This year, the Forest Ridge Athletic Department is hosting a 3-part athlete wellness series for all our students and their parents/guardians. This series is an invaluable opportunity for Forest Ridge students and the wider community to learn how to care for their physical and mental health. Each session addresses a critical aspect of athlete wellbeing, ensuring that everyone walks away with the tools to improve not just their physical game, but their mental resilience and overall health. 

In September, we hosted the first speaker in this series, Amy Sanchez, a mental health provider and coach dedicated to the intersection of wellbeing and sport. Amy serves as a full-time school counselor at Eastside Preparatory School, where she primarily works with the middle school. She provides individualized support to students around mental health and adolescent development. 

In her session "Getting Your Head Back in the Game," Amy talked to students about tools they can use when anxiety or nerves set in before a big game or even just at practice. They discussed options for managing these feelings, including "Can I solve the problem causing me nerves," "Can I sit with this feeling, or Hakuna Matata, accepting these feelings," and tools like breathing to calm anxiety. 

Students and coaches walked away from this talk with a concrete plan around how they would channel their nerves the next time they arose. 

There are more athlete wellness sessions to come. In the winter, we will offer a sports nutrition talk, with insights into optimal nutrition strategies for enhancing athletic performance and recovery. Later in the year, we will have an event on preventing sports injuries, helping athletes and coaches learn to reduce the risk of injuries and promote long-term health. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or just starting, this series will give you the tools to stay healthy and perform your best. Be sure to mark your calendars and take advantage of this unique learning opportunity!