DR. JERIMY BLOWERS met with Fredonia State coaches and athletic department staff members Tuesday morning after spending Monday night meeting with Blue Devils student-athletes.
    Specializing in behavioral medicine, Dr. Blowers has spent close to 25 years working with young people as a student counselor. His two-day visit to campus – which also included a casual session with students during lunch Tuesday at the Williams Center – was the latest in the department's guest speaker series. 
    "Let me say," Dr. Blowers told coaches and staff, "you have some of the most phenomenal students I've ever worked with. A lot of them had questions for me last night, and I answered a lot of e-mails from them this morning."
    He relayed a message from the student-athletes. "They wanted you to know," he told he coaches, "that they are experiencing a lot of pressures outside of their sport. It's something I also have to stress to my teaching colleagues. A lot of them don't understand what college athletes go through.
    "Also, your student-athletes also want you to know that they really want to please you. That came through in many of the conversations I had with them."
    Yet this desire to please is what often keeps student-athletes from disclosing the pressures they're feeling.
    "Their drive to excel," Dr. Blowers said, "is what makes them good athletes. It can be a detriment, too."
    Student-athletes who have been conditioned to push through their pain may be reluctant to talk to their coaches about how they're feeling. "They might see that," he said, "as a sign of weakness."

    THE TOPIC OF HIS TALK, "Stand Up, Stand Out, Step Forward," began with what Dr. Blowers introduced as a case study of a boy named "Rocky." It turned out to be much more than that.
    He described details of a chaotic and sometimes violent home life, of sexual abuse and assault, of suicidal thoughts as a teenager, and of incessant college drinking, Only after he had covered nearly every painful episode of Rocky's first 23 years did Dr. Blowers reveal that Rocky was his nickname growing up, and that the case study was his own.
    "This was the first time I shared that," Dr. Blowers said during his meeting with coaches and staff. "I really wasn't sure how it would go."
    It had the impact he had hoped for.
    "It was monumental, it was attention-getting" a Fredonia State women's soccer player said afterward. "There were pieces of his story that we could all connect with."
    "I met with members of my team this morning," Head Swimming & Diving Coach Astrid Escobar said, "and a lot of them said your talk really resonated with them. And what resonated with them most was you sharing your story with them. So thank you."

    WHILE ROCKY'S STORY brought shock value, it was his method of dealing with depression that Dr. Blowers wanted Blue Devil athletes to take with them. 
    "Even though you may not have caused it (the depression), you are still responsible for yourself." he said. "Talk to someone, get help. And then move forward."   
    Dr. Blowers clearly remembers his own breakthrough moment.
    "The final straw," he explained, "was the loss of a significant relationship. The woman I shared my first college drink with, a person who meant more to me than anyone, saw the damage that this pattern was doing and made an ultimatum. She wanted our relationship to blossom into something much more than friends, but was adamant that this party lifestyle could not continue. She was clear that the choice was between my love for her and my love of partying."
    He choose to continue drinking and lost the girl.
    "It was," he said, "the most heart-breaking decision of my life. I lost someone I truly cared for even though I knew that the partying would eventually come to an end. I mean, it had to, right?
    "Yet it was a blessing in disguise because I went out and got the help I needed."

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