Owensboro native and Kentucky Wesleyan University women’s soccer assistant coach Ann Stauffer will be honored at next month’s 2024 ESPYs for her significant contributions to mental health in sports, particularly among rural athletes. Her influence earned her the local Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award.
The honor is part of ESPN’s Sports Humanitarian Awards, sponsored by Penn Entertainment. The awards, now in their 10th year, are designed to celebrate the impact of athletes, teams and sports industry professionals who make a difference in their communities and the world through sports.
“The Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award celebrates and recognizes young people who are using the power of sports as a catalyst for change to make a positive impact in their communities,” ESPN said in a statement.
Stauffer said winning the award has made her hopeful for the future.
“There are many gaps in services for people in rural communities in general, but particularly when it comes to mental health resources and the stigma surrounding mental health in rural and sporting environments,” Stauffer said, “so to receive this award gives me hope because it means this gap in services has been recognised and through this recognition, more people can contribute to creating a more open-minded and empathetic atmosphere.”
She spoke at length about the power of sport and how it reaches far beyond the playing field: she quoted Nelson Mandela, saying, “Sport can create hope where there was once only despair.”
“Sports has the power to bring communities together, overcome cultural barriers and inspire people to overcome obstacles,” she said. “Sports can also be used as a means to teach and instill values such as resilience, integrity, empathy and many other life skills.”
Stauffer enjoys combining her social work and coaching background to serve others in new ways, and her studies have equipped her with the tools to promote social justice life skills.
“My coaching career has given me the platform to use these tools to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in sport and help implement social justice life skills in the sporting world,” she said. “Having spent most of my life as a competitive athlete in a rural community has instilled in me resilience, the courage to call out, examine and question inequitable systems, and a strong passion and commitment to help others through my role as a coach, which is why this award means so much to me.”
The promising coach attended Transylvania University and Centre College before attending graduate school at Ohio State University, and played for the U.S. Youth Futsal U-14, U-16 and U-18 national teams as a youth player.
Stauffer is employed at the University of Kentucky’s Sport Social Work Lab and will begin doctoral studies at the University of Kentucky this fall.
