Blog: Reimagining High School Athletics: Why Balance, Mental Health, and Whole-Person Development Matter More Than Ever

High school athletics have changed in many ways since my days playing volleyball at Father Ryan. For many students and families, sports have moved beyond an extracurricular activity into a defining part of daily life. Sports are now year-round commitments with private lessons, club teams, showcases, strength programs, and travel schedules – often at a cost to a family’s finances and time.

Student athletes are experiencing burnout and mental health issues more than ever before. The growing trend of early specialization in sports results in a greater risk of overuse injuries and adds to their emotional stress.

The motivation for our nation’s white-hot focus on high school sports? Earning a college scholarship at a Division I school. But the dream is far from reality. Only seven percent of all high-school athletes nationwide will play at a Division I college or university on an athletic scholarship.

At Father Ryan High School, we are proud that, each year, several student-athletes go on to play in college. Every season, our student-athletes earn team and individual accolades and championships. These are far from the sole metric of our athletic program’s success.  

Our goal for our 38 sports teams is to help students, no matter the level of competition, discover who they are as athletes, students, leaders, friends, and people of faith. Whether they play for a season or compete all four years, we want every student athlete to take the lessons learned in competition into life. An impressive 72 percent of our 815 students participate in Irish athletics, which are closely intertwined with our challenging academic program, robust arts program, and deep commitment to faith and service.

Creating a Healthier Model for High School Athletics at Father Ryan

Kids have a hard time finding balance when there is so much pressure to perform at the highest level all the time. Father Ryan’s athletic program ensures student athletes understand that their spiritual, academic, and athletic lives must coincide for them to show up every day.

More balance does not mean lower expectations. It means expanding the definition of what it means to be a successful student-athlete. A healthier balance puts the athlete first and allows sports to be an impactful part of their high school career, not the entirety of it.

I played volleyball and basketball at Father Ryan and was recruited to play volleyball at Lipscomb University. I have been Father Ryan’s head volleyball coach for a decade and Director of Athletics since 2020. Yes, winning feels wonderful, and working for greatness on the court or field is an important goal for an athlete and a team, but that does not mean perfection.

Father Ryan’s More Balanced Approach to High School Athletics

We honor an athletic tradition at Father Ryan that is 100 years old. We have 73 state championships and 177 individual state championships. We are deeply proud to have played in the South’s first integrated high school athletic event, The Game That Changed the South, on January 4, 1965, against the all-Black Pearl High School. And we are proud to compete in one of the toughest leagues in Tennessee: Division II, AA and AAA

I am most proud of how our coaches and staff embrace a growth mindset for every athlete. They create an environment where student athletes have permission and the confidence — socially and culturally — to choose balance without fear and to maximize their potential. This allows us to reimagine high school sports to be what they were always meant to be: a place where kids grow, compete, thrive, and love the game without feeling consumed by it.

At Father Ryan, this includes:

·         No-try-out sports in every season, which do not require try-outs and allow students to take a risk, try a sport, and compete just for the joy of being with friends

• Individual feedback from coaches for every student who is cut from a try-out team to explain the decision and offer constructive tips on what skills he or she needs to work on to improve in that sport to try out again. In my experience, not many schools do this.

• A student-run Sports Journalism “Behind the Crest” team that creates social media content highlight athletic teams, and offers manager positions and other opportunities for kids who do not make a team but want to be involved.
• A comprehensive sports conditioning program run by Coach Kyle Feldman, our Head Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, who worked at the college level and with Nashville’s D1 Training facility.
• Required team Mass at least three times a year and a service project during the season to cultivate empathy and help student athletes see that there is a world and a purpose for them outside of sports.

The Girl's Soccer Team volunteered with Room In the Inn this fall. 

Our new partnerships underscore a more balanced, student-centered focus. With White House Sports Psychology (WHSP), we are better addressing our athletes’ mental health with professional development for coaches and more effective team communication focused on growth. This year, every coach gets a mandatory three sessions with WHSP, and next year, WHSP will work with each team. Our counseling services are strong, but we recognize that student-athletes face unique pressures. We are committed to providing specialized sports psychology support, a resource few schools offer.

Big Board Sports, an online college recruiting platform, helps student-athletes connect with collegiate athletic opportunities that align with their skills. Coaches may see a player at one level, and sometimes the student and family members have a different view. BBS, paid for by Father Ryan and free for any student athlete, gives athletes and families a tool to navigate what can be a complex recruiting process. We are one of two private schools in Nashville to use this great tool.

Any student involved in athletics and our dance team can create a Big Board account. We started with 20 student athletes participating last year, jumping to 220 student athletes this year. In two years, we hope to include the arts as well.

Our ongoing work with Bryan Snyder of “On Your Mark” Nutrition provides expertise and resources to provide personalized nutritional counseling for our student athletes, a program our strength conditioning coach, Kyle Feldman, worked hard to bring to Father Ryan. We collaborated with our food service, Creative Dining, to add a “Fit Fuel” program to the dining hall with nutrition information for all offerings. On Your Mark hosts monthly Zoom calls, open to any Father Ryan family, to talk about the world of nutrition.  

Building Character and Leadership Through High School Sports

As a Catholic school, we give our athletes a spiritual morality and academic perspective to form the whole person. Father Ryan’s mission – to be an experience of the living Gospel while challenging students to reach their spiritual, academic, and personal potential – is infused into the daily life of every single student athlete in their leadership journey.

Our student athletes learn that competitive excellence and service learning go together, combining top-level performance and true moral character both on and off the field. Playing sports in high school teaches so many important skills:

• Showing up for teammates every day and encouraging each other.
• Learning time-management skills and how to balance athletics, faith, schoolwork, and other interests.
• Valuing service, humility, integrity, and teamwork.
• Cultivating healthy habits.
• Practicing resilience and perseverance by pushing through hard practices and disappointing games.
• Developing a disciplined work ethic.
• Promoting sportsmanship and civility.

We expect our student athletes to show up at practice and for games as the best versions of themselves – and help others be their best. They will be part of a team for the rest of their life in some capacity and need strong communication skills.

People often point to Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s lack of work ethic, but that is not what I see at Father Ryan. Playing a sport develops strong mental fortitude and accountability. Kids need to commit to both athletic training and academics, and to pushing through tough times, such as not being a starting player or losing a game.

The Father Ryan promise of You Will Be Known. You Will Be Loved. carries over into athletics. When my four sisters and I played volleyball at Father Ryan, our head coach, Jinx Cockerham, who coached for 40 seasons at the school, believed in us on the court and beyond. Coach Cockerham was the first person who pushed me to be a leader. It came full circle for me when I coached her granddaughter, Kennedy Cockerham ’25, for four years here on the volleyball court.

Building character in our players begins with providing professional development for our coaches to give them the tools to elevate their players and cultivate them as positive leaders. Teammates encourage one another naturally when their coach leads by example. Older players mentor younger players. Our volleyball teams do this with our Big Sister/Little Sister program.

How we communicate with teams is another leadership development opportunity. After a tough loss, instead of beating down the team, our coaches build up their players, giving students great learning opportunities to strategize together and support each other through wins and losses.

How Parents Can Help Student Athletes Find Balance

We love parents and families in the stands, cheering and offering unconditional support, win or lose. But if the student athlete is going to grow and learn accountability through sports, he or she needs to lead the conversation with a coach, not the parent.

Playing high school sports is a great classroom for allowing children to learn how to advocate for themselves. There are going to be tough days and plays. Encourage your athlete to advocate for themselves with the coach, to be open, fully honest, and transparent.

As an athletic director, when a parent reaches out to me, my best advice is to be sure they are following the school’s communication protocol, which is to have their child speak directly to the coach. When parents help their child brainstorm questions and how to approach the conversation with a coach about why they were benched or did not start, for example, they further their child’s growth mindset. The student learns accountability and gets real-life practice in handling difficult conversations, skills that set him or her up for success in life.

Time management and balance go together. Parents can help athletes better manage time and commitments through positive, constructive conversations. Have them schedule time to rest and relax, and be sure to model this for your athlete.  

I firmly believe that parents need to maximize their child’s potential off the field. Are they taking full advantage of their academics? What are their interests beyond the classroom and athletics? When students get encouragement from the most important coaches in their life – their parents – to try new things and pursue other interests, they discover their strengths, passions, and test their leadership.

At Father Ryan, we discourage perfection, reminding all athletes that the value is in the effort, not the result. When we say that we are striving for excellence, it is never going to be perfect.

Finding balance in high school sports means remembering that success isn’t defined by a scoreboard or a stat line, but by growth along the way.

When students are supported in maximizing their potential both on and off the field, they learn skills that prepare them for the next level of life—resilience, discipline, and a true growth mindset.

 

Visit fatherryan.org/athletics to learn more about the program.

  

About Ann Mullins ‘03

Varsity Volleyball and Basketball, Father Ryan High School, 1999-2003

B.S., Psychology, 2007, M.A. Learning and Teaching, 2009, Lipscomb University; member, Lipscomb Volleyball team

Executive Director, Alliance Volleyball Club since 2018; Assistant Director, 2012-2018

Athletic Director, Father Ryan, 2020; Associate Director of Athletics for Women, 2016-2020

Head Volleyball Coach, Father Ryan, since 2016