Taylor Rooks is putting mental health front and center with LG’s “Transparent Conversations.”

A sports reporter Taylor Rooks has gained widespread respect within the sports industry for offering invaluable insights as an NBA and NFL broadcaster. Now, with a while in the sport, she’s adding just a few latest titles to her repertoire, including her latest podcast with her friend and co-host Joy Taylor, in addition to becoming the host of season two LG . The latter is a traveling podcast series in partnership with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA®) “that focuses on college student-athletes discussing mental health and well-being.”

Rooks, graduate University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign draws on his own experiences to attach with his guests and speaks to the experiences of faculty athletes. In each episode, he travels to different college campuses to debate mental health on the earth of faculty athletes.

“When I heard about , it really resonated with me because that’s what I try to do both in my career and in real life. I think the basis of everything is communication, and if we can all be honest about ourselves and our experiences and feel that these words reach safe spaces with people who really care, who want to learn more and want to help in this way, that they can – that’s what transparency is all about,” Rooks says on the ESSENCE podcast. “The feeling that you can be vulnerable and that you can be open, open enough to talk about the things that really matter in your life or the things that are maybe bothering you. So when I heard that LG wanted to be able to have these kinds of discussions on college campuses with young student-athletes who are really trying to find a solution outside of the pressures of sports, school, family, friends and it just grows. It just felt right and really important. And something I was truly called to do.”

Rooks has already had university interviews with NBA star Kenny Anderson, Fisk University men’s basketball head coach, 2X NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse and Vanderbilt head coach, in addition to current college players.

In support of those intergenerational conversations, LG is reaching out to advocates, administrators, coaches and student-athletes to debate the work-life balance that characterizes the student-athlete world. Just last month, Rooks traveled to the NCAA Final Four to film two latest episodes that focused on the role coaches play in student-athlete mental health and the importance of collaboration in implementing effective mental health initiatives.

While she says she learned so much from the experience, what really stuck out to Rooks was an exchange with Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley during which the 2 discussed the role coaches play in keeping players’ mental health each on the sector and and beyond. “It was incredibly insightful to hear a coach have such a keen awareness of how he can both positively and negatively impact a student-athlete’s mental health and how he wants to make sure he is always doing the right thing,” Rooks explains. “Above all, beyond wins and losses, the important question was: Are my student-athletes feeling well and am I doing everything I can to support them?”

The NBA host continued to debate how many colleges have beefed up their athletic staffs, in order that sports teams usually are not just limited to coaches and trainers, but additionally expanded to incorporate mental health professionals. “It was a real eye opener and it was great to see these positive steps that schools have taken to ensure their athletes feel supported. There are a lot of people who employ sports psychologists, a lot of mental fitness coaches, some they really call mental coaches, people who work there and their job is to make sure you feel supported,” Rooks continued.

In addition to keeping players in good mental and physical condition for on-court performances, these professionals also help with the transition away from post-graduate sports, as for a lot of student-athletes, sports turn out to be a big a part of their identity. Drawing from my very own experiences as a school athlete, I noticed a paradigm shift in my life and how I needed to rediscover my identity away from sports – because life doesn’t at all times have the identical outlook that may be translated into wins and losses. “It’s cool that mental health is being talked about so loudly and so proudly, and right in front of our faces, in order that athletes know that they’re greater than only a champion or a winner or someone who plays football or basketball or soccer , which is just a part of them. This is the vital part. But that is not the entire part.

When Rooks turns the tables on me, he asks, “But how did you manage to do that? Did you rely on therapy or did you rely on self-reflection?” In response to Rooks’ inquiry, I share that while therapy played a pivotal role in my journey, it was ultimately self-reflection and a commitment to non-public growth that paved the way in which for navigating the complexities of mental health in athletics after graduating from university. She praised me for this, confirming that life after sports is a difficult journey. “Especially when you’ve been seen as a person for most of your life. This is what I hear a lot of athletes talking about both in , but also in the conversations I’m having now [with] current athletes, the identity issues they have and how they deal with it.”

As a Black woman in sports, Rooks, while excited by the sudden surge in interest in a women’s sport, namely basketball, also believes it calls for a much-needed audit of what it took to get here. “I think what we really lose is that this moment can exist, fortunately and fortunately, because of the many moments that preceded it. For it to be long-lasting, I think it’s a validation of all of us, athletes and media fans, how we all contributed to this very positive moment that we’re seeing now and which I hope will last forever, but also how way we contributed to why it took so long. Because that’s how we’ll continue to see the game really grow.”

She passionately advocates for changing the narrative around women’s sport, calling for a deeper dive into their individual stories and achievements. “I would like to proceed to see the expansion of girls’s sports based on who they’re, not only the indisputable fact that they’re women. I feel that was an issue,” he says. This feeling resonates inside her WNBA player Angel Reese’s recent criticism of sportscaster Emmanuel Acho’s views on the LSU team.

As Rooks points out, “Me personally, in the media, we still talked about these athletes from the point of view and perspective of the fact that they are women, without really telling their story.”
For women’s sports to actually reach its peak, Rooks says, the narrative needs to vary. By encouraging much-needed conversations and storytelling, you can too profit the long run of the sport for generations to come back by utilizing a podcast. “they concentrate on their humanity, and we center their experiences. In my opinion, this is the way you develop the sport because this is the way you develop the athlete.