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= The Hidden Opponent = The Hidden Opponent is a non-profit organization raising awareness for student-athletes and the stigma surrounding the mental health of these athletes. It was founded in 2019 by Victoria Garrick, a former Division 1 athlete, and has its headquarters in Los Angeles.

Mission
"'We are an accredited non-profit and advocacy group that raises awareness for student-athlete mental health and addresses the stigma within sports culture. We empower athletes around the world to face the hidden opponent together.'"The mission of this non-profit organization is to advocate, educate and support. The platform they are providing for student athletes was created to provide them with a safe space, in which they would feel comfortable sharing their mental health experiences. This non-judgement space is also supposed to raise awareness to the stigma surrounding mental heath within athletics. It is supposed to be a platform educating athletic programs, clubs and society on the student athlete lifestyle and the possible difficulties these athletes are facing arising from it. Most importantly, this organozation is geared towards supporting student athletes by making them feel heard and loved. Through the website, which enables student athletes to share their stories surrounding their fight with the hidden opponent, this organization is creating a sense of community - giving these athletes the supportive feeling that they are not alone.

Origins
Victoria Garrick was part of the USC volleyball team from 2015-2019. After giving her popular TedTalk (Athletes and Mental Health: The Hidden Opponent) on athletes and mental health, she became an advocate for mental health and decided to provide other student athletes with a platform, where they could share their fight with mental health issues.

Ted Talk
Victoria Garrick found a suitable platform in a TedTalk event in 2017 to share her story of success and struggle as a female student-athlete. In her talk "Athletes and Mental Health: The Hidden Opponent" she unfolds how she recognized the double standard of sports through her own experience. This double standard exists because college athletics "preaches strength and perseverance in the face of all adversity", while there is a "stigma of weakness and inadequacy that accompanies mental health in the context of sport". Throughout her college carreer Victoria Garrick has had tremendous athletic success, winning the PAC-12 championship her Freshman year, as well as a major depressive episode, which isn't uncommon among student-athletes. Victoria is speaking out about the anxiety, doubting herself, having the feeling that she wasn't doing enough to be the best player she could possibly be, being afraid of playing and making a mistake. On top of those insecurities of having to perform well on the court, she is talking about the pressure of performing well in the classroom. In order to demonstrate how the lifestyle of a student-athlete can overpower anyone, she provided the audience with a typical schedule of a week in her life, in which it was obvious that it is difficult to even find the time to eat or study. Her mindset made her feel like she was not allowed to have those "illnesses", which is why she battled depression for half a year without knowing that she was. As of right now, a physical injury is treated more seriously than a psychological injury and if athletes are citing their mental health as the reason for their being unwell, it is looked down upon because it is a non-visible injury. She mentions results from the 2015 Goals Study of the Student-Athlete Experience, which found that the amount of students on college campuses experiencing mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, generally increased and that there are similar concerns among student-athletes. Out of those student-athletes, 30% reported "that they have been intractably overwhelmed during the past month". In order to better represent the seriousness of this topic, Victoria Garrick interviewed 100 men and women at 7 Division I schools (including: USC, Loyola University, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford, UCLA, Washington University). Out of those 100 men and women 69.7% have experienced symptoms of depression (ex: persistent feeling of sadness, lossof interest, lack of energy) in the last 5 months, more than half have experienced depression, anxiety or an eating disorder, but were too scared to tell anyone, and 79% think that mental health in athletes is a neglected topic. To end her TedTalk, Victoria Garrick is highlighting the importance of consistently evaluating the mental health of student-athletes. Further she appeals to student-athletes to be more aware of their mental health so that they can learn how to manage this lifestyle.

Team
The leading team consists of 5 women:


 * Victoria Garrick (Founder and CEO)
 * Leeann Passaro (Chief Operating Officer)
 * Candace Stewart (Strategic Development Director)
 * Mary Pat Murray (Communications Director)
 * Danielle Valente (Clinical Resource Manager)

Partners
The Hidden Opponent is partnering with a couple of organizations, including:


 * Granity Studio
 * Midset Training Institute
 * The Scooty Fund
 * Galea Health
 * MyHuddle
 * Win The Mental Game
 * Our Minds Matter
 * Sidelined USA
 * Moodlifters
 * UCSD Eating Disorder Center
 * Yoga Athletex
 * CACE Answers