(NEW YORK CITY) December 1st, 2022-VOICEINSPORT (VIS), a global sports company, has been an integral part of supporting Stanford women athletes as they navigate the challenges competing at the collegiate level. Several current and former Stanford athletes now serve as VIS League Mentors and VIS Experts on the platform, using the experiences they gained at Stanford to give back to the next generation of Cardinal Athletes.
The digital VOICEINSPORT platform provides a safe space for women athletes to access both clinical and nonclinical services from over 80 leading global experts in sport psychology, sports nutrition and women’s health, mentorship from 200+ professional & collegiate athletes, and educational content written by women athletes for women athletes. With the athlete VOICE at the center, VIS tailors their services to meet the unique needs of women athletes and serves to complement the already incredible resources at Stanford.
Since VOICEINSPORT’s launch in 2020, Stanford athletes and alumni have had a large presence on the platform. Some of the first VIS League Mentors included Stanford alumnae and Olympians Elise Cranny, Vanessa Fraser, Sara Hall, Morgan Hentz, Kathryn Plummer, Lia Neal and Ella Eastin. The recently announced NCAA NIL policy has also opened doors for current Stanford student-athletes still in college, like standout track and field athlete Roisin Willis, to join the VIS League Mentoring platform and get paid for giving back to the community.
“Being a VIS League Mentor has been incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. It has allowed me to be in community with athletes from all over the world and connect with them through shared experiences in life and sport. The platform highlights the importance of building and cultivating a strong support system and is something that I know I would have benefitted from throughout my time as a collegiate athlete. There is something very powerful about learning how to navigate the ups and downs of college, as a student, athlete, and person, from those who were once in similar shoes.” - Elise Cranny, Olympian, Professional Runner, VIS League Mentor, Stanford Alumna
“VIS is a platform and resource I wish I had in high school and college when mental health was barely a topic of conversation. The work VIS is doing in providing fundamental mental health and mentoring resources to female athletes is exactly what young women in often-time high stress environments need as they’re constantly testing the limits of how far they can push their bodies and minds.” - Lia Neal, Olympian, Professional Swimmer, VIS League Mentor, Stanford Alumna
In addition, Stanford Medical School alumna Megan Roche, MD, serves as a current VIS Expert, providing opportunities for non-clinical group sessions related to the topic of Women’s Health and contributing to articles written by VIS Creators and published on the platform. Emily Kraus, MD, director of the Stanford Female Athlete and Translational Research (FASTR) program, also serves as one of the first VIS Experts. The VOICEINSPORT Foundation is also a close partner of the FASTR program, funding critical women athlete specific research—led by Dr. Kraus and Dr. Roche—that will supercharge sport science and research for years to come.
“As one of the initial members of the VIS Expert Team, I had the opportunity to observe the positive impact VIS had on girls and women in sport even in its most early stages. Their authentic and powerful communication highlighting female athlete leaders and experts in the field of sports science creates a space in which girls and women can become not only stronger athletes, but also future leaders to ensure an even better tomorrow for the next generation of female athletes.” - Emily Kraus, MD, Stanford FASTR Program Director, VIS Expert
"What I appreciate most about VIS is the collective enthusiasm to elevate sport for female athletes while uplifting each other in the process. From experts/mentors sharing their wisdom through education and science, to college athletes providing their stories to inform meaningful change, to young athletes growing through support, the foundation of enthusiasm at VIS will shape sport for decades to come." -Megan Roche, MD, Stanford FASTR Program Research Lead, VIS Expert
Most recently, VOICEINSPORT has been working closely with the Stanford Women’s Soccer team since teammate Katie Meyer’s death by suicide in March, providing mental health educational resources and sessions with VIS Experts in sport psychology and social work to aid the women in their grieving process.
"The VOICEINSPORT platform has played a pivotal role during my time at Stanford. VIS provided immediate support and resources that not only helped my confidence on the field, but also helped get me through one of the most difficult times in my life.” - Sierra Enge, Stanford Soccer player, VIS Athlete
The impact VOICEINSPORT is creating goes beyond the field, developing future leaders through its partnership with the VOICEINSPORT Foundation on the VIS Advocate Program, in which young women athletes reinvigorate the integrity of Title IX through education, enforcement and expansion of knowledge. Current Stanford athletes Nya Harrison and Logan Smith serve as VIS Advocates at their school. Further opportunities exist through the VIS Creator Program, an internship which provides young women athletes in college the opportunity to develop skills in the sports industry. Recent Stanford graduates Bianca Caetano-Ferrara and Galen Lew graduated from the Creator Program—which helped them explore their interests and passions and ultimately shaped their future careers.
"VOICEINSPORT has great resources for women athletes that helped me throughout my time at Stanford. I am excited for the rest of the women in the Stanford athletic community to utilize these resources and continue to build this powerful community." -Bianca Caetano-Ferrara, Former VIS League Mentor, Stanford Women’s Soccer Alumna
As part of the continued partnership all women athletes at Stanford are invited to join the VOICEINSPORT community for free, where they will gain access to a network of current and former women athletes and experts from Stanford and beyond, as well as written content and podcasts on topics including mind, body and nutrition for the woman athlete. VOICEINSPORT and Stanford are committed to changing more than just the game for the university’s women athletes and have more exciting collaborations to come!
About VOICEINSPORT
VOICEINSPORT, the global sports company, provides a community based platform for digital services in mental health, nutrition, sport science and mentoring from pro athletes to keep girls and women in sport. The VOICEINSPORT membership comes with free access to original articles written by women athletes, weekly podcasts, advocacy tools to drive change and a community forum. Paid services include a mentoring platform designed to increase the visibility to pro & collegiate athlete role models and access to both clinical & non-clinical sessions with the top 80 experts in sport psychology, sport nutrition and women’s health. Founded in 2019, VOICEINSPORT is based in NYC and is self-funded by sports industry Executive and Advocate Stef Strack. Visit voiceinsport.com for the latest company news and follow @voiceinsport on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Stanford
Stanford University is an NCAA Division I Institution located in Stanford, California. The Stanford Cardinal are members of the NCAA’s Pacific-12 (PAC-12) Conference. To learn more, visit https://gostanford.com/ and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Media Contacts:
VOICEINSPORT
Contact: Jessica Pidgeon