As The Hidden Opponent kicks off the July 2024 Campus Captains application cycle, a few of our current and former Campus Captains share their experience in the program!
Zach Williams is an incoming senior cross country and track and field athlete at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is originally from Audubon, New Jersey and loves getting outdoors. He is interested in mental health advocacy because it’s something everyone struggles with at some point in their lives. and he wants to to help himself and others practice good mental wellness habits.
Why did you join the Campus Captain program?
I became involved in mental health groups for athletes at my university when I first arrived freshman year. I recently began running HawksMinded, our student athlete mental health group on campus, and I decided to join the Campus Captain program to help me improve my leadership skills for the area of work as well as my knowledge around mental health concepts.
What has been your favorite part of the program?
My favorite part of the program is getting to know all of the other Campus Captains in my conference. Since we all come from schools that are in a similar area and share similar student bodies, it is always nice to see what other people are up to on their campuses to try and apply it to my own. It also just helps make me more motivated to help out because I know other people have the same goals.
Can you elaborate on some activities or events you participated in or hosted this year, whether that be at your school or through the THO community?
Most of the activities that we did on our campus in the past year had one of two themes— mind aligned with the body or recognizing our values in the sport. We held yoga and other mindfulness sessions to participate in relaxing exercise and also took part in a walk in honor of suicide prevention on our campus. For recognizing our values, we held and event where student-athletes were able to write letters to themselves, their sport, or anything else they needed to touch base with in order to bring themselves back to their center. We also had our baseball team dedicate their game to someone that they play the sport for during our conference’s Atlantic 10 Mental Health Awareness Week.
What has been your biggest accomplishment as a CC? What positive changes have you seen on your campus through the program?
I think our HawksMinded program has helped people in our athletics program take mental health more seriously and it has become less of a stigma at our school. The Hidden Opponent has helped with this as we’ve brought in more initiatives that normalize the impact of mental health on our sport and showing that all together we can rise above it.
What has been your biggest takeaway from the CC program?
I’ve learned a lot about collaboration, as I’ve gotten some ideas for our best initiatives from other campus captains and in return they have helped me form some of my best ideas to offer back in return. Working together helps us all give our best efforts at our respective schools and it really becomes a conference wide and nation wide endeavor to raise awareness.
What advice or recommendations do you have for athletes who are interested in applying to the program?”
If you are a student-athlete that is interested in improving your knowledge and leadership skills in general, but also pertaining to mental health specifically, this is one of the best programs to be involved in. There is no better way to find others that share similar goals to you that will help you on your path to becoming an excellent advocate on your campus.
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