Quincy Gaddy
Mental Health in Sports
Synopsis of my Product
This year I've had the opportunity to take Watkinson's Senior Seminar. "Sem"... is a dual component class containing both seminar and Senior Projects. The Senior Projects allow students like myself to choose a topic of their liking and expand their research. The project allowed me to learn more things about myself: interest, curiosity, and passions.
Furthermore, this year, my chosen topic is related to athletics-- a love of mine. With my project, I've had the opportunity to devote an entire year to it. Through this, I've done lots of research, developed many ideas, and talked to tons of highly educated people. My research will come to an end in May when I do my final presentation. The presentation is meant to be a start-to-end guide about all my learning and answer my essential question.
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What sparked my interest
Over the summer, I watched a series and a documentary about football. Quarterback is a show following three NFL QBs, as they go about life being fathers, husbands, icons, and athletes. Untold: Johnny Football, the story about Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, and the start and end of his career. These films show there is more beyond the sport, they get into the psychological aspects of athletics, and tackle the issues that happen behind the scenes. This got me thinking about how we characterize athletes as heroes and expect them to be okay all the time, but in reality their human like us.
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Essential Question
Finalizing my essential question took some time. I needed to ensure it was complex enough to spend an entire school year on. As well as I could find a way to answer it. So, my essential question is
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"What effect does age have on an athlete's mental health."
Artist Statement
My Artist Statement
In September, I began the process of creating my senior seminar project. My interest in my topic stemmed from a documentary I watched this summer. After watching, I became fascinated with the effects that depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental illnesses have on athletes. Learning about the stigmas that athletes face helped me develop my essential question: What effect does age have on an athlete’s mental health? Within the past few months, I’ve begun building research around my question and developing my product to produce an effective way to manage mental health in sports. My product is a mental health guide, it’s filled with numerous sources, ideas from my mentor, and exercises from people I know.
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During my two-week mentorship, I began to brainstorm my product. Initially, I wanted to do interviews observing athletes of different ages; this would have allowed me to gain perspective on the struggles that athletes of various ages experience. I realized I could still do interviews during my process, but my mentor and Senior Seminar teachers encouraged me to take my product in another direction. While creating my product, I’ve conducted interviews with athletes and coaches. I shadowed the University of Saint Joseph’s women's basketball team and talked with a couple of players on the team. I interviewed five players, and a coach, and sat in on the practices and scout sessions. All of the information I retained from these interviews aided in the process of creating my mental health guide/playbook. It’s a guide filled with multiple sections according to different people and what they need to retain positive mental health. For instance, I’ve created a section directed toward coaches and the signals coaches should be aware of when coaching athletes who may be struggling with anxiety or depression.
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Throughout my research and building my product, I’ve had one goal… to give athletes the chance to speak up about their issues. Before I began my journey, I hadn’t had the deepest of understandings, especially as someone who doesn’t struggle with mental health, but I am an athlete. My year-long project guided me toward helping those who are struggling and afraid to speak up for themselves. I want my project to demonstrate that being strong means seeking help when you need it and not being afraid of being labeled as soft when it comes to fighting personal battles.