Beyond Sport United 2022 Spotlight:

November 11, 2022 

On November 17, we will explore Sport’s Role in Social Justice in the US at Beyond Sport United 2022 with a focus on Civic Engagement, Health and well-being and Environmental Justice. With less than a week to go till the event, we spoke to one of our case study leaders, Coach D. Williams, Founder of Get Fit Fly Right and TheAthleteProject. 

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Coach D is on a mission to change the way mental health is approached in sports. As a speaker, coach and advocate, she believes in the power of connection over competition and through 533 breathwork and athletic yoga sessions, integrates mental wellness into sports programming and coach training. In 2011, she founded Get Fit Fly Right (GFFR) - and TheAthleteProject (TAP Method) a few years later - to provide coaches with strategies to effectively support athletes mentally and emotionally.  

Coach D spoke to us about her journey to Get Fit Fly Right, the importance of "mental hygiene" and how coaches can better meet the emotional needs of their athletes. Read on for our interview. 

You founded Get Fit Fly Right to bring your work to your hometown of Brownsville, Brooklyn. What inspired you to create it and what is your mission? 

Get Fit Fly Right began in 2011 and GFFR LLC. was officially formed in 2020. In its inception, it was largely inspired by the need for better athletic programs that trained more than elite players. The death of my parents and its effect on my mental well-being inspired me to rebrand GFFR and create TheAthleteProject  (TAP), which provides coaches with actionable steps to develop social-emotional learning, effective mental hygiene systems and continuing self-care practices within their programs for their athletes and staff. As a coach I was seen as the one who always had the answer, yet as life got increasingly challenging for me off the court, it seemed that no one had any answers for me. I found myself lost and without a safe space to help me develop as a person and not just a basketball coach.

As a result, I lost myself in my ideals attempting to be a successful and accomplished basketball coach. I created 533 - a breath meditation for energy - and TAP because I needed a system that allowed me to regulate, restore and rejuvenate my energies and emotions. I created a mental hygiene system that allowed me to check up and check in with myself every day. I figured that if the best cure for a disease is prevention, then I could prevent some of my mental anguish and suffering by cleaning out old emotions, energies and thoughts that brought on my anxiety, doubts, worries and fears. 

Since 2015, my mission has been to change the way mental health is approached in sports. Using 533, and developing a hygiene system, coaches can effectively meet the emotional needs of their athletes. Get Fit and Fly Right is a mantra that I believe must start with me and how I reflect that message in my life off the court. GFFR is a wellness resource that promotes emotional intelligence and supports the development of a mental hygiene system within sports programming.

What does the concept of mental hygiene mean exactly? 

Mental Hygiene is the daily work done to clean out old and habitual thoughts, energies and emotions to prevent dis-ease. This concept was created to shift the current perception of mental health and wellness that “other” those with a mental health illness or challenges. This perception has led to current interventions being reactive. Mental hygiene is a proactive solution to the mental health challenges and experiences that happen to us all every day. Mental health is the state of a person's ability to function and because challenges or issues may not be seen or be disruptive, over time they can become a concern or illness. 

In the US, 1 out 5 adults will experience a mental health illness in their lifetime -- and that number is increasing. Yet there are little to no preventive initiatives currently in sports that bring awareness to mental health concerns. I thought about how dental hygiene systems are practiced and normalized in our society’s modern culture. I began to introduce mental wellness in the same fashion, as a hygiene system to prevent disease. Dental hygiene is how I illustrate the need for daily attention to mental health that destigmatizes mental illness and promotes a hygiene regimen for all. There was a time when many thought dental hygiene to be unnecessary until many learned of the many diseases that anyone could contract if they did not tend to their oral health. 

Similarly, regarding mental health, the mind and body are affected over time when there isn't daily attention to hygiene and cleanliness. Mental health illnesses are unique in that they often go unseen and detected because they are the result of untreated, unprocessed or unhealthy emotions that have disrupted the brain’s cognition but not its ability to function. Mental hygiene is a concept that aims to demystify the perception that functionality is an indication of strong mental well-being. Mental hygiene is my way to bring awareness to the significance of everyone developing a hygiene system for their emotional and mental well-being.

How do you apply this approach to the sports world? 

GFFR partners with sports-based youth organizations in NYC to increase program awareness and safety when developing systems for wellness that shift the current approach to mental health and emotional distress. TAP provides sports programs with a comprehensive system to develop a regimen for mental hygiene. GFFR believes that coaches are the key to shifting how mental health is approached in sports. 

The mission is to equip coaches to be aware of their programs and personal emotional needs, develop a hygiene practice that meets the needs of their program and normalize this hygiene practice within their program. Through coach training and emotional intelligence development, TAP services include facilitated intimate conversation, yoga or similar practice, meditation and breathwork. Learning the TAP method positions coaches to cultivate a culture of wellness within their programs.

Through coach training and emotional intelligence development, all TAP strategies are designed to bring self-awareness to the forefront of mental wellness. TAP pillars of Awareness, Development and Normalization are the key strategies for optimal wellness in a sports atmosphere. TAP provides facilitated intimate conversations known as “TAPtalks”, Athletic Yoga instruction and 533 breathing meditation instruction.

How do you work with sports-based youth development organizations? 

GFFR partners with sports-based youth organizations to increase program awareness and safety when developing systems for wellness that shift the current approach to mental health and emotional distress. TAP provides sports programs with a comprehensive system to develop a regimen for mental hygiene. Through coach training, yoga and meditation instruction, GFFR engages sports programs with effective strategies that integrate mental health awareness into the foundational culture of their programs. 

Many sports organizations look to form local community partnerships. What are the key elements to creating healthy partnerships with communities?  

Empowering the people is supreme. This includes brands providing the necessary tools that close the skills gap for those within the community compared to their counterparts. A partnership is not empowerment, it is an opportunity to connect and collaborate. Empowering community members looks like active support and visibility that allows community members to build upon the aid received long after initial aid is no longer present. Releasing the scarcity model - less for me means more for them and vice versa - in partnerships allows communities to flourish and the brand to expand its reach. Achieving this requires a mindset shift in both community members and brand executives. The partnership isn't restoration for the community or its members, but it can serve as a rejuvenation that leads to repair for that community and its members.

Meaning, partnerships must include an impact plan that includes resources to support a mindset shift in community members and brand representatives. Providing resources without the tools to sustain and elevate the community only leaves the members of undervalued neighborhoods dependent and partnership interventions unsustainable. Healthy partnerships seek to support communities to become self-sufficient and implement effective and sustainable interventions. This includes resources for skill, personal and emotional development, and a succession plan for community members to continue the work independently. Partnerships that are thoughtful create opportunities for expansion for each party involved. 

Coach D will lead a workshop on creating a culture of wellness individually, within organizations and in partnership with communities at Beyond Sport United 2022.