Three years ago, Bella McDaniel was a multi-sport student-athlete at Geneseo High School. She struggled with mental health during her years as an athlete. That’s something she saw a lot of her friends and teammates deal with, too. She did not want to be a bystander. McDaniel approached her strength and conditioning coach, Angelo James, […]
Three years ago, Bella McDaniel was a multi-sport student-athlete at Geneseo High School. She struggled with mental health during her years as an athlete. That’s something she saw a lot of her friends and teammates deal with, too.
She did not want to be a bystander. McDaniel approached her strength and conditioning coach, Angelo James, with her worries.
“I was like, there is a need we need to address here in the athletic setting,” recalled McDaniel. “I don’t know how we can do that, but let’s do it.”
She decided to pivot her plan after high school from playing tennis at the collegiate level to starting a non-profit organization to help athletes open up about their mental health. Delivered with Purpose became McDaniel’s new path in life.
“I know this is a need and for some reason, I was chosen to do this,” said McDaniel.
Her first workshop with a team was June 2024. Since then, she has worked with six other schools and teams in the Quad Cities area. This includes the Assumption softball team – one of the top teams in the state at their level.
She brought in a team to collaborate on the workshop with Assumption. She wanted to have people who dealt with their own mental health issues, specifically in softball.
“That was great because it was easier for the girls to relate to that,” said Tyler Edwards, the Assumption softball head coach.
They always start their conversations on the field, literally and figuratively, “Starting there and kind of using it in terms that they understand,” said McDaniel. “Because then it opens the conversation to more, deeper mental health.”
McDaniel and her team will then give the athletes exercises they can use, not only day-to-day, but even in between pitches.
“Coaches tell their players to breathe, right?” said Edwards. “Yes, that’s great advice, but this is an actual method on how to actually breathe and focus on breathing.”
That method? A relaxation technique known as “box breathing.” Athletes breathe in for four seconds, then out for four seconds, then repeat.
“It gives you a way to clear your brain and restart if something just happened,” said Edwards.
For a team that often finds itself in high-pressure situations on their way to battling for a championship, this tool has been really useful.
“We have a lot of opportunities where we’re challenged throughout the year,” said Edwards. “We have to rely on being able to reset.”
The workshops also help athletes figure out how to deal with the challenging transition of retiring from sports.
“When you compete in your last meet or you compete at your last tournament, you are just left there like, ‘OK, now what?'” said McDaniel. “I think it’s really important to have those next steps of, ‘Where’s my purpose outside of athletics?'”
Delivered with Purpose works with all levels of teams ranging from Division I to high school and even travel ball teams. For more information, visit here. For those interested in setting up a workshop with Delivered, visit the website.
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Category: General Sports
