241 SelfWork: The Hidden Opponent in College Athletics: A Frank Conversation with Victoria Garrick
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2021
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Hidden Opponent is the name of D1 College Athlete Victoria Garrick's TedTalk. And it's powerful. Who is she? She's a former Division I Volleyball Player, TED Talk Speaker and has now become a social media Influencer, and mental health advocate. Those are the facts about Victoria Garrick. She’s young, she’s incredibly energetic and passionate. She’s highly competitive. And she’s struggled with depression as well as a binge eating disorder, the latter of which she’s only now started opening up about.
After graduating from the University of Southern California in 2019, Victoria has traveled the country speaking on college campuses, hosts her hit podcast Real Pod, and creates daily content for her army of over 1.5M+ people who follow her message of authenticity and self-care on social media.
I know that those of you who are in college or recently out will be fascinated with her and parents whose kids are into sports also need to listen – as she opens up about how the competitiveness of sports and winning can, often unintentionally , work to create feelings of wanting it all to end . She’s also created a non-profit called “The Hidden Opponent” and is marshalling and creating support organizations for college athletes who need a place for their mental health struggles to be understood and accepted. The pressure can be immense as she explains in our interview. How coaches and teammates perceive mental health struggles can be a problem, how parents can be trying to understand but how there can be so much room for miscommunication.
So in this SelfWork episode, sponsored again by Athletic Greens, she opens her heart and her experience to all who will listen. I'll hope you join us.
Important Links:
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Victoria's website and Real Pod podcast
Victoria's Ted Talk The Hidden Opponent
The Hidden Opponent Non-Profit Group
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Selfwork, and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford. |
| 0:14.1 | At Selfwork, we'll discuss psychological and emotional issues common in today's world |
| 0:19.0 | and what to do about them. |
| 0:20.4 | I'm Dr. Margaret, and Selfwork is a podcast dedicated to you taking just a few minutes today |
| 0:26.2 | for your own Selfwork. |
| 0:29.9 | Hello and welcome to episode 241 of the Selfwork podcast. |
| 0:34.7 | I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford, and I'm delighted to have a guest today. |
| 0:39.4 | Victoria Garrick is a former Division 1 volleyball player, TED Talk Speaker, social media |
| 0:44.9 | influencer, and mental health advocate. |
| 0:47.5 | So those are the facts about Victoria. |
| 0:49.9 | She hosts a hit podcast, real pod, and she's got about one and a half million people who |
| 0:55.2 | follow her message, and I understand why. |
| 0:58.4 | She's very authentic. |
| 0:59.4 | She's incredibly energetic and passionate, but she's also struggled with depression as |
| 1:03.6 | well as a binge eating disorder, the latter of which she's only now started opening |
| 1:08.6 | up about, and you're going to hear all about that. |
| 1:12.3 | I know that those of you who are younger will be fascinated with her, and parents whose |
| 1:16.4 | kids are highly into sports also need to listen, as she talks about how the competitiveness |
| 1:22.4 | of sports and winning can often unintentionally work to create feelings of wanting it all |
| 1:28.6 | to end, and I mean not just the sports life itself. |
| 1:33.0 | Through her work, she's also created a nonprofit called the Hidden Opponent, and is marshalling |
| 1:38.3 | and creating support organizations on college campuses to athlete to need a place for their |
... |
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