because everyone's going through the same thing, so that really helps. Everyone was put out of their comfort zone. Everyone got faced with things that they have never even seen or even could've imagined. I definitely feel more isolated and alone, especially since I am living in Potomac by myself, I don't have any roommates. That's been taking a major toll on me, is basically just how lonely I've been. I can only imagine. It sounds really hard. It is the worst thing that's happened to us as a country. But for me personally, I always been [inaudible 00:01:50] that was going on. Even when there was no courts open, I still got something to do and we lived in a house, go for rounds, something like that. What were some other challenges that come to mind? It was really hard to come up with a schedule when there were no time scheduled in our lives. I bet everyone had that same struggle of just feeling like they're progressing it all day when you have nowhere to go. But what I liked was switching it up a little bit. Like some days I noticed I could do homework better in the morning, or sometimes I could just not get stuff done, so I was like, "Okay, I need to go workout right now." But definitely it was hard to stay on schedule and stay motivated doing things. One of the biggest lessons that I learned is the impermanence of things. I realized that at any moment, these things that you have and take for granted can be taken away from you, and it may be appreciated even more. Like I said, this is deadly. This isn't no flu where you just get sick and you get a vaccine and everything's better, this kills people. What can I tell myself to push through, what can I tell myself to stay motivated, to stay engaged, to stay in the moment? I've really been working on that. Also I'm working on how I can encourage and inspire you as my teammates, knowing that I had to step into this big role. It sounds like as athletes, it's really hard managing all these demands. What's the impact on someone's mental health? Oftentimes as athletes, we think that we have to be tough, we have to be able to cope with our struggles. If we need help of a psychologist, then something is wrong with me. But there's nothing wrong with you. Just as you sprain your ankle and you go to a doctor, if you're having some troubles, you go to a psychologist and there's nothing wrong with it. The only thing is that it's not as visible. When you see that the person is limping, you see that they're struggling. But sometimes when a person is going through it mentally, it's hard to notice it if they don't show it or they hide it, and it's harder to reach out to them and help them out. It's not really even a problem. Your mental health should be as important to you as your physical health. Sometimes people will pass that and brush it to the side, but it really has so much to do with your athletic performances and just your everyday life and stuff. Would just say that it's harder for males to talk about mental health issues and seek out for health? I definitely feel that's the case just because from a standing point, as a guy, as a man, you're often raised that showing your expressions is a form of weakness and actually crying is a like a no, if that make sense. Showing weakness, especially where I'm from, showing weakness because you care, things like that. I feel that's a health in men's aspect is definitely a major topic. What I'm hearing people say is it sounds like speaking up is challenging. Yes. I'm now one of those types of people that's going to say when I'm struggling, I'm definitely just going to try to get through it myself. But I think I understand my limits, and now I let them know hey guys, I'm sucking it in, anything like that. But I know when something's getting bad and I need some help, I'll go get that help. A few people who are actually going to talk to a psychologist. I personally do think that everybody at some point of their lives really do need that. It is a great resource and all of us would benefit from it, especially during COVID. In the African-American communities incentives, what I am a part of, oftentimes, when you say I'm struggling with my mental health, it's like what are you struggling for? You have your basic needs, so there's nothing that should really be hard. Or oftentimes it goes to religion of we'll just pray about it, ask God. But it's deeper than that, so I feel like a lot of times people in the African-American community like men specifically, don't seek help when they need it because they want to be strong and it's viewed as being weak if you can't mentally be stable or something like that, which is not the case. Just knowing that it's okay not to be okay. It's okay to struggle and it's okay to say that I'm struggling or I feel like I'm overwhelmed. It's okay to say those things and it's okay to be vulnerable and acknowledge it. The only question is, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to fold? Are you going to seek for help? I know how hard the COVID pandemic has been for so many different people, and I'd be curious to know how people are finding hope and resiliency in this hard time. One thing that I learned is to really embrace it. Embrace what I have here at Mason because I have all I need and all I could ever ask for. I'm just so grateful and so happy to be surrounded by so many great people, so many great young athletes, the support staff, the coaches who are amazing and they did a great job doing this pandemic. We're just going to continue to stay strong and keep fighting during this pandemic. I don't think I just train to play for the season. I train to become a better athlete, become a better person. The best way I know how to get through something that's troubling me is to just keep playing basketball. During this pandemic, honestly, I value the time I got to spend with my family and friends because I'm a very busy person with school, work, and training and that, all those other things are going to get pushed to the side. I've really been able to focus on my relationships and build on them, get really close to my family and friends. That's the best thing out of this whole pandemic. First, my teammates, love you guys. One of the big things that I thought about is just I can't wait to get back with you all, on the floor with you all, doing things with you all. I think that was one of the big motivators. I have gotten way closer with my teammates and understanding that they mean more to me outside of volleyball. They're actually my friends and not just my teammates. The value of the people that I'm around every day, just being appreciative of the situation I'm in and knowing that it could be much worse because it's bad all over the place, but thank God it wasn't that bad for me. I think the most consistent message across the board I can give them is when the tough gets going, you just got to keep going. My biggest lesson is focus on what you can control and don't stress up over what you cannot control. I feel like everyone of us is a writer of our own story. There's going to be some good times, and there's going to be some bad times. Just think about it, put into perspective and think, what do I want this character to be like? We still get to practice and we still get to spend time with teammates and there is a great chance that we're going to actually play. Just focusing on the good side. It's just like it's all or nothing, so why not? It has been an absolute pleasure getting to spend some time with everyone on this podcast. I just want to thank again, my copilot on this journey, Olivia Cocktaita, and all of the amazing student athletes that's lent their time to be part of this important podcast in an attempt to normalize some of the experiences of Covid-19. If you have any questions about getting connected to a mental health provider for support, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can find us online at caps.gmu.edu. Go Patriots.