Mary Harrison, Campus Carrier sports editor
Abbey Gamble (22C) vividly remembers the MacAllister classroom where she took statistics, but not because of math. Instead, she recalls the softball team’s emotional first meeting with BRAVE Project Director Ashley Demonbreun-Chapman.
Six months earlier, just after the pandemic began in March 2020, Gamble had ended a relationship with her high school boyfriend that negatively affected her. But it was not until this team session on unhealthy relationships with Demonbreun-Chapman that Gamble, then a junior, realized how dangerous her situation had been.
“I never had that filter of, this is something that you don’t reason with, this is something that is non-negotiable,” Gamble said. “I will never forget sitting in that chair and going ‘Holy crap, I was in that. And thank God I’m not anymore.’”
Gamble, the Vikings’ current assistant softball coach, said after the talk several other players admitted to being in similar situations at some point and wishing they had known the red flags discussed in the Berry Reducing Assault and Violence through Education (BRAVE) Project program.
Student athletes, like their non-athlete peers, tend to overlook dating relationship struggles, despite mandatory NCAA training on sexual violence prevention. An ongoing partnership with the BRAVE project has transformed team cultures through open, engaging conversations within the tightknit teammate groups.
According to Demonbreun-Chapman, the BRAVE Project formed four years ago when Berry received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice aimed to prevent violence in intimate relationships. The grant required prevention education on four common crimes, sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and dating violence, and faculty/staff training to support students impacted by relationship violence.
The NCAA already mandated that athletes undergo annual training on sexual assault prevention, organized at Berry by athletic department personnel. Previously, the training involved a hodge-podge of videos, online curriculum and introductions to on-campus Title IX officers. A program with overlapping goals, run by other Berry staff seemed like a great partnership.
“There would be mandatory training for athletes if BRAVE didn’t exist, but because it’s there, what is the opportunity that we have to make that a really positive, engaging conversation?”
Demonbreum-Chapman said.
Gamble said that she does not remember experiencing impactful moments from the sexual violence prevention trainings before the BRAVE Project. Now having gone through the curriculum as a staff member, Gamble said Demonbreun-Chapman makes the material relatable for every audience. Demonbreun-Chapman said she gets topic suggestions from players beforehand to ensure the sessions are engaging and relevant.
“It’s students who really know what students need to hear,” Demonbreun-Chapman said.
Demonbreun-Chapman also uses the curriculum in meetings with Resident Assistants (RAs), athletic trainers, and residence hall activities. She created it alongside colleagues in the field accessible through the grant and students, pulling information from personal research and her prior experience working with Rome’s Hospitality House for Women.
According to Berry Title IX Coordinator Lindsay Norman, there is not a higher incidence of sexual assault reported among Berry student athletes than in the student body, nor has a particular team generated more reports than another since the BRAVE Project started at Berry. Collegiate student athletes face the same relationship pitfalls as their non-athlete peers, Demonbreun-Chapman and Gamble said.
In fact, having team sports as an outlet can be a positive coping mechanism in a tough situation. But it can also be another area negatively impacted by relationships gone wrong.
Gamble recalls losing her self-described strong work ethic as the situation with her former boyfriend worsened. She said athletes do not realize that the drive to push through adversity is irrelevant in toxic relationships.
“You go field 100 ground balls, you’re going to get better by the end,” Gamble said, referring to softball drills. “But if you’re taking 100 ground balls for six days in a row, at that point you’re just tearing your body down. At some point it doesn’t get better, and you’re only making it worse. You’re just reinjuring yourself.”
For male student athletes, the stigma of men seeking help for intimate relationship violence, due to societal norms and mostly female-oriented resources, is compounded by the intensity of juvenile athletics. Tim Salisbury, a junior lacrosse player, said that young men often enter the world of dating relationships during the college recruitment process.
“A lot of times if an incident, were to happen, a guy’s going to say, ‘Well I can’t afford to report this or deal with the repercussions of letting somebody know this happened to me, so I’m just goanna bottle it up and keep going’,” Salisbury said. “BRAVE says getting that off your chest, telling the people who need to know and taking those appropriate steps is going to free your mind to perform even better on the field. You’re going to feel even more comfortable in your own skin.”
Sexual violence prevention for non-athletes at Berry is concentrated in two trainings during their first year: a BRAVE bystander intervention session with their BCC class, and an online training module. As of 2023, juniors will complete a second online training module as part of the BRAVE Project.
Student athletes, however, receive training every year through Demonbreun-Chapman’s annual talks with each of Berry’s 22 varsity sports teams.
The frequency of the meetings and closeness of the team setting opens up more opportunities for meaningful conversations and gives Demonbreun-Chapman the chance to build relationships with students. Teams have also told her that the training leads to ongoing discussions and check-ins during the school year.
“The very first year I went in, I remember [thinking], this is the highlight of my job,” Demonbreun-Chapman said. “I love talking with these students. It was really engaging and inspiring to me to be a part of that.”
Salisbury said the program has lead male athletes across campus to hold themselves to a higher standard. His lacrosse teammates have become more receptive to the program since he was a freshman because the current upperclassmen were taught the seriousness of the topic during their first year.
Demonbreun-Chapman noted a similar uptick in receptivity across teams, with student leaders now requesting the training and readily suggesting topics their team needs to address. She said the campus community as a whole has become more receptive, in the midst of many new, recent programs looking at healthy relationships overall. Gamble likened the increased receptivity to increased awareness of mental health.
The BRAVE program is nearing the end of its one-year extension on the grant, but Berry has since institutionalized the program. Demonbreun-Chapman said she and BRAVE are here to stay even if the government does not approve their request for another three years of funding.
In her last two years as an athlete, Gamble said she saw team cultures change when coaches and players took ownership of their actions. She now offers herself as a resource to both student athletes and fellow staff at Berry processing similarly toxic relationships.
Gamble echoed lacrosse player Salisbury in saying that due to different backgrounds, some people do not realize their behaviors are unhealthy. But when all parties are educated, change is possible.
“Everybody’s going to mess up, but being able to give that grace and allow somebody to grow and / or have the conversation and say, ‘you know what, this is not ok,’ [is important],” Gamble said.