Silent suffering for student athletes can often be assisted by resources provided through their team like therapy, said a mental health advocate and a former WNBA player. 

Chamique Holdsclaw, Olympic gold medalist and WNBA Hall of Famer, shared her story and how she overcame challenges during an I am Oz presentation.

Holdsclaw said she began living with her grandmother after police categorized her house as dysfunctional. Her mother struggled with alcoholism and her father was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

After her move to Queens, Holdsclaw said, basketball became her coping mechanism for her emotional trauma and the difficult environment adjustment without her parents. Her grandmother sent her to her first therapy program for children who struggle with parents or relatives who battle with alcoholism. When the topic of her family came up, she shut down her feelings. 

Holdsclaw mentioned that she was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety at a young age. She began to play basketball at Christ The King High School where her recruitment began.

“As I started to move into being a highschool athlete, it was just, everything got bigger,” Holdsclaw said.

She went on to commit to the University of Tennessee to play under Hall of Fame coach, Pat Summitt. 

She struggled to find a sense of community in Knoxville. While playing with the idea of transferring to Connecticut, her coach encouraged her to open herself up to more experiences to bond with her teammates.

Holdsclaw led the Volunteers to multiple NCAA Championships.After a discussion with Summitt, Holdslcaw was approved to attend therapy at an off campus facility.

“I’m the star athlete, my face is everywhere, people are going to judge me,” Holdsclaw said. “The stigma is real.” 

This agreement worked great for her, she said, until her family was mentioned again. When her father’s diagnoses surfaced, this made Holdsclaw less willing to discuss and come to terms with her mental health struggles. 

She was drafted no. 1 in Washington D.C. in the 1999 WNBA Draft and won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. 

In her second year with the Washington Mystics following her grandmother’s death, she went missing during her season due to struggles with suicide. 

She was later traded to the Los Angeles Sparks, in an attempt to leave Washington, D.C. During her presentation, Holdsclaw explained that she was put on medications that she later stopped when traveling to play in Spain. 

“If I would have spoken up with my platform,” said Holdsclaw, “do you know how many people would want to support me and help me do this and help me get the help that I really needed?” 

When returning to Los Angeles off of medication, she said, “I struggled with this because I just got in a really, really, dark place and it was hard to come out of it.” Holdsclaw was under suicide watch at Centinela Hospital Medical Center.

When released from the hospital she says she realized how her platform can help herself and others.

Along with talking on college campuses, Holdsclaw also talks with the U.S. military to help prepare them for basic training. 

She encourages students who have access to therapists and psychiatrists to utilize them. 

“Especially athletes when school takes care of it, go ahead if you need it, take advantage of it,” Holdsclaw said. 

Holdsclaw says she is thankful for her experiences and says they have built her character. Now the NFL, NBA, college teams and most highschool teams in the United States have mental health programs for their student athletes. 

“I went through my whole career without ever knowing about any of these types of resources,” she said.

Image by Department of Labor