When NFL safety Ryan Mundy retired from sportscasting or coaching after the 2015 season, he didn’t pursue a profession with the previous pros. Mundy, who was drafted within the sixth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008 and won the Super Bowl in 2009, was as an alternative able to challenge a culture that singles out men in sports, particularly black men, for emotional vulnerability.
“I just got to a point where I couldn’t hold it back anymore,” Mundy says Assets“I grew up in a time when we didn’t have the opportunity – especially in sports – to talk about our feelings. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t have the words or the tools or even the confidence or courage to talk to anyone about it.”
Mundy hopes his commitment will encourage other men who too often internalize societal messages that falsely equate emotional vulnerability with weakness.
Emotional resilience and the sport
Managing mental health is a cornerstone of overall health and impacts performance each on and off the sphere. Mundy, who has suffered from anxiety and depression himself, admitted that he had embarrassed himself along with his game when his mental health deteriorated.
“You can often put athletes on a pedestal, but the reality is that athletes are human and struggle with the same feelings and conditions as everyone else,” he says. There is a difference between having the mental strength to cope with the pressure and nerves of competition, Mundy adds, and bigger mental health issues that require intervention and sometimes result from suppressing feelings for long periods of time.
This is precisely why sports teams are placing more emphasis on hiring performance psychology and mindfulness coaches. Mundy, like many other mental health advocates, recognizes how emotional mastery has a positive impact on overall health and performance.
Although there was more acceptance recently than in a long time for athletes to discuss their mental health issues and seek help as they might for physical ailments, there remains to be an incredible deal of stigma related to it.
When he retired lower than a decade ago, Mundy looked for therapists who could help him along with his anxiety and depression, but couldn’t discover a provider who understood the exacerbating aspects affecting his mental health, including racism within the health care system. After earning his Executive MBA, he began Alkeme in 2020, a mental wellbeing platform featuring Black practitioners that fills a niche in healthcare.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health and well-being have turn out to be an even bigger cultural issue. Yet high rates of loneliness, depression and anxiety indicate that resources aren’t reaching the individuals who need them. No one sees this gap greater than Mundy, who hopes Alkeme continues to succeed in more people through its online community and library of content, which incorporates advice on meditating, constructing healthy relationships, promoting well-being at work and more.
“For a long time, there was no space for men to talk about it. There was no space for athletes to talk about it,” he says. “Now, through community, through brands, through conversations and language, a space is being created where people are starting to share their stories.”
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