The Mental Matchup

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat talks with Connor Coyne (@concoyne). Connor is a former collegiate baseball player, current social marketing associate and TikTok creator. During this episode, we talk about the importance of therapy, the impact of social media, and how one of the greatest powers you can have is being unapologetically yourself.

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat talks with Renee Norden. Renee has been the Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of Fauquier County since November 2020. The Mental Health Association promotes mental wellness in Fauquier and Rappahannock counties. She facilitates the Mental Health Collaborative and the Mental Health School Coalition, while also serving on the Rappa...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat talks with Madeline Barlow. Madeline is a mentor to athletes, a 3x author, and a Reiki II and Human Design practitioner. She is also a former competitive swimmer and has her PhD in Psychology of Human Movement with a specialization in Exercise and Sport psychology. During the episode, we talk about transitioning out of athletics and into the next...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, we take some time to reflect on Season 2 of The Mental Matchup. Zoe Scurletis, host of Solace in the City, which is another podcast focused on making people feel less alone, reflects with us on the things she has learned in her own podcasting journey over the past year. We discuss the common threads between our podcasts, the topics that kept popping up...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Schuyler and Kat talk with Nakeie (Nak) Montgomery, a two sport athlete at Duke University. Nak grew up in Texas with his mom and sister, playing lacrosse and football. He went on to play lacrosse at Duke, and also joined the football team for his final fall season in college. Despite not playing as much as he wanted to his freshman year, and having hi...

This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup features Brian White. Brian currently plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS. During the episode, we talk about his successful youth, college, and professional career, and the ups and downs he experienced along the way. After growing up in New Jersey (and playing at the same youth club as Schuyler - fun fact), he attended Duke, making 73 appearances...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat and Schuyler talk to Noah Rubin about his tennis career and his mental health centric project, Behind the Racquet. After winning multiple international tournaments as early as age 11, Noah put together an incredible youth tennis career leading him to be ranked 6th in the world as a junior. Noah went on to play at Wake Forest for a year, before turn...

Leeann Passaro is a former student-athlete from Washington & Lee University and the current Chief Operating Officer at The Hidden Opponent. The Hidden Opponent (THO) is a non-profit and advocacy group focused on addressing the stigma of mental health in the athlete community, and providing support to athletes experiencing mental health challenges. Leeann has struggled with anxiety and depressi...

Trigger waring: discussion of suicidal ideation  This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup features Reagan Rust, the first D1 ice hockey player to come out of Mississippi, and now professional hockey player in Stockholm Sweden. Reagan is the founder of the Female Athlete Society, a free platform that connects female athletes to each other, and to resources, to help them navigate their athleti...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, we talk to Morgan Alexander, who recently graduated from Syracuse University, where she played lacrosse. Morgan is planning to go onto a career in sports journalism, and develop her mental health focused sweatshirt company. Morgan first experienced mental health in the form of anxiety, and immediately it became clear to her that mental health should be...

Trigger Warning: discussion of suicide and suicide attempt This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup features Scott Day, a former Division III baseball player at York College of PA, and now Director of Communications/Operations at Sean’s House and SL24: UnLocke the Light Foundation, an organization that provides free mental health resources, education, and assistance. Scott spent the first 15 year...

This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup features Brittnay Todd, who is the owner and clinical director of B Balanced Counseling & Wellness. Brittany attended the University of Florida where she achieved her bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Psychology, while competing as a swimmer. Brittany was an Olympic Trial swimmer in 2000 and 2004 and competed in NCAA’s, but dealt with a variety of m...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat and Schuyler talk to Cailin Bracken. Cailin (Kay-leen) grew up in New Jersey playing lacrosse and committed to play at Vanderbilt, where she is now a sophomore. Starting in her senior year of high school, Cailin dealt with depression and disordered eating. A week into preseason of her senior lacrosse season, it was cancelled due to COVID-19. Like m...

This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup features Kaleigh (KK) Kurtz, who is one of Schuyler’s teammates on the North Carolina Courage. KK grew up playing soccer in South Carolina, and committed to play collegiately at Richmond University. The stress surrounding her recruiting process led her to finding her first therapist, who also helped her work through abandonment issues rooted in friends mov...

This week’s episode of The Mental Matchup is with Joanne P. McCallie, also known as Coach P. Coach P is known for her successful basketball coaching career, which has spanned Auburn, Maine, Michigan State, and Duke University. She is the only coach to have won conference championships in four different conferences. Her overall record is 646-255, she has won gold medals coaching US youth basketball...

In this special episode, Kat and Schuyler talk with Amanda McGrew, the founder of the Playoff dating app. Amanda played collegiate and professional basketball herself, and designed Playoff to allow for collegiate and professional athletes to meet and date. Amanda is a gritty entrepreneur and her competitive spirit from her basketball career have clearly carried over into the business world. We cov...

Trigger Warning: discussion of sexual assault and gender-based violence Molly Little played lacrosse in college at the University of Denver, and she now plays professionally and coaches for the Denver lacrosse program. She grew up in Rhode Island and went to Tabor Academy for high school, a boarding school in Massechusetes, to focus on her athletic career. At Tabor, she entered into her first long...

Jack Beer was a youth stand-out soccer player, who was a high school All-American, competed with youth national teams, and was recruited to play at Georgetown University. In college, he had a successful freshman season, but started to fall out of love with the sport due to mounting anxiety. He decided to take time away from the team for his sophomore season, but returned to the team his Junior yea...

In Episode 2 of season 2, we talk to Max McGuire. Max is a former D1 goalie who has his own clothing line, What a Wonderful Life, that focuses on creating clothing that helps bring awareness to mental health and a portion of each sale is donated to different mental health charities. We talk about growing up on the west coast and going to school on the east coast, his lacrosse career, injuries and...

Daniela (Dani) Schneider, Duke Class of 2021, currently works in marketing for the Washington Wizards, and was a co-founder of UNCUT Duke. UNCUT is a student-led athlete-driven storytelling platform focused on sharing athletes’ personal and unique narratives. Dani was inspired to found UNCUT largely from her time as a tennis player in high school, and seeing the impact sports could have on mental...

Madeline (Maddy) Price, a Bay Area, CA native, was born to two Canadian parents which allowed her to compete for the Canadian Team in Track and Field. Maddy is a 400m sprinter and 4x400 relay specialist who graduated from Duke University in 2018 and completed a Masters of Management Studies in 2019 while supporting the track and field team through volunteer coaching up until June 2021.  Maddy...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Anna Callahan, Morgan’s Message Ambassador and student-athlete at Duke University. Anna is a passionate mental health advocate and ally for all. She talks about starting the Morgan’s Message chapter at Duke, life as a collegiate athlete, growing up, how her environment fostered positive growth and so much more. You can read more about ou...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Schuyler talks with Kayla Christian who is a Mindset & Wellness Coach. Kayla played soccer at Coastal Carolina, started an instagram page @havinghealthyhabits in her last semester of college, and has grown her expertise in holistic health into her own coaching business. In this episode we cover a lot of helpful tips for improving mental wellbeing....

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Schuyler talks with our podcast editor, Annie Krabbenschmidt. Annie played just about every sport growing up, and then focused on tennis and soccer in high school. She went to Duke as an undergraduate and was a part of the club soccer team, but she struggled as her identity as an athlete shifted. Annie came back to Duke for graduate school, which is wh...

This week's episode dives into Morgan's Message. A non-profit founded in 2020 that is striving to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics. MM aims to expand the dialogue on mental health by normalizing conversations, empowering those who suffer in silence, and supporting those who feel...