UCLA Student-Athletes Host Health, Wellness Fair
March 17, 2017 | Bruin Athletics
UCLA student-athletes hosted a Student-Athlete Health & Wellness Fair on Wednesday, Mar. 15, discussing topics such as substance abuse prevention and mental health.
The event, which was presented by the Student-Athlete Mentors (SAMS) and co-sponsored by the Bruin Athletic Council (BAC), attracted over 100 student-athletes in the week leading up to finals.
"After attending the APPLE Training institute conference, which promotes student-athlete wellness and substance abuse prevention, our student-athletes were motivated to make this event their action plan and applied everything they learned," said Ric Coy, Associate Director Student-Athlete Develoment. "Our SAMS & BAC are strong student-athletes organizations within our athletic department, and their combined efforts truly made this a successful event."
SAMS members presented three 10-minute health and wellness sessions. Track & Field's Pattriana Perry and Women's Tennis' Terri Fleming presented on Social Norms and Substance Use in Student-Athletes. Olamide Olowe and Idrees Bernard from Track & Field presented on Sports and Personal Identity. Softball players Johanna Grauer and Danae Blodgett's presentation was titled How is Your Inner Voice Helping or Hurting You.
"I think that everyone struggles a little bit with self-talk and their inner voice, so having this positive impact right now, especially during finals, is helpful," said Grauer.
At the conclusion of the sessions, the student-athletes had the opportunity to indulge in healthy snacks, gather information from the health & wellness resource table and hang out with therapy dogs provided by UCLA People-Animal Connection (PAC).
??s & Athletes at the Student-Athlete Health & Wellness Fair.#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/LgOS3neTdI
โ UCLA Athletics (@UCLAAthletics) March 16, 2017
"The Athletic Department has really made sure that we are relaxed going into finals, and this was a great way to make sure we're having a great time," said men's volleyball player Spencer Sachs.
"It was awesome to see all the different sports come together and finally talk about mental health," said rower Sophia Denison-Johnston. "I think it's a really overlooked topic, especially among athletes, and it was a really fun setting that made it comfortable for us to talk about it."