Homepage One

There’s a level of determination and sacrifice that goes into becoming a professional in any sport.

For Brad Ring – who from a young age had the goal of playing soccer professionally – that was a major part of what it took to succeed.

“That was my dream when I was five years old, right?” said Ring recently. “That’s what I wrote in my journal in third grade. … So, I put so much into pursuing that dream through elementary school and middle school and high school and certainly college. It impacted where I chose to go to school. It impacted several events that I missed, friends getting married that I missed, and social outings that I missed, but it was all towards that goal.

“And I loved every minute of it, right? There was a lot of that celebrity status that can come with it and knowing, ‘Hey, people are here to watch me play soccer.’ It feels good, and it’s rewarding.”

Making more than 150 professional appearances across nine seasons for the San Jose Earthquakes, Portland Timbers and Indy Eleven – where he became a club legend over the final five seasons of his career – Ring had a successful career by any measure.

He also saw up close how challenging physically and mentally it was to remain in the professional ranks season after season.

“It’s just the grind of it all,” he said. “It’s a long season, right? It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and regardless of where you’re at on the roster – if you’re a regular starter, that’s a grind physically and mentally, if you’re not in the rotation, that’s a less of a grind physically but more of a grind mentally as you’re trying to work your way into the rotation – it’s hard to take a day off. You obviously get some as you go along with it, but every game and every practice you have to perform at such a high level, that can be taxing over time.”

All of that brought Ring to his second act as he planned for his post-playing career. The 37-year-old Illinois native now works for OnRise Health, an organization which provides dedicated mental health care designed to support athletes on their journey to peak performance and overall well-being.

It’s a sign of the changes that have occurred in soccer – and sport in general – that such an organization has found a successful position in the mental health market. While the mindset of gutting things out and showing grit and perseverance still has a place in sports at the college and professional level, for Ring there’s also a far greater acceptance of athletes looking to find new mental techniques that can aid their performance in training and on gameday.

A key element to that has been the public discussion that has come about due to some of the biggest athletes in their respective sports being open about their mental health challenges. Ring points to the media attention following four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Simone Biles withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Games as a significant moment in changing perceptions of what even elite athletes go through mentally, and others like current NBA player Kevin Love who have shown a willingness to discuss the topic openly as a conduit for more young athletes to find resources that can help them succeed.

“If there isn’t the shift in the mindset, then I think we go back to the stigma around mental health and [the idea that] if you’re seeking help, you’re weak,” said Ring. “Maybe I’m being a little dramatic there, but I think to a certain degree it was the reality years ago, and I think the more people speak about it, the less shame there is in having a conversation.

“I think some of it, too, is just destigmatizing it. It doesn’t have to be, ‘I talked to a therapist,’ or ‘I talked to a psychiatrist.’ It’s just like, ‘hey, I need to get some things off my chest, and I speak with someone to help me do that.’ If you put it that way, I think it helps even further.”

As part of its work, a year ago OnRise Health began a partnership with the United Soccer League Players’ Association which offers a full range of services including player care, teletherapy, and medication management to USLPA members. The partnership has seen the organization’s aim to be proactive rather than reactive help players find tools that can help throughout the game-to-game grind of a season.

With a similar underlying mindset, this month the United Soccer League launched its own Mental Health and Wellbeing resources page, an initiative led by USL Vice President of Corporate Wellness and Safeguarding Betsy Cutler. Alongside the work being done within clubs across the USL ecosystem – including some which have mental performance coaches as part of their technical staff – it’s part of a focused effort by the league to increase its commitment to mental health awareness, training, and care.

From Ring’s perspective, the focus on the mental side of wellbeing for players is a key piece in achieving a successful on-field career.

“I think there’s a massive benefit,” said Ring. “Any individual can be at any place on the spectrum in terms of mental health. What I think is indisputable is that if you’re in a better state mentally, you give yourself a much better opportunity to perform at a higher level. I think there’s no real arguing that, so just by giving resources to these players, so that they can address smaller issues before they become big ones is a massive step in the right direction.”

With the changes Ring has seen during and since he lived his longtime ambition, the path forward promises even better to come for the current and next generation of players.

“The revenues obviously continue to grow,” said Ring. “Sponsorship, revenue, and all of those things ultimately allow clubs and [players’ associations] and leagues to provide more resources. … As more clubs continue to grow and reinvest not only in the community, but in the players, you continue to see the growth of the performance on the field as well.”