Sports journalist Taylor Rooks has earned widespread respect across the sports industry for offering valuable insights as an NBA and NFL broadcaster. Now with some skin in the game, she’s adding a handful of new titles to her repertoire, including her new podcast Two Personal with her friend and co-host Joy Taylor as well as becoming the season two host for LG’s Transparent Conversations. The latter of which is a traveling podcast series in partnership with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA®) “that focuses on college-level student athletes discussing mental health and wellness.”
Rooks, a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign draws from her own experiences to connect with her guests and speaks to the experiences of college athletes. In each episode of Transparent Conversations, she travels to different college campuses to discuss mental health as it pertains to the world of college athletes.
“When I heard about Transparent Conversations, it really resonated with me because that’s what I try to do both in my career and in my real life. I think the cornerstone of everything is communication, and if we are all able to speak honestly about ourselves and our experiences and feel like those words are landing in safe spaces with people who genuinely care and want to learn more and want to help in the ways that they can—that to me is what transparency is,” Rooks tells ESSENCE of the podcast. “Feeling as though you can be vulnerable and that you can be open, open enough to talk about the things that really matter in your life or things that have maybe been bothering you in your life. And so when I heard that LG wanted to be able to have those kinds of discussions on college campuses with young student athletes that are truly trying to figure things out on top of the pressure of, the actual sports, and school and family and friends and just growing. It just felt right and it really felt important. And something that I was genuinely called to do.”
Already, Rooks has hosted conversations at universities with NBA All-Star Kenny Anderson, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Fisk University, Jerry Stackhouse 2X NBA All-Star and head coach of Vanderbilt, and current college players.
In fostering these intergenerational conversations, LG taps advocates, administrators, coaches, and student-athletes to discuss the work-life balance that comes with the world of student athletes. Just last month, Rooks traveled to the NCAA Final Four to shoot two new episodes anchored by the role coaches play in student-athlete mental health and the importance of collaboration in implementing effective mental health initiatives.
While she says she’s learned a lot from the experience, what truly stuck out for Rooks was her exchange with Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley, where the two discussed coaches’ roles in players’ mental well being both on and off the court. “It was so insightful to be able to hear a coach be so deeply aware of how he can both positively and negatively impact a student athlete’s mental health and how he wanted to make sure he was always doing the right things,” Rooks explains. “Above all else more than wins and losses, ‘it was, are my student athletes okay, and am I doing what I can to support them?’”
The NBA host went on to discuss how many schools have beefed up their athletic staff, so sports team’s aren’t just confined to coaches and trainers, but have expanded to mental health professionals, too. “It’s been really eye opening and great to see these positive steps that schools have taken to make their athletes feel supported. There’s so many that have a number of sports psychologists, a number of mental fitness coaches, some that they really call mental trainers, people that are there and their whole job is to make sure you feel supported,” Rooks continues.
And beyond just keeping players in shape mentally and physically for executing on the court, these professionals are also aiding in the transition away from sports post-grad, because for many student athletes, sports largely becomes their identity. Drawing from my own experiences as a college athlete, I noted the paradigm shift in my own life, and how I had to rediscover my own identity away from sports — because life doesn’t always have the same outlook that can be quantified into wins and losses. “It’s cool that mental health is being talked about so loudly and so proudly and so in front of our faces so that the athletes know that they are more than, a champion or a winner or somebody who plays soccer or basketball or football that is just a part of them. It’s an important part. But it’s not the whole part.”
As Rooks turns the tables on me, she inquires, “But how did you manage that? Did you rely on therapy, or was it through self-reflection?” In response to Rooks’ inquiry, I share that while therapy played a crucial role in my journey, it was ultimately self-reflection and a commitment to personal growth that paved the way for navigating the intricacies of mental health post-collegiate athletics. She commended me for such, validating that life post sports is a tough journey. “Especially when for so much of your life you have been seen as one thing. That is what I hear so many athletes talk about both in Transparent Conversations, but also just in the conversations that I have now [with] current athletes, the issues that they have with identity and how they are struggling in that too.”
As a Black woman in sports, Rooks, while excited about the sudden uptick in interest in women’s sports, namely basketball, also believes that it raises a much needed audit of what it took to get here. “I think something that is really being lost is that this moment is able to exist, thankfully and happily because of the many moments that existed before it. For this to be long lasting I actually think it’s a an examination of of all of us, of the athletes of the fans of the media, how everybody has contributed to this very positive moment that we’re seeing now that I hope continues forever, but also how we contributed to why it took so long to do that. Because that is how we will continue to see the game really grow.”
She passionately advocates for a shift in the narrative surrounding women’s sports, urging for a deeper exploration of their individual stories and accomplishments. “I want to continue to see the growth of women’s sports being about who they are, and not just that they’re women. I think that has been an issue,” she asserts. This sentiment resonates with her recent critique of sports commentator Emmanuel Acho’s perspectives on LSU stand out-turned-WNBA player Angel Reese.
As Rooks emphasizes, “For me personally, in the media, we have continued to just talk about these female athletes from the scope and perspective of the fact that they are female without actually telling their stories.”
To see women’s sports really reach a pinnacle, according to Rooks, is via shifting the narrative. With the help of the podcast, fostering much needed conversation and storytelling, can also benefit the future of the game for generations to come. “Transparent Conversations are centering their humanity and we’re centering their experiences. And that to me is how you grow the game because what you’re doing is growing the athlete.”