Profile: jayden jackson
“...if we are not providing the expectations of the program, then what use are you?”
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - College sports are played all over the country, however with the growth and separations of schools, divisions, and conferences various factors are adding to student athlete’s stressful lives.
Athletes are expected to contribute time to academics, practice, games, game-film review/team meetings, travel time, and manage a social life and personal wellness.
My cousin, Jayden Jackson is a student athlete who previously played basketball at NAU from the 2021 season through the 2024 season.
“Throughout the years of my college basketball career, I have missed out on many excursions with friends, trips with my family, seeing my nieces and nephews grow up and opportunities to say goodbye to loved ones,” Jackson said.
Jayden Jackson headshot, Courtesy of NAU Athletics website.
Throughout his time here as a player at NAU, he has faced numerous injuries and setbacks on the court. He says he commits on average four to eight hours, six days a week to athletic commitments.
The student athlete schedule leaves very minimal time for academics and personal/social activities. Jackson said that he would often have to miss class or not be able to take specific classes he was interested in due to scheduling conflicts with practice or team meetings and due to the extensive travel schedule for basketball.
In the 2024-2025 basketball season, NAU was on the road for 16 out of the 31 total games. This doesn’t include tournament days in Hawaii, Idaho and Texas.
Jackson sighed while he thought silently about his previous athletic schedule and said, “People don’t really talk about those moments about playing collegiate sports and how much of a weight it is to uphold.”
These schedules can be difficult for athletes to main and leave them searching for options to help organize their time and prioritize their well-being and mental health. At NAU a resource for student athletes is Hannah Levy.
Hannah Levy is the NAU Director of Sports Psychology, a position that she began working last August. She is NAU’s first full-time sports psychologist and works alongside the sports medicine team, including the dietitian and head physician.
Her job is to ensure that student athletes are maintaining their mental and physical health while playing a college sport. Located in the NAU Student-Athlete High Performance Center (HPC) across from the Skydome, she is an available resource for all the student athletes on the NAU campus and are encouraged to see. She goes to practices and consults with coaches about players that may need her services.
Hannah Levy, the NAU Director of Sports Psychology. Her office is located on the bottom floor of the High Performance Center across from the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
Jackson worked with Levy in his senior year as he dealt with mental hardships that were not able to be solved on his own. He consulted with his trainer, and they were able to set up sessions with her weekly throughout the entirety of his senior year.
Levy works with student athletes to optimize their performance when experiencing roadblocks or mental health woes that inhibit the athlete’s ability to perform well. Student athletes like Jackson have used her services for overcoming stressors such as NIL.
NIL is the acronym that refers to the right to promote products or services based on one’s name, image, or other aspects associated with their identity (Economou & Gamble 2025).
Jayden Jackson in white #3 in the NAU basketball game against the Idaho State Bengals.
This is a new and heavily debated topic that was created allowing collegiate athletes to be paid. According to an article in the Arizona Daily Sun, previous Athletic Director Mike Marlow and the NCAA Board of Directors ruled on June 30, 2021, that student athletes at NAU would be allowed to engage in NIL deals.
Many see this as a positive impact on athletes as they’re being paid more than just a stipend for living expenses and rent and are receiving more for their time commitment to the sport and school. However, NIL brings additional stressors to athletes that many people don’t realize.
“I think there is an element that takes away from this sort of amateurism, like the joy of the sport when it becomes a little bit more of job,” said Levy.
Athletes are expected to meet with agents provided by the school to search for NIL deals that best fit them. However, maintaining a deal can be difficult.
According to the peer reviewed journal Navigating an intercollegiate Athletes’ Transition related to the name, image, and likeness (NIL) interim policy, the authors state that additional stressors from NIL deals can include “stress of negotiating contracts, decisions about transferring or remaining at an institution, and a lack of clarity around regulations of NIL engagements.”
Jackson agreed and explained that when a program signs an athlete, they expect them to perform well. He said, “We are being paid based on the value of our play in an effort to bring more money and notoriety to these programs. Naturally, programs can force us out through many different means, if we are not providing the expectations of the program, then what use are you?”
Student athletes are forced to learn how to juggle multiple responsibilities at once creating the self-expectation to excel.
“I see a lot of people grow into anxieties around their sport and a different relationship with their sport, which was once ‘fun I get to be with my friends’ to ‘oh my god, if I don’t succeed, I’m going to lose everything I worked for” Levy said.
When athletes come to Levy feeling this way she suggests remembering why they started playing in the first place. She works with them to redefine their relationship to sports to help them succeed and get away from feeling like they are merely a product of their university.
Jackson said that it can be hard to manage stress and maintain a good relationship with basketball but he plans out specific days of the week to take some time for himself and focuses on being a role model for the younger guys on the team.
REFERENCES:
HUMAN SOURCES:
Hannah Levy
Hannah.Levy@nau.edu
Jayden Jackson
Jayden.9.dj@gmail.com
SECONDARY SOURCES:
2024-25 men’s basketball schedule. Northern Arizona University Athletics. (n.d.-a). https://nauathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2024-25
Dr. Hannah Levy - director of sport psychology - staff directory. Northern Arizona University Athletics. (n.d.). https://nauathletics.com/staff-directory/dr-hannah-levy/529
Newman, E. (2021, July 1). Athletic director Mike Marlow sounds off on nil decision and how it could affect NAU athletes. Arizona Daily Sun. https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/athletic-director-mike-marlow-sounds-off-on-nil-decision-and-how-it-could-affect-nau/article_da96522c-c45f-54ce-9185-99c40ebf6ddc.html