A familiar face has come back to walk the halls of SHS, but this time, she’s back with the intention of helping the athletic community.

During her time at SHS from 2016 to 2020, Kendall Henderson played soccer and went through many rough patches, which fueled a flame of burnout. 

“I didn’t realize what I was struggling with until I started taking these athlete mental classes and started pursuing this as a career,” Henderson said.

She found that sports have two sides. One of these sides is mental health and the other is physical health, and for Henderson, she’s now found the foundation to start her career through her soccer struggles. Now, at SHS, she hopes to help athletes with their mental health as a part-time sports psychologist. 

On and off the field, Henderson endured much struggle with her mental health and was in need of some assistance. This gave her an idea at a young age that she wanted to pursue a career in sports psychology.

However, going into college, Henderson was convinced she wanted to do counseling and physical therapy but quickly knew it wasn’t the right choice. 

“Up until then, I wanted to do physical therapy, and then I kind of gave myself a reality check that I’m not good at science, and I would not be good at anatomy,” Henderson said. “Honestly physical therapy school is a lot of time, and I was not ready to commit to that.”

As she continued college, she decided to chase after what she needed the most. 

Taking that step, she majored in psychology and minored in counseling and cosmology at Indiana University. Henderson will carry on to earn her masters degree through the University of Massachusetts’ online program.

The high school relationships Henderson previously made through soccer eventually became a benefit.  

While she searched for jobs in college, she initially had her mind set on working with college students.

Nevertheless, that shortly changed when she found a position to earn her credits for college.

She had the opportunity to reach out to athletic trainers Felicia Cooper and Raya Booth to become a part-time sports psychologist. This placement was only supposed to be during the fall semester, but she wanted to stick to it and continue in the spring semester.

“I think it’s a need that’s kind of a niche to what Kendall is pursuing education wise that are kind of like school counselors that kind of went above and beyond what they could help,” Booth said. 

To kick off her position, Henderson was introduced to teams, such as football and basketball, giving those athletes a good idea of what she brings to the table. 

In each session, Henderson takes the discussion slowly, depending on what each student needs. She goes through different ways to accommodate their struggles. 

This gives them a passageway to accomplish their goals.

“We go into different steps on how to achieve happiness, like inside of yourself, and then to be honest, we just try to create a pathway to where you can set yourself up for success,” junior Ja’Marious Burkett said after working with Henderson.

Proceeding forward, spring sports are new to Henderson, so learning the fundamentals and the dynamics is her next goal.

As she finishes her year at SHS, she plans to follow through as a mental performance coach as well as staying involved with the younger athletes at SHS. 

She wants to maintain the support for SHS athletes because she was once in their shoes.

“I think as an athlete were to be reading this, I would want to say that the mental side of sports should be taken seriously because in those big games, it can make or break how you perform in those big moments,” Henderson said.