About
My name is Sydney Garber, and I created this website to help those competing in women’s sports better understand and address the complexities of balancing competition, academics, and life.
As a high school senior, I have competed in several sports throughout my career. In addition to competitive downhill skiing for eight years, I also participated in travel golf and cross country.
But my passion has been softball. I have been fortunate to play on a team that has traveled all around the United States with high academic-minded girls that live in six different states.
Throughout these experiences – watching girls study in airports, manage expectations with teachers, try and find time to eat a good meal between workouts and practice, talk to boyfriends on the phone in parking lots outside a stadium – I learned that playing sports as a woman is tough.
While that difficulty is exactly one of the reasons we are drawn to sports, the unique challenges we face is also a reality that we need to address.
I was inspired to build this site when I was visiting a college coach on the East Coast who has a master’s of science in psychology (with an emphasis in sport psychology) who said she incorporates mental health into her team every week.
It became obvious to me that this is something every team should do, and I sought out to find the resources to help. While I found some good articles on the subject, I didn’t find a single place to research, discuss, and engage on the subject.
The Iron Butterfly 