As student athletes continue to navigate increasing pressures from competition, academics, and life away from sport, the ability to access mental health resources and support systems is more important now than ever.
Through Under Armour’s ‘Protect This Mind’—a comprehensive student-athlete mental health initiative delivered through their Project Rampart digital hub, young athletes across the country can access resources like the Be There Certificate, strengthen peer-to-peer support networks, and build lifelong mental wellbeing skills.
We had the honor of chatting with ‘Protect This Mind’ Ambassador Damar Hamlin, a football player for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, about this initiative, the importance of prioritizing youth mental health, and the power of helping student-athletes feel seen, supported, and empowered both on and off the field.
1) When you think back to your time as a student-athlete, what do you wish someone had told you about taking care of your mental health?
I think one of the biggest things that I had to learn on my own that I wish I would have been able to get some advice on is just learning how to read the room. Find somebody who’s just doing it the right way. One thing I used to do is watch a lot of interviews of the people that I looked up to, and I would take little pointers from that and continuously add it into my character of who I was as a person. Once I got to college, I had players like James Conner, who was nothing but dedicated and devoted to his craft, not only on the field but off the field as well. He taught me how to pray. He taught me how to follow devotions, and still to this day, that’s a big piece of my life.
Even if you can’t reach out to your role models, I know there’s people that you see at the pro level that you’re fans of, that you see just doing it the right way, living the right way. Model your life after what you see about them.
2) Protect This Mind emphasizes mental health as something athletes should build into their lives, not only address when they’re struggling. What does practicing mental health look like in your everyday routine?
When I think about moments of just “me versus me,” I would say first and foremost, having something you believe in. Having a higher power. I believe in God, and just honestly spending time with His Word, meditating on the messages, and just truly believing.
I think that’s the foundation of everything for “me versus me,” when I’m dealing with the mental battles in silence. Whenever I feel like the battle’s the toughest, that’s always where it starts for me, to get myself back up off the ground. And then just knowing who I am.
3) You play the position of safety for the Buffalo Bills, and as a safety, you’re trained to recognize what’s happening around you and respond when someone on your team needs help. In short, your teammates trust that you’ll have their backs. How do you build that same kind of trust off the field, so someone feels comfortable coming to you when they need support, and how can young athletes develop that same awareness when it comes to recognizing that a teammate or friend might need support?
Who is Damar Hamlin? I’m Nina’s son. That’s my mother. I say that to say, I like to let my heart walk in the room before me. How do you make others feel? How do you show up for others? How do you spread love? I truly try to make sure that I can be there for the people that I can in any way possible. Anyone that I connect with on this path of life, I truly want to be able to just leave this world a better place than we found it.
4) You’ve spoken openly about navigating the emotional challenges following your cardiac arrest during a football game in 2023. How has that experience shaped the way you think about mental health and the importance of having a support system?
Dealing with what I went through, I had to give myself grace. I knew it was going to take time for me to be the same player, and I still don’t feel like I’m the same player that I was. But I give myself that grace, and I just continue to show up every day with what I got.
Take it one day at a time. That process right there truly allowed me to be present through the deepest, darkest moments of my recovery. It sounds so cliché and just so generic, but it holds so much weight and power. Just taking it one day at a time allowed me to stay present in the moment.
A lot of anxiety comes from looking too far ahead. And I realized that through trying to get back into playing football again, breaking it down, compartmentalizing it, and just keeping it as, “Let me just do what I can do to get through this one day.
5) If there’s one thing you hope a young athlete takes away from Under Armour’s ‘Protect This Mind’ initiative, what would it be?
I think leaning on your teammates is underrated. That’s an underrated sense of the game.
6) “What is one way you “Protect This Mind” in your life?”
I protect my mind by filling up my cup so that I can show up for others the right way.
7) What would you say to a young person who is struggling right now but doesn’t want to burden their friends, teammates, or family by asking for help?
You’re not doing nothing alone in sports. Sometimes whenever you internalize your situation too much, you can feel alone, or you can feel immobilized by the anxiety or the pressure. But just continuously knowing that you’re not alone, and you can lean on your teammates.
