Student Athlete Mindfulness Project

The Student Athlete Mindfulness Program (SAMP) was created in 2018 by a former Tufts Women's Lacrosse player. SAMP was designed to help student-athletes both preform at a higher level in their sport as well as navigate the daily stress and pressures of being a college athlete.  In its new virtual form, the program has been adapted to help students cope with the many changes brought on by COVID-19, particularly for athletes whose seasons have been impacted or cancelled.  Many alumni of the program say that the weekly meditations and mindfulness techniques they learned have helped relieve stress, improve sleep, and benefit overall mental and emotional health.  

The project began as a senior honors thesis by Audrey Evers BS ’19 (Psychology and Community Health) and Women’s Lacrosse goal keeper. Audrey’s thesis was featured in a TuftsNow February 2020 article Twice the Pressure: Student-athletes compete in the classroom and on the field, so a lacrosse player came up with a mindfulness program to relieve the stress.

Audrey's thesis found that after the intervention, Tufts student athletes reported a statistically significant improvement in mindfulness ability, mental health, and a marginally significant improvement in perceived stress. Over half of the participants (55%) reported an improved ability to fall and stay asleep, and participants reported improvements in acceptance, awareness, stress, and self-control in open response survey questions. Conclusiona four-session mindfulness based training program may be effective for improving mental health, mindfulness ability, and sleep in collegiate student athletes. 

Tufts Student Athletes who participated in the original study stated:

  • “My ability to focus on the present and maintain a positive outlook on long term aspects of my life and things that are out of my control has improved.”
  • “My ability to transition into a focused mindset and to cope with loss in sports has improved.”
  • “I am more measured and thoughtful in analysis of games and practices.”
  • “I feel like I have better control over my thoughts and feelings.”
  • “I am much better at being able to take a second to calm down, relieve my stress and clear my mind.”
  • “I'm less impacted by the piling up of deadlines/assignments. I feel as though I'll get through it regardless.”

The SAMP consists of one session/week for four weeks. Each session is one hour and fifteen minutes and is facilitated by a certified mindfulness trainer.

Registration for new sessions will be posted here: Currently Sessions are closed. 

If you are interested in attending a session or want more information, please email ian.wong@tufts.edu.

Although the current SAMP sessions are only open to Tufts varsity athletes, all Tufts students are free to use the materials. Available to all Tufts students is the Koru Mindfulness Program.

SAMP Team

Ian Wong

Ian L. Wong, MSPH

Director, Health Promotion and Prevention, Principal Investigator

Audrey Evers

Audrey Evers, BS

Project Director, Class of '19

Sheridan Wilbur

Sheridan Wilbur

Lead Mindfulness Instructor