The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and affiliate groups recently held its annual conference featuring over a week’s worth of educational programming across a membership of more than 22,000 individuals and 2,200 organizations at the two- and four-year college levels.

Of the many sessions I attended learning about name, image and likeness; facility planning and development; naming rights and corporate sponsorships, etc., nothing was more impactful than when a Division III director of athletics acknowledged in a mental healthcare presentation that he planned to place access to mental health resources above non-conference games as a department priority!

The amount of exhaustion, anxiety and achievement demands felt by our student-athletes are very real. We need to recognize that none of us have ever had the same lived experiences as our student-athletes, and this is a time to listen to their needs without judgment.

We’ve provided the HeadSpace app to all our student-athletes the last two years, and this past year implemented a feedback system so we can better meet the needs of our more than 600 student-athletes. We are currently exploring GamePlan and its wide-range of online educational modules to assist with everything from nutrition to social justice and of course, mental health.

We continue planning for the 2022-23 academic year. Rising gas and food costs, as well as disrupted supply chains, are at the forefront of minds as we revise budgets.

F&M is fortunate to be centrally located in the Centennial Conference, but if we want to increase our chances of an NCAA playoff berth through an at-large bid we must improve our strength of schedule and travel to top-ranked competition, which drives up operating costs quickly in each sport.

It’s hard to believe but in just over a month we will be back at it again! Early August welcomes football to preseason camp first, followed by the remainder of our fall teams in mid-August.

Summer never seems long enough to recover from the grueling demands of the 24-7 work we put in during the academic year. However, with the success of our teams and the experience we deliver, it’s very rewarding to be a part of Diplomat tradition of excellence.