For many student-athletes, belonging starts within their sports teams.
But what happens when they step outside of those familiar groups?
That question is part of a broader effort at BYU to help all students, including athletes, feel like they truly belong on campus.
Carl Hernandez, BYU’s vice president for the Office of Belonging, said belonging at BYU has a deeper meaning than just inclusion.
“Belonging needs to be coupled with the idea that we make and keep covenants with God and with each other,” Hernandez said.
He said that idea is reflected in how people live and how they treat others.
In BYU Athletics, that same idea is being put into action in ways student-athletes experience every day at the university.
Whitney Johnson Catt, associate athletic director for belonging and the NCAA Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee at BYU, said belonging is a key part of the department’s mission.
“One of our department strategy pillars is ‘embrace belonging,'” Catt said. “So, department-wide, we’ve claimed that this is something that we care a lot about.”
That mission shows up in programs, events and everyday interactions within teams, contributing to how student-athletes experience life on and off the field.
Catt said one of the biggest focuses is to create community among student-athletes, especially those who may feel different from others around them.
“We have specific affinity groups amongst our student-athletes. Some of those include black student-athletes, pacific islander student-athletes, international student-athletes, and religiously diverse affinity groups. Our goal is for them to have events throughout the year where they can get together and just find and build community.”
BYU Athletics also holds events that bring all student-athletes together, including service events and its annual “More Than an Athlete Night.”
“It’s a way for our student-athletes to celebrate themselves and everything else they bring to the world outside of their identity as an athlete," Catt said.
While many college athletes feel strong belonging within their teams, challenges can arise in other spaces.
“A lot of student-athletes feel that they belong on their teams,” Catt said. “It’s the second that they step outside of their team sphere that a lot of the belonging issues arise.”
Those experiences can affect more than just their social life. When someone feels like they don’t belong, it can impact their confidence, connection and even athletic performance.
Hernandez said that belonging is essential for every student to thrive.
“A student that feels like they don’t have a place in a community or at a university is not going to learn," he said. "They’ve got to feel a sense of place and belonging, or else they’re going to look somewhere else to feel accepted.”
Catt applied that idea directly to athletics.
“If your brain is so focused on feeling like you don’t fit in, it’s difficult to learn a new technique or skill,” she said. “From a scientific perspective, if we don’t have things like love and belonging aligned in our experiences, we can’t reach our full potential.”
Fostering belonging is a necessity, but it is not something that happens automatically.
For student-athletes, that sense of belonging often starts in their relationships, especially with teammates and coaches.
Catt said many coaches at BYU are intentional about creating environments where athletes feel supported.
“Our coaches can be really good at having conversations with their teams to help them process and navigate strong differences. A lot of coaches will call it team chemistry or team culture, but at the end of the day it is all belonging.”
BYU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, or SAAC, is made up of student-athlete leaders who are also driving many of these belonging efforts.
“Our student-athletes always want more opportunities to bring each other together,” Catt said.
Belonging often develops in small, familiar spaces, such as within a sports team, where athletes spend much of their time. However, both Hernandez and Catt emphasized that a sense of belonging should extend beyond those environments and into the broader campus experience.
One of the most important ways individuals can contribute to that effort is by learning how to better engage with others who are different than them.
“We are in a society that’s good at debating,” Catt said. “We like to discuss and we like to debate in the sense that there’s an end goal that we can reach.”
Instead, she said, people should focus on understanding.
“I think we can all be better at practicing dialogue, because dialogue has no end goal. It’s simply engaging in a conversation to understand one another.”
Catt added that being an advocate for others often begins with small, intentional actions.
“If I’m willing to step outside of myself, and serve you or hear you or understand you, then that’s how I come to love you."
She said that willingness to listen, even when it is uncomfortable, is what helps create real change.
“It’s really important that we understand who we are and who other people are as children of a divine being,” Catt said. “If you’re not able to see others with that same divinity and potential, then you can’t progress.”
That understanding is grounded in recognizing a shared identity.
“We all belong to the family of God," Hernandez said. "But our other identities can be really important to us as well.”
He also pointed out that belonging is important because everyone has a different personal story and way of life.
“We should appreciate and value what we all bring to the table as far as our backgrounds and life experiences,” Hernandez said. “We shouldn’t ask people to bury their identities; we should help celebrate the uniqueness of them.”
Belonging should allow individuals to feel seen and valued for who they are, rather than pressured to hide parts of themselves.
For some BYU athletes, their efforts are already having an influence.
Catt recalled times where she has seen student-athletes feeling empowered to have open conversations with others that think differently than them.
“That alone is a win,” Catt said. “I love helping students feel confident enough to use their voices.”
For individuals willing to step up as advocates for belonging and inclusion, Catt said the effort begins with an intentional practice.
“Be willing to engage with someone in a conversation who has a wildly different experience than you, and be willing to believe what they say.”
As BYU continues to grow, both Hernandez and Catt said the work of belonging is ongoing.
For the athletic department, that means continuing to create an environment where student-athletes feel they belong at BYU and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.