Q&A: Gymnast Polina Shchennikova

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The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many different entities that factor into student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected shares how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers and other athletic staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health.

To continue the series, Athletes Connected caught up with women’s gymnastics student assistant coach Polina Shchennikova, who medically retired from competition in fall 2018. Shchennikova graduated from U-M this spring with a bachelor’s degree in sports management.

See our previous Q&A posts:

  • Former U-M senior associate athletic trainer Jeremy Marra
  • U-M head diving coach Mike Hilde
  • Runner Ben Flanagan

    • Q: Tell us about yourself. Where are you from? What did you study?  
    Hi, my name is Polina Shchennikova. I’m from Denver, Colorado. I’m a gymnast. I studied sport management and graduating earlier this month. I’m still unsure what I’m doing after, but I’m hoping to stay in the gymnastics world.

    Q: Outside of school & sport, what are your other passions?
    A: I would say focusing on mental health and helping people in whatever ways I can. That’s how I came up with the idea for FLY (First Love Yourself), and it’s directed toward athletes who are currently facing or have overcome challenges, whether it be injury, managing school, or body image.

    Q: Why did you create FLY? Was it something that worked well for you or because you felt something was missing while dealing with your own mental health issues?   
    Definitely because of things that were missing. Growing up I had a lot of personal struggles, and they ended up taking a downward spiral, and I really don’t want kids to feel the way I felt when I was doing athletics. I want them to all have a better experience. I was so invested in gymnastics – to the point that it ended my career.

    I really don’t want kids to feel the way I felt when I was doing athletics. I want them to all have a better experience

    That was one of the most painful things I think I’ve felt. Gymnastics was my whole life. I did online school so I could have more time to do gymnastics. My coaches were my parents, my family going back many generations were gymnasts. I was willing to give up just about everything to do it, and that wasn’t the healthiest way for me to think about things.

    Q: Was there anything else specific missing in terms of mental health as an athletes?
    I didn’t know how to take care of my body, either. I was raised in a “this is how you should look” mindset. If you don’t look a certain way, you won’t be able to perform a certain way; the lighter you are, the better you’ll perform.

    That impacted my mental health as an athlete, and that is still stuff I struggle with today. There’s so much with body image and body shaming. My junior year, we went to one of our team retreats and it was very emotional because we had a team presentation about body image. We all cried, we all opened up and shared our stories and it was amazing and inspiring to see what everybody else was keeping inside and how much it impacted them. But no one knew until we sat down and had that conversation.

    After that, we became a lot closer with ourselves, our teammates, and even our coaches. I wish I would have had an experience like that earlier, while growing up. If we can do this with this team, imagine what we can do with a bigger group of people and a bigger group of athletes if we can get them to open up and share their stories, whether it’s body image or any other mental health issue. That is where it really sparked the idea that FLY could really be something.

    Q: What is your vision?
    When it comes to mental health, I know how hard it can be to speak up about your struggles, and I know how hard it is to come face to face with those issues, so for me, at first it started as wanting this symbol we can all wear together to unite us.

    In this case, the symbol is a butterfly. The body of the butterfly is a semicolon, which represents suicide awareness. The wings represent the feeling of anxiety, because a lot of people say it’s like getting butterflies in your stomach.

    In the wings, I also included a yin and yang symbol to represent depression. It shows that there is good in the bad and bad in the good. The color scheme is black and white; the absence of colors symbolizes a loss from a struggle that–for example–ended your sport.

    Q: Do you have programming yet?  
    No, mostly because I want it to be perfect. That’s why it’s taken so long even to get the symbol out there. I started this two years ago, and I still haven’t had a moment of “this is perfect” yet. But I’m hoping that by sharing this symbol, it will start to take off from there.

    I have a bunch of ideas swirling in my head, and I want it so badly to be perfect, but I need to take a leap of faith and then keep building on it. It’s hard for me to open up about these things and it’s a work in progress, but I just want to help people get through their struggles.

    In the future, I envision sharing ideas for things like trying to find yourself outside of your sport because, as athletes, we’re so ingrained in it. Who am I? Well I’m Polina, I’m a gymnast, and these are my accomplishments in gymnastics. But who am I outside of gymnastics? It’s learning to find different ways to be a person, and not an athlete. For example, it might be, go out and volunteer, walk your dog, or get coffee with friends and talk about anything besides sports.

    I have also thought about starting my own gym and combining it with mental health–possibly a psychology clinic–so my athletes can work with trusted clinicians. Having access to Athletic Counseling has been great, especially to my team. I feel like many people miss that opportunity growing up.

    Q: How can people get involved or in touch with FLY?
    I have a website in progress, which will start as a blog that people can write into.

    I’ll continue to work on it post-graduation either way, so hopefully I’ll keep finding more people who want to help and be involved. In the meantime, I think the most important thing is for athletes to speak up about their struggles.

    The Athletic: How schools have been navigating mental health matters during social distancing

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    Athletes Connected is mentioned and team members quoted in this story about how colleges are navigating mental health during the pandemic.

    The Athletic

    By Josh Kendall

    Even as states slowly reopen, social distancing has become the reality of American life during the COVID-19 outbreak. That makes South Carolina head football coach Will Muschamp nervous for a lot of reasons, one in particular.

    “I’m really worried about the mental health part of it right now,” Muschamp said Thursday on 1010 XL radio in Jacksonville, Fla. “College football is like a brotherhood. They’re used to seeing each other every day. Now that is gone. I’m concerned about that part of it for our guys, personally.”

    College athletics health care professionals such as Josie Nicholson have been worried about it from the start.

    “We want to socially distance and psychically isolate, but don’t socially isolate,” said Nicholson, a psychologist specializing in sports performance at Ole Miss. “We can stay distant and connected.”

    Nicholson works closely with Mark and Kym Hilinski, the parents of Gamecocks quarterback Ryan Hilinski and the founders of Hilinski’s Hope, which has been seeking to raise awareness of mental health issues since the death by suicide of the Hilinskis’ middle son, Tyler, a quarterback at Washington State.

    The Hilinskis are concerned that the cancellation of spring college athletics seasons, the uncertainty about fall seasons and the stress surrounding the coronavirus and its preventative measures will make athletes already working through mental health issues more susceptible to problems or even prompt mental health issues in others.

    “After Tyler died, I was in such a fog and a blur and the world didn’t seem real to me, and it took a while to get over that. My feelings back then were much greater than they are now, but I almost feel the same way in this pandemic, and I’m 55 years old,” Kym Hilinski said. “I started thinking, ‘I have been through so much in my life. What are these 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids doing if they are feeling the same thing?’ That really makes me concerned for them and their mental wellness.”

    At the University of Michigan, one of the NCAA’s leaders in student-athlete mental health services, there has been an increase in remote access to counselors, said Rachel Amity, a program coordinator at Athletes Connected and athlete counselor at the school.

    Athletes Connected, a mental health awareness organization that is a collaboration of Michigan’s athletic department, school of public health and Depression Center, distributed “An Athlete’s Guide to Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

    “I think it’s definitely a concern. How it’s going to play out? I don’t think anybody knows,” said Jeremy Fallis, a marketing communications specialist at Michigan’s Depression Center. “Much of their identity is tied into their sport, and how do you cope with that? We have been trying to deal with that even before this happened. We try to talk about who they are off the court or off the field as much as possible and reinforce the idea that you are more than just an athlete.”

    South Carolina sports wellness coordinator Sarah Noll is using Skype for Business to reach out to Gamecocks athletes seeking counseling; however, licensing rules in her profession can make that difficult. Counselors are not legally allowed to provide counseling to an athlete who is in a state they are not licensed in. Collegiate mental health professionals have compiled a list of more than 300 providers across the nation in the last two weeks so they can put their athletes who may be in different states in touch with a licensed professional.

    “The biggest thing is encouraging people to stay connected,” she said. “We can still check in with our student-athletes. We can still let them know that we care. We are emailing and texting, just trying to stay connected to make sure they are OK.”

    Athletes should try their best to maintain their routines and reach out for help if needed, Fallis said.

    “If you are struggling, you have a counselor back in Ann Arbor who will pick up the phone or answer an email,” he said.

    Read the rest of the story on The Athletic.

    Effective Learning Strategies Away from the Classroom

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    Athletes Connected continues its resource stories for student-athlete coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. This story is about learning strategies.

    By Nick Velissaris, Ph.D., Athletic Counseling Team Clinical Neuropsychologist

    Over the past few weeks, our lives have shifted in ways we could never have expected. Below we are going to address positive ways to create and maintain an effective learning environment.

    Create a Learning Environment
    This is a time in which we have generally adapted to our basic needs, but might still be struggling with the expectations of academic performance in this novel situation. We are creatures of habit and pull towards our comfort zone, especially in stressful situations.

    In a lot of cases, the changes to online education and isolation do not allow for our preferred study routine. There is no longer required study table time, a spacious desk over at the Academic Center (AC), learning specialists on call, a quiet study environment, discussions, labs, applied learning modalities, etc.

    Breaking up study time with breaks not only makes it easier to refocus attention, but it also increases efficiency in learning. Break options can be limited in isolation, but are still needed.

    In most cases, study table time becomes when my family goes to sleep, the desk at the AC becomes a table or bed, and the quiet study environment becomes an annoying little brother. So what can we do?

    The goal for a new study plan is to keep as many successful aspects of your old study plan as you can, and minimize the aspects that have been most negatively impacted by the situation.

    In most cases, you will not be able to directly substitute something in your new plan to replace something from your old plan, so this will be a compromise. Our goal is to make that compromise as small as possible. For example, “Well, I don’t have a desk to study at like the AC, I guess I will just have to study lying in bed watching TV” is not a small compromise.

    Instead, set a time when you can clear a kitchen table, turn off the TV, and have your new study spot feel similar to the desk at the AC. The further away from an ideal study environment you get, the longer it will take you to learn the same information. The longer you are trying to learn and study, the more difficult it becomes to stay motivated.

    The first step to adjusting your new study environment is to evaluate yourself. How do you learn best? What interferes with your optimal learning style in this new study environment? When you can’t get motivated, what made you motivated before isolation? What are your biggest distractions? Do you prefer reviews or a study group with others?

    Asking yourself these questions can help identify your ideal study plan to adapt to your new isolation situation. Try to keep as much consistency as possible. Here are a few basic examples of compromises that can remain effective learning strategies:

    HOME OFFICE

    One major change is that you will likely be studying in your home. Create a temporary study area or area you can transform into a good study environment. It can be a specific timeframe where the kitchen table is unoccupied, turning a room into a study room, or making a dedicated study area in the corner of a low traffic room. Do not let this study area overlap with leisure or sleeping if possible.

    SCHEDULE

    If you had study table or a specific time when you used to study, continue that schedule. If you can’t continue the same schedule, create a routine where you can have the same study time blocked off each day of the week.

    STUDY BREAKS

    Breaking up study time with breaks not only makes it easier to refocus attention, but it also increases efficiency in learning. Break options can be limited in isolation, but are still needed.

    Breaks should include a change of scenery (e.g., leave your study area and walk outside for ten minutes, get off the computer you use to study and do something else, etc.) and take a real break. Sitting in the same spot looking at your phone is not different enough from studying from a computer to give your brain an attention break.

    NOTES/READINGS

    Take notes the same way you did before with normal classes. If you handwrite your notes in a normal lecture, then hand write them with online lectures too. If you usually print readings or print your lecture slides, print them out now for the online lectures and studying as well if you are able.

    DISTRACTIONS

    Find a quiet place to study without many social interactions. This also applies to areas of your residence that have distractions. Do not study in the living room while your family watches TV. If you must, then download a white noise app and use headphones when studying.

    PHONE

    Use of social media, text, online communication will all drastically increase during isolation. With this increase, comes a higher attraction to distraction. When studying, mute notifications on apps that distract you and save them for dedicated study breaks.

    GROUP STUDY

    If you had study groups before, reach out to people in your class and set up a regular study group time using video chat apps.

    MENTAL HEALTH

    Anxiety and stress impacts our ability to learn information. If you are highly stressed or feeling overwhelmed, try relaxation exercises, yoga, or working out before studying. If you meet with an Athletic Counselor regularly, maybe schedule your study time for after your session to improve motivation.

    Contact your mental health provider or reach out to the Athletic Counseling Team if you feel this change is beginning to be more of an issue than expected. Do not wait until you are struggling, because a lot of times it just takes a brief chat or support to get us back feeling how we’d like to be.

    There may be slight differences in study planning if you have ADHD, a learning disability, or anxiety. Please follow the recommendations listed in your education plan, neuropsychological evaluation, or mental health documentation.

    Use Repetitive Learning
    Once you have a good study environment and good study plan in place… repetitions, repetitions, repetitions. Just like tying your shoes, learning a new athletic skill, playing an instrument, or navigating a new city, the most effective way to learn information for an exam is with multiple repetitions.

    Your brain stores information at a certain rate. The ability to remember that information accurately is greatly increased each additional time you attempt to learn it. The more you repeat the information you are studying, the better you will be able to store and remember it for the exam.

    Although just a brief example and not an exact comparison to studying, you can do a quick test to see this benefit. Do a memory test where someone says 20 words and then repeat back to them as many as you can remember. How many did you get? Do it again. How many did you get this time? If this were a typical test in school with 20 questions, each additional word would be a 5% increase in your score.

    Think of the words as representing lecture slides, notes, text chapters, etc. The increase in your memory test can show you how much you improve with one extra repetition in your studying the material on the exam. Flashcards or apps like Anki are a perfect way to easily increase your repetitions.

    Know that you are not alone in your struggles. If you need additional help creating or adjusting to your new learning plan, reach out to your Academic Advisor, the Academic Success Program (ASP)* staff, and/or the Athletic Counseling Team.

    *for student-athletes not at Michigan, reach out to your school’s version of ASP, or your school’s Academic Support or Student Support Services units for assistance with learning strategies.

    Additional Resources

    About the Author
    Nick Velissaris, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist and athletic counselor with the University of Michigan Athletic Counseling Team. He has been at the University of Michigan since March 2019 and specializes in assessing and improving the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning of our athletes. He holds two master’s degrees (clinical-behavioral psychology, clinical psychology) and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with specialization in neuropsychology. Dr. Velissaris is a Michigan graduate and was a varsity letterwinner in wrestling.

    The New Perspective: Adapting to Isolation

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    Athletes Connected is compiling a set of resources for student-athletes for coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. This story is about adjusting to isolation with some helpful positive self-talk when you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

    By Nick Velissaris, Ph.D., Athletic Counseling Team Clinical Neuropsychologist

    Over the past few weeks, our lives have shifted in ways we could never have expected. While there have been many resources and notifications for what we have to do to prevent transmission and remain safe, there have been very few offering guidance on how we can maintain our daily lives with the same success we had pre-isolation.

    Quarantine and social distancing do not just change human interaction. They impact our routine, schedule, motivation, structure, and productivity needed to remain a successful student-athlete.

    Feeling anxious or overwhelmed?
    Here’s some self-talk:

    – “this is happening to everybody”
    – “this is temporary”
    – “we compete against others”
    – “same as it was before isolation”

    Coaches and trainers have provided workouts to maintain fitness in isolation. Social media and various apps have allowed for improved socialization and mental health. Online classes and technology allow for continued lectures, classes, and exams.

    Nevertheless, completing these workouts, engaging with others online, and being a successful student in isolation relies much more on self-initiation and self-motivation. Support systems such as a strict schedule, attendance policies, team rules, study table, tutors, office hours, etc. are wonderful resources for learning, but a byproduct of having such advantages can be the perceived difficulty when they are not available.

    So what can we do to maintain some consistency and comfort in learning when everything feels like it has changed so drastically overnight?

    In this week’s stories, we address how you can adapt to isolation (today) and offer certain strategies to assist you in your academic learning (Wednesday, April 1).

    Adjust Your Perspective
    Optimal learning is significantly reduced by anxiety caused by crisis situations. Coping with stress in a positive way can minimize the impact a crisis situation can have on our ability to learn. When negative things happen to us, we tend to catastrophize the outcomes to make things seem worse than they actually are.

    This is evolutionary, adaptive, and automatic; it’s what has allowed mankind to continue and thrive as it has. We would not have lasted very long if it were our automatic response to say, “Nope, I bet that bear walking in our cave just wants to be friends.” Instead, our brains make us think of bad outcomes so we go into “alert mode” and remain safe.

    This is perceived as anxiety/stress. Fortunately, our brains work in both directions and we can think, make adjustments to our initial thoughts, and respond to those adjustments to reduce the impact of that stressor.

    We initially go into alert mode with any drastic or abrupt change. Because of this automatic response, it may be helpful to first challenge that initial reaction and evaluate how much has actually changed.

    It is also important to identify what has not changed. Try to remind yourself of the following when you begin to feel stressed and overwhelmed due to the current situation:

    • It is easy to focus on ourselves and the loss or inconveniences you have personally experienced…but remember this is happening to everybody.
    • Sometimes it can be automatic to look at the situation you are experiencing and ignore that this is temporary… you don’t need to accept this lifestyle forever, just until the problem is fixed.
    • Remember that in our lives, we compete against others. Upset that you can’t train? Upset you need to study and don’t have the academic buildings or resources you had?
      • Well… so is every other student in your classes and athlete you compete against. The changes impact you the same as your competition, so the impact of this change between you and who you are competing against is the same as it was before isolation.
    • All the changes seem so drastic and different from what you did to become successful… but remind yourself that, as an athlete, you are already very skilled in adapting and persevering through difficulty.
    • You have had to battle injuries and take exams on the road, deal with daily fatigue from training, morning practices before sunrise, keep up with nutrition and sleep, the media, teammates depending on you, etc., but you still were graded the same way as regular students in the classroom.
      • Before isolation, you faced the additional challenges that come with being student-athlete and were successful.

    Accept there are new challenges outside your comfort zone, but everyone is facing them, it won’t last forever, and you can overcome challenges better than anyone.

    The bold statements can be used as self-talk when feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

    In Wednesday’s article, we will tackle ways in which you can create a positive learning environment and utilize repetitive learning.

    Additional Resources

    About the Author
    Nick Velissaris, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist and athletic counselor with the University of Michigan Athletic Counseling Team. He has been at the University of Michigan since March 2019 and specializes in assessing and improving the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning of our athletes. He holds two master’s degrees (clinical-behavioral psychology, clinical psychology) and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with specialization in neuropsychology. Dr. Velissaris is a Michigan graduate and was a varsity letterwinner in wrestling.