Giving mental health a swift kick

BLACKSBURG, Va. (March 19, 2026) – Everyone struggles with mental health. For some people, it doesn't affect them as much, but for others, it could mean giving up the things they love. Like Hana Gardiner, a student at Virginia Tech, who gave up soccer because of her mental health. She was captain of her team and a star player on the field, but off the field was where the world took a toll on her. “It was definitely very insulating,” Hana said. She struggled to get used to the new people she was around and didn’t have those familiar faces she once had. Hana said, “I didn’t have that automatic support system.”

But now Hana wants to get back on the field. She misses the game she once loved. Hana also wants to be a role model for others who struggle with mental health. You might be wondering how she plans this comeback. Every day she conditions and trains to get back into shape so that she can be ready to hit the field again come intramural season. This has been no easy work either, as she has been out of sports for close to three years now. She won’t let the grind stop her, though, because she’s ready to compete again.

Even her friends and past teammates have her back. Her former teammate and close friend, Olivia Mordini, had nothing but high praise and understanding about Hana’s journey. “It’s just hard to go from Hana’s number one to Hana’s another player,” Olivia said. Olivia shed light on Hana’s mental side from an outsider’s point of view, blaming her struggles on the team dynamics they were on together, with girls being very “cliquey,” as she worded it.

Hana started playing soccer around 4 years old. It was a very big deal in her household, with her dad being the coach and her siblings playing alongside her. She played left wing on the field and what she called a “hitting striker,” so she was usually playing upfront on offense. She was usually team captain on most of her teams growing up, giving her a lot of responsibility to lead the team. Soccer built a bridge for her to meet new people and make new friends with people who didn’t always go to the same school as her. Her friend Olivia explained her playing style as very fundamentally sound, which is what made her so much better than the other girls on the field.

What led to Hana leaving soccer was not being on the same team she had always been on and not having that familiarity with everyone that she once had. For her, playing soccer without the people she had grown close to over the years became very difficult. She also found herself with a bunch of new free time she had no idea how to deal with. Soccer had been her whole identity up to that point, so starting fresh was very difficult for her.

Hana hopes to get back into the action real soon as she still fights her mental health battles to this day, but when it’s all said and done, she won’t let this illness win.