WooSox Players and College Student-Athletes Come Together for Spring Mental Health Seminar

As fans, we sometimes don’t see athletes talking about their own personal struggles and pressures of daily life, especially in a complex sport such as baseball. Slumps, averages and statistics are all part of the baseball glossary that constantly measures players every time they take the field.

In an effort to promote mental health advocacy, the WooSox hosted its first Mental Health Seminar on April 10 alongside Emerson College. Dr. Charles Steinberg, president of the WooSox and director of the sports communication program at Emerson’s Boston campus, invited both professional players and student-athletes to share their experiences balancing life and sport.

From the WooSox; Durbin Feltman, Marcus Wilson, Jarren Duran and Ryan Fitzgerald gathered at Worcester’s Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Student-athletes from Emerson College included Trevor Arico from the Men’s Basketball team, Sam Zannotti from the Women’s Softball team, Ezra Charles and Nick Favazzo from the Men’s Baseball team. Moderator Evan Sharrard, a sophomore in Emerson’s sports communication concentration, fielded questions and guided conversation.

Something that professional players and student-athletes agreed on almost immediately is that everybody is exposed, no matter if they play sports or not, to having their emotional well-being affected.

“We all go through it,” former WooSox pitcher Durbin Feltman said. “For us being athletes, sometimes you can get lost in that play of the game. If you’re a hitter you go 0-4 that night or if you’re a reliever you get tagged for five runs, so at the end of the day you have to come back and reset.”

Arico, point guard for the Emerson Lions, echoed Feltman’s viewpoint along with other student-athletes that society should talk about mental health.

“As a Division 3 athlete, throughout my career, when you’re young you play for fun and you’re enjoying yourself,” Arico said. “As you get older, it’s definitely still fun and you’re getting to compete with your team but you start to realize kind of that adding pressure and it’s nice to get rid of the stigma and being able to talk about it.”

Former WooSox outfielder Marcus Wilson and Lions softball infielder Sam Zannotti are active advocates for mental health based on experiences that have touched them on a personal level. For Wilson, the death of a former teammate made him realize how important it is to talk about the subject.

“I actually had a friend that I used to play with that hit me a little bit,” Wilson said. “We weren’t that close, but I had talked to him the week before. He took his own life. And after that I really got into the whole discussion about mental health. It’s good that we’re talking about it, it's not taboo, it’s a thing that really matters, and I’m glad that we’re talking about it finally.”

Zannotti was impacted by the news of a fellow softball player and student-athlete at James Madison University, when catcher Lauren Bernett died in 2022 at age 20 due to apparent suicide.

“I think it goes to show that while you might look good on paper, it’s not always good in person,” she said. “So that’s why I started doing this.”

Teammates and friends off the diamond, WooSox infielder Ryan Fitzgerald and Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran shared how they cope with the pressure of being professional athletes and trying to sustain themselves and their families financially. Fitzy highlighted that having friends instead of teammates on your team certainly takes weight off his shoulders.

“We play this game for money, this is our livelihood, this is how we support ourselves, our families and loved ones, so it’s a lot more on your shoulders when that’s at stake,” he said. “But for me, having a support system, understanding that this is more than just a game, this is for life, the friendships we make in the game are for life, and it’s not about the money we make [or] the fame. It’s the friendships that are important and keeping those people close to you.”

Duran, who started the season with the WooSox and got called up to Boston a few weeks later, confessed that talking to his teammates is better than internalizing and processing his own thoughts.

“I’m going to admit it, I’m not very good in my own headspace and talking to myself,” he said. “I can’t lie to myself that everything is good, so if I can talk to Fitzy, Marcus, Durbin or some of the coaches they can tell me how it is. Definitely talking to people is a big coping for me because I can beat myself up better than anybody else can, but I know talking to people is probably my biggest thing.”

Realizing that only a game is at stake, reading the Bible, meditating, and even lifting weights were some of the things athletes and student-athletes found in common during the Mental Health Seminar, learning that they had more things in common than perhaps they originally thought. In the end, all athletes in attendance both agreed that every person has their own way of coping with pressure, but speaking out will always be the best tool against self doubt.