Athleticwear for the Modern Athlete (Sponsored)
This is a sponsored post from Greatness Wins.
When it comes to shopping for new apparel, understandably the market is overwhelming and saturated. One question that keeps popping into the minds of consumers: “What happened to the ‘sport’ in sportswear?”
Quality and durability are questionable with many athletic brands, while the focus of athleisure is more on fashion than fitness.
Greatness Wins saw the need for something better. All athletes deserve something better, and they’ve stepped up to the plate.
Derek Jeter and e-commerce entrepreneur and UNTUCKit Founder Chris Riccobono have joined forces with American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Misty Copeland, to introduce Greatness Wins: athleticwear for the modern athlete.
Their performance activewear has an ideal combination of weight, fit, and feel. So, no matter the activity you’re doing this summer – whether running, golf, or pickleball – there is a product for you.
Now through July 21st, Trade Rumors readers can get an exclusive 20% off their first order.
Visit the website here for more info.
Here are some products to choose from:
Perfect for lifting, light running, walking, cross training, layering, warm-ups and cool downs. Moisture wicking, quick dry, anti odor, breathable, UPF 40, optimal range of motion, front pouch pockets, cinched drawcord on hood.
Made from Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified recycled polyester, derived from plastic bottles. Recycled and reduces the need to extract new raw materials.
Great for lifting, light running, walking, cross training, yoga, soccer practice, tennis, cycling.
Get your golf game fit in check this summer with Greatness Wins’ vast array of golf-related gear. Polos, clubhouse pants/shorts, and even golf accessories like gloves are great options to improve play. And they also make a great gift for the golf fanatic in your life.
Click this link here for an exclusive 20% off your first order!
No matter what kind of athlete you are, Greatness Wins has a solution for you.
Sponsored: Today is World Mental Health Day
This is a sponsored post from BetterHelp.
Get Matched to the Best Therapist for You. Self-Care is Focusing on Your Mental Health
What’s an important holiday you might not know about? World Mental Health Day on October 10th – encouraging all of us to talk about and take care of our mental health since 1992.
The Mental Health Of Athletes: Statistics, Self-Care, And Support
Athletes often experience high pressure, busy schedules, and exposure to harmful stigmas and stereotypes that can lead to mental health conditions or chronic stress and burnout.
If you’re an athlete, there are various ways you can practice self-care to improve your mental health.
Mental health challenges common in athletes
Up to 35% of elite professional athletes are living with a mental illness, and student-athletes and those who participate in athletics for pleasure are also at risk. Below are statistics on the most common mental health conditions in athletes.
Eating disorders
Eating disorders may be more common in athletes due to pervasive stereotypes about what an athlete’s body “should” look like. In addition, bullying or rejection from teammates, coaches, and team supporters can lead to individuals experiencing fear of shame or the loss of their athlete status if they gain weight, lose muscle, or experience bodily changes.
Depression
One study found that the prevalence of depression in athletes is around 15.6% to 21%. The same study reported that athletes who were at a higher risk of depressive disorders were those with sports injuries, those who had been terminated from their career as athletes, and those rated poorly in performance. Depression can lead to a higher suicide risk in athletes, so therapy is often recommended.
Anxiety
Research by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) found that almost 85% of certified athletic trainers believe anxiety disorders are an issue for student-athletes. Other studies report that sports can lead to high levels of stress and pressure, which can cause anxiety.
Substance use disorders
According to studies, medication and alcohol misuse are the most common forms of substance use in athletes. Athletes may self-medicate due to other mental health challenges, physical pain, or difficulty sleeping. In addition, “sports culture” can sometimes lead to social pressure to drink or take other substances. Breaking down stigmas on a societal and team level can be a way to reduce these challenges.
How to practice self-care as an athlete
If you’re an athlete, whether you practice for fun or are in an elite team, there are a few self-care tips you can consider.
Prioritize mental health as much as physical health
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mental healthcare can reduce the risk of physical illnesses like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. To prioritize your mental health, pay attention to what your emotions tell you, learn about self-care, take breaks when needed, and address your stress when it arises.
Challenge harmful practices, stigma, and misconceptions
Stigmas, harmful practices, and misconceptions are common in athletic communities. Below are some ways to challenge these:
- Refuse substance use if you’re not interested in partaking, and encourage teammates and other athletes to value bodily autonomy
- Speak up when someone uses a stereotype or stigmatizing term
- Report abusive or unethical team practices imposed in professional environments
- Speak up against transphobia in sports
- Share your own story about mental health and what helped you cope
- Be open about stress and stress management
- Take steps to address toxic masculinity in athletics
- Be accepting of the religious and cultural practices of team members
- Seek therapy and be open about it with others
Nurture a strong support system
Having a support system can significantly reduce mental health challenges, leading to increased wellness and quality of life and a reduced risk of physical illness. Nurture your support system by ensuring you spend quality time with those you love outside of a sports context.
How to find professional support as an athlete
Therapy can be an effective tool for reducing stress and the chances of mental burnout in athletes. For those facing barriers to in-person therapy, online platforms like BetterHelp may be more accessible. Through an online platform, athletes can access resources like support groups and worksheets and weekly therapy with a provider via phone, video, or live chat.
Studies show that online therapy can be effective in treating conditions commonly seen in athletes, like anxiety and depression. In one study, online therapy was found to be more effective in symptom reduction for these conditions than face-to-face therapy.
Takeaway
For those who are struggling, mental health treatment may be beneficial. Seeking help is not a sign of weakness but strength, and over 41.7 million US adults see a therapist. By talking to a professional, you can develop ways to cope productively with your challenges and potentially receive referrals to other support options, such as psychiatry or support groups.
Player’s Closet Project: A New Era Of Authentic Athlete Memorabilia For Fans (Sponsored)
This is a sponsored post from Legends Memorabilia.
In a groundbreaking new initiative aimed at connecting fans directly with their favorite athletes, Legends Memorabilia Collection has launched the Player’s Closet Project. This innovative project brings fans exclusive, personally owned and autographed items from the personal collections of some of the biggest stars in sports. Legends Memorabilia Collection (LMC) is a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA). With access to thousands of former big- league players, LMC offers an unparalleled experience in Major League Baseball memorabilia.
The Player’s Closet Project stands out from traditional memorabilia offerings by delivering items that have been a part of an athlete’s personal journey. They are tied to meaningful moments in an athlete’s career—whether it’s a pair of sneakers worn during a training session, an autographed locker room sign, a jacket worn during the season, or an autograph exchanged with a fellow player after the game. Each item comes with a certificate of authenticity, ensuring the piece’s source and its significance to the athlete’s personal history.
The Player’s Closet Project already has a growing roster of athletes across different eras of baseball who are participating in the initiative. Each athlete has carefully selected items from their personal closets and will make them available in limited quantities.
Some of the high-profile names involved in the project include exclusive Legends Memorabilia Collection athlete and baseball superstar Mike Trout, 2006 MVP Ryan Howard and two-time World Series champion Johnny Damon. From Trout’s batting gloves to Howard’s game-day cleats, fans can expect unique, one-of-a-kind items to hit the site regularly. Damon has even contributed a pair of autographed seats from Old Yankee Stadium! With more athletes being announced routinely, fans can look forward to a constantly evolving collection of unique items.
Whether you’re a seasoned memorabilia collector or a lifelong sports fan looking for that perfect piece, the Player’s Closet Project offers something for everyone. With exclusive, personally owned items coming directly from the athletes themselves, this project is set to redefine how fans engage with the memorabilia market.
From iconic game-day gear to behind-the-scenes keepsakes, the Player’s Closet Project is a fan’s dream come true—bringing the game, and the players, closer than ever before.
For more information on the Player’s Closet Project and to see the latest drops, visit https://shoplegends.com/pages/players-closet-project.
BetterHelp 101: Understanding Online Therapy And How To Find Support (Sponsored)
This is a sponsored post from BetterHelp. As a BetterHelp affiliate, MLB Trade Rumors receives compensation from BetterHelp if you purchase products or services through the links provided.
As society’s knowledge of mental health grows, more treatment opportunities are available to a more significant number of people living with mental health challenges. One such option is online therapy, which allows individuals to receive mental health support from a device with an internet connection from any location.
What Is BetterHelp?
BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that works with a database of over 30,000 counselors, therapists, social workers, and psychologists from all 50 US states and some countries worldwide. This platform aims to break down barriers that often keep people from seeking help, such as financial burdens, a rural location with limited options for therapy, or a lack of accessibility in one’s area.
Understanding BetterHelp
BetterHelp may work differently than meeting with a traditional therapist. Below are some ways individuals can use online therapy via this service.
Signing Up
Signing up for BetterHelp often takes a few minutes. The initial sign-up process is a questionnaire which asks prospective clients about the following:
- Reasons for seeking therapy and goals
- The individual’s diagnosis or mental health challenge
- Therapist gender preferences
- Whether they’d like to meet with an LGBTQ+, Black, or Asian therapist
- Preferences for individual, couples, or teen therapy
- Gender, age, sexuality (optional), pronouns, and relationship status
- Spiritual identity
- Past experience in therapy
- Intimacy challenges
- Substance use habits
After filling out the questionnaire, which may take around five to ten minutes, prospective clients will be directed to fill out their name, email, and password. Then, they will be sent to the payment page, where they can choose a plan. After the payment has been processed, it often takes around 48 hours for a therapist to be matched with them.
Payment
BetterHelp plans are charged monthly for four weeks of therapy. The overall monthly cost covers four sessions with the therapist (one per week) and access to all of BetterHelp’s other resources, such as support groups and classes. Cost ranges from $65 to $100 per week, which can be more affordable than traditional therapy.
The match process
Therapists are matched with clients based on the client’s responses to the questionnaire upon signing up. The only limitation is that a therapist must be licensed to practice in the state the client lives in to be able to work with them. Clients can change providers at any time for any reason.
Using the platform
Individuals can log in through the app or website to use the BetterHelp platform. There, they can find their messages with their therapist, a journaling feature, options to schedule appointments, and extra resources. Through the settings section, clients can check their billing information, change their therapist, and edit their profile. Weekly sessions with a therapist can be held via phone, video, or live chat, all through the app or website.
Extra resources
BetterHelp offers resources that might not be offered by in-person providers, such as the following:
- Weekly support groups
- Online classes by mental health experts
- Goal tracking options
- Journaling and journal prompts
- Worksheets
All features are included in the platform’s weekly price, so clients can access them without paying extra.
BetterHelp’s outreach
BetterHelp works with the broader community to offer support to non-profit organizations and individuals in need. They have given over 65 million dollars in discounts and financial aid to cover therapy for low-income individuals and donated over 95,000 months of free therapy to communities in need. BetterHelp partners with over 100 non-profit organizations.
Who might benefit from an online therapy platform?
Online therapy is often more flexible and convenient than in-person options. This option might benefit people with a busy schedule, such as parents, full-time workers, and athletes, who may not have the time to commute to an extra appointment. Many of the most evidence-based modalities, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), are available online.
Is online therapy effective?
Since 2021, four out of ten US adults have used this option. One study reported that over 71% of participants believed it was more effective than face-to-face therapy. Another study found that online therapy often led to increased quality of life for clients with anxiety and depression and was more affordable.
Takeaway
By seeking support online, financial, locational, and accessibility barriers can be removed, allowing more people to receive the support they seek. To get started, consider working with a platform like BetterHelp.
Trade Rumors Front Office: Changes To Article Delivery
I created our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription service several years ago due to challenges with the online advertising revenue model. For $29.89 per year, a Trade Rumors Front Office subscription removes ads on all our sites and in our app, provides weekly original articles from longtime Hoops Rumors head writer Luke Adams, and grants access to a weekly live chat with Arthur Hill. I think we’re offering strong value for the price, and more features are on the way for subscribers.
To date, Luke’s exclusive articles have been delivered entirely via email. This has resulted in a missed benefit for new subscribers, who had no access to previously-sent articles. Sometimes people sign up specifically because they hear about a certain Front Office original we sent out. They would inquire about it and I’d forward the email to them along with other recent exclusives. This was not an efficient system, so I’ve decided to create an archive of Trade Rumors Front Office articles on Hoops Rumors itself. New subscribers will be able to go back and check out previous content as soon as they sign up.
This will be accomplished in the form of a paywall. Roughly twice per week on average, a paywalled Trade Rumors Front Office article or live chat will appear on Hoops Rumors. We averaged 14.9 posts per day on Hoops Rumors last year, to give you a sense of how often you’ll run into this paywall. If you’re a logged-in subscriber, you will not see the paywall. Everyone else will see just a snippet of the article before running into it.
Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers will continue to receive these articles via email as well. If you’re a subscriber and you decide you no longer need the emails because the articles are on the website, you can go here and unsubscribe from emails as needed. We have not yet built the paywall technology in our iOS and Android apps, so the exclusive articles will not appear there. If you’re an app user and paid subscriber you’ll want to continue receiving the emails.
Putting these Front Office articles on Hoops is not just about creating an archive. It will also serve as marketing for the subscription service. A portion of Hoops readers are interested in paying to read these articles, and I don’t think it makes sense to hide them. Some people will see the topics and read an excerpt and be convinced to subscribe. If that may apply to you, I should point out that it’s risk-free, in that we offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re unsatisfied for any reason.
Others will choose not to subscribe, whether due to lack of interest or their financial situation. Our ad-supported readers remain appreciated and vital to this website. It’s worth pointing out that the core function of Hoops Rumors is not changing. Luke and the Hoops writing team are still going to curate, contextualize, and analyze news from the around the game in real-time and provide up-to-the-minute transaction breakdowns, as this site has since 2012. That remains free and ad-supported. The Trade Rumors Front Office articles that will appear on this site are opinion and analysis-based, as you’ll see. We have no intention of paywalling news posts, which would not make sense.
We’re producing two Trade Rumors Front Office NBA articles/chats per week at present. It’s likely we’ll eventually paywall additional opinion and analysis posts, particularly time-intensive ones.
Whether you’re a Trade Rumors Front Office subscriber or someone who enjoys the free ad-supported Hoops Rumors, you’re welcome here. After 12+ years the site is still going strong. Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask questions in the comment section.
Advertise With Hoops Rumors
The Trade Rumors network consists of Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, Pro Football Rumors, and Pro Hockey Rumors. In aggregate, our four sites received 389 million pageviews in 2023. For details on advertising opportunities, please check out our media kit here.
Support Hoops Rumors And Go Ad-Free
For the past eight years, all of the revenue generated by this website came from banner ads. Though ad rates had been dropping prior to 2020, we’ve also seen an increase in traffic to make up for it. Free websites supported only by advertising seemed to be a thing of the past, but the model was working well enough for us.
Then COVID-19 hit, reducing Hoops Rumors’ year-over-year traffic by 70% since mid-March. On top of that, ad rates decreased similarly. In April, I wrote a post explaining our situation. I was heartened by the response in the comments. Many longtime readers urged me to create a way to support the websites directly.
Given the devastation of COVID-19, the status of a basketball website is not high on anyone’s priority list. We’ll continue covering NBA trade, free agency, and draft news with the same devotion we’ve had over the past eight years. The free, ad-supported Hoops Rumors remains unchanged. But for those regular readers who have the means and desire to support Hoops Rumors directly, we’ve created Trade Rumors Front Office.
For $29.99 per year, Trade Rumors Front Office provides the following benefits:
- Ad-free, faster viewing experience on Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, Pro Football Rumors, Pro Hockey Rumors, and in the Trade Rumors iOS/Android app. Please note that we may need about a week to perfect the removal of ads from the app. The ad removal will work instantly after sign-up on the four websites.
- Exclusive member-only online chats with Hoops head writer Luke Adams.
- An exclusive Trade Rumors Front Office badge will be displayed when you comment on Hoops Rumors.
- Most importantly, you’ll be supporting Hoops Rumors directly and helping to ensure our longevity and growth.
The launch of Trade Rumors Front Office is a big moment for us. Please consider subscribing!
Seeking Writers For Pro Hockey Rumors
As our sister site Pro Hockey Rumors celebrates its four-year anniversary, we’re looking to add to the writing staff! In particular, we’re seeking someone with strong daytime availability Monday through Friday. The position pays hourly. The criteria:
- Exceptional knowledge of all 31 NHL teams, no discernible bias.
- Knowledge of the salary cap, CBA and transaction-related concepts.
- At least some college education.
- Extensive writing experience, with professional experience and a background in journalism both strongly preferred.
- Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is strongly preferred.
- Attention to detail — absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names.
- Ability to follow the site’s style and tone.
- Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. We need someone who can balance creating quick copy with thoughtful analysis. You must be able to add value to breaking news with your own insight, numbers or links to other relevant articles.
- Ability to use Twitter and Tweetdeck.
- Multi-tasking is crucial.
- If you’re interested, email prohockeyrumorshelp@gmail.com and explain how you stand out and qualify in a couple of short paragraphs. Please attach your resume to the email. Unfortunately we may not be able to reply to every applicant.
Seeking Writers For ProHockeyRumors.com
Last June, we launched Pro Hockey Rumors to cover all of the NHL transaction-related news, joining MLB Trade Rumors, Hoops Rumors, and Pro Football Rumors in our network. PHR has grown rapidly, and the NHL trade deadline is fast approaching. We’re looking to bring aboard multiple new writers with strong weekday daytime availability. The positions pay hourly. The criteria:
- Availability to work at least ten hours per week covering NHL news, particularly with availability from 9am-5pm central time Monday through Friday.
- Exceptional knowledge of all 31 NHL teams, no discernible bias. Knowledge of transaction-related concepts.
- A high school degree is required, and further education is preferred. Please include your highest completed level of education in your application.
- Writing experience is necessary, and online writing experience is preferred.
- Attention to detail and ability to follow the MLBTR/Hoops Rumors/PFR style and tone.
- Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news quickly and concisely.
- Ability to use Twitter, Tweetdeck, and an RSS feed reader such as Feedly. In general, you must be able to multi-task.
- Experience with social media, especially Twitter.
- If you’re interested, email prohockeyrumorshelp@gmail.com and explain how you stand out and qualify in a couple of short paragraphs. Please attach your resume to the email. We often receive several hundred applications, so unfortunately we will not be able to reply to each one.
ProHockeyRumors.com Has The NHL Trade Deadline Covered
The NHL trade deadline is only a month away, and our sister site Pro Hockey Rumors is all you need to stay on top of the breaking news and rumors. With Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog available, will the Avalanche shake up their core? After more than two decades with the Coyotes, will Shane Doan get one last chance at a Stanley Cup with a new team? Will the Lightning move star goalie Ben Bishop at the deadline? And is this the year the Red Wings finally choose to rebuild? Visit Pro Hockey Rumors today and follow us on Twitter @prohockeyrumors!