The third annual Alachua County Public Schools Student-Athlete Resiliency Summit took place Thursday at the University of Florida Champions Club at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The event had a singular message: demonstrate to middle and high school student-athletes the importance of mental health through guest speakers and group activities.
About 30 students and parents filled the room as the event began.
Anntwanique Edwards, assistant superintendent of Student Support Services for ACPS, said communicating the message to student-athletes was her main goal..
“I think it's extremely important, because how they navigate sports is probably very likely how they're going to be navigating life,” she said. “And being able to manage all of that, what they do in athletics, what they do in their day-to-day experiences, and being able to have resiliency skills to move forward, that is essential.”
She opened the ceremony with an overview of the event. Then, she began a game of get-to-know-you-style bingo, with winners receiving a gift card.
Afterward, ACPS Superintendent Kamela Patton gave a greeting to the group and discussed the importance of the event and how mental health is such a factor in the daily life of student-athletes.
Next was the keynote speaker, Natalie Hinds.
Hinds is a former UF swimmer and bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She brought her experiences of success and failure to inspire and educate the roughly 30 people who were in attendance.
She said she experienced her highest moments in her life at UF, including multiple SEC championships and All-American honors, as well as lifelong friends.
“But as high as the highs have been, I have reached the lowest of lows here as well,” she said.
She explained she decided to quit swimming at UF because she was worn out and thought she couldn’t grow any more. After she graduated, she highlighted her resiliency led her to the University of Georgia to recapture her highs and qualify for the Olympics.
She then told the audience her advice to be resilient and to deal with adversity, which included gratitude, meeting frustrations with curiosity, asking objective questions and creating a routine.
After her presentation, the group was split into two and did activities called huddles. The intention was to build a relationship with the others in the room to see what types of emotions and feelings each person has in different situations and see if the others agree or disagree.
After the 40-minute breakout session, members who garnered green wristbands earned from the session received a prize for speaking out.
Then, special guests arrived as head coach David Lowery and players from the Santa Fe College women’s and men’s basketball team held a discussion panel.
Lowery began with his journey to becoming the coach of Santa Fe, stating he is now happy where he is, even after leaving a job he was earning a high salary.
“I was making good money, but I wasn't happy,” he said. “And I didn't work with good people. And they weren't honest.”
He began to ask the five attending players, four women and one man, questions regarding their mental health, dealing with adversity and preparing for a game or their future.
The crowd listened in silence to the responses mentioning religion, family, effort, speaking out and focusing on the big picture.
The last segment was a one-on-one interview with Edwards and former UF Gymnast Vanasia Bradley.
Bradley was never able to compete for the Gators due to a long list of injuries that derailed her career in high school, which included a torn hamstring, three stress fractures in her back, four meniscus tears and two ACL tears.
But she never gave up and became a student coach for the gymnastics team. Her message to the group was to listen to their bodies, speak up, and put their maximum effort on anything.
“And if you fall short, at least you will know, well, I gave it everything I got,” she said. “And that's OK.”
