Entry 02: The Mental Matchup

I am super excited to highlight the launch of The Mental Matchup — a podcast that I will be cohosting focused on opening up dialogue about athlete mental health.

I am very passionate about mental health, as I am sure you assumed from my first journal, if you read it. My cohost, Kat Zempolich, is just as passionate about mental health. She also has that classic lacrosse player energy, which makes for an ideal podcast host. Kat is also on the board of Morgan’s Message, who is supporting and presenting the podcast.

For The Mental Matchup’s first season, we are opening up with parts 1 and 2 of an interview with Dona and Kurt Rogers, the founders of Morgan’s Message, and the parents of Morgan Rogers, who inspired the organization. From there, Kat and I interview each other about our personal mental health journeys, and then move onto interviewing other fellow athletes.

We are going to be talking about hard topics, but in a way that hopefully creates a safe space for people to processes those hard topics and hard emotions that come along with them. We want to share and discuss a diverse set of mental health experiences, to make sure people know that they are not alone in whatever they may be going through.

Mental health challenges are so common, and becoming more so. Sports can be the negative stimulus that cause those mental health issues, but they can also be our mental training grounds to learn how to cope when challenges arise in and out of sport. We want to be a part of the culture shift in athletics, where mental health becomes just as important as physical health.

I would appreciate it so much if you would follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Give our season trailer a listen, and please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or want to be a part of it in some way.

Thank you endlessly for the support