The Hidden Opponent Comes to Champe

     Sophomore Victoria Katilius is starting the club The Hidden Opponent here at John Champe to help raise awareness of student-athletes and mental health.

     The Hidden Opponent is an organization founded by Victoria Browne, who was a former Division 1 athlete at the University of Southern California.

     Victoria Browne started The Hidden Opponent, a non-profit organization, in 2019 to help raise awareness about student athletes’ mental health. Her goal is to help provide a platform to help show the struggles of student-athletes and help provide them with resources to get the help they need to be healthy mentally and physically. 

     “I want people to love the club and for it to become a big thing here at Champe,” junior and Social Media Manager for The Hidden Opponent at Champe, Fernando Iraheta said. “I want people to join so they can understand the importance of athletes and mental health.”

     Browne’s goal is to help athletic programs, clubs, and society have a different view on how much pressure and stress that is put on athletes can really affect them mentally and physically. 

     “My goal for this club is to raise awareness for athlete mental health and encourage mental health discussions,” Club Vice President and junior, Devon Yi said, “erasing the stigma surrounding mental health in athletics is super important.” 

     Whenever athletes say they’re struggling with their mental health, they get ignored, and people pretend that they’re fine because athletes are stereotyped as mentally tough and strong, but sometimes get burned out too.

     “I wanted to be involved in this club because an athlete’s mental health is definitely something that hits close to home,” Yi said, “after being a competitive athlete for over ten years, I want to make sure that even the younger kids have resources as well.” 

     Many athletes are looking forward to this club staring at Champe. This club will be a great way to help get our athletes here at Champe resources to get help and show them that they are not alone and everyone is fighting their own battles. 

     “As an athlete, I’m excited about joining the club and seeing how much it will grow,” Iraheta said, “I think joining this club will also help me learn how to manage and prioritize my own mental health.”

      Champe held their club fair on February 2nd and 3rd, which was a display of all the clubs students can join in the spring. Over 40 athletes signed up to join the Hidden Opponent club here at Champe. 

     “Helping reduce the negative stigma surrounding mental health is incredibly important,” Varsity Cheer Head Coach and sponsor of The Hidden Opponent Club, Shelley Canonico said, “the rise in teen suicides (and attempts) is alarming, and hopefully, the more we encourage talking about mental health and that it’s ok to not be ok, the better off we will be as a whole.” 

     Breaking the stigma around athletes’ mental health is super important because everyone’s human, and can feel emotions, and it’s okay if people need extra help or support that is why we have therapists and other resources. If everyone was all okay all the time, then the world would be very different.

     “I hope that the club will have a positive impact,” Canonico said, “I want to strive to keep our athletes communicating about everyday stressors and how to cope with them.” 

     Seeing the impact this club will make on the school and athletes is very important. The more that is spread about The Hidden Opponent will really help society see how much athletes struggle with taking care of themselves mentally. If society understands the impact mental health has on athletes, sports can become a more positive place and it shouldn’t be a stressor, it should be an enjoyment. 

   “I can’t wait to start raising awareness about athletes’ mental health,” Yi said, “We have a lot of ideas we want do and I really hope we make a difference in the athletic world.”