Mental wellness built specifically for student-athletes facing constant, crushing pressures.
Mindset is a mobile wellness platform engineered specifically around the high-pressure schedules of collegiate athletes. By pairing rapid, friction-free mood logging with dynamic calendar coordination, it transforms a clinical tracking chore into an intuitive daily utility.
I was a student athlete at 3 different schools and found myself facing the same issues at each one. The constant pressure to perform, get good grades and maintain relationships took a mental toll. I often found myself struggling, falling behind in class and lowering my standards, I needed more support.
Student-athletes juggle two full time jobs with no single tool that understands their schedule and their mental state, leaving them burned out and falling behind.
The Reality
60hrs
committed per week on average on sport, travel and academics
10%
of student athletes with mental health conditions actually seek help
47%
of student athletes report experiencing psychological burnout
How Might We help student athletes track their mental state and feel supported by their team while managing the demands of academics and athletics?
“I’d check in for five seconds if it actually helps my performance or shows patterns that help.”
Chris Lechuga
“Mood definitely affects my game, being self aware of it and keeping positive is so important.”
Adrian Lechuga
Findings
- They’d track daily if it’s quick and genuinely helpful, friction kills the habit.
- Scheduling disruptions are constant
- Burnout is both physical and emotional
- Mood directly impacts performance
If a solution isn’t quick and easy, it won’t get used.
Mindset
A single tool that lets student athletes log their mood in seconds, see patterns over time, and stay connected with their team, all while managing the demands of both academic and athletic schedules.
Mood Logging
A quick tap captures how you’re feeling without breaking your flow, keeping patterns visible without the effort.
Scheduling
Conflicts get flagged the moment they happen. No surprises, just a schedule that actually works.
Messaging
Group chats and direct messages in one place, organised and always where you need them.
The Mood Icon
Mental health check-ins fail when they feel like admin. A numeric scale or slider is clinical, slow, and disconnected from how athletes actually think about how they feel.
Custom mood icons make the check-in instant, intuitive, and human, reducing friction at the most important moment in the app.
Usability Testing
Tested with 2 students across the 3 core flows — mood logging, schedule change, and messaging a peer.
The UI landed well — both users responded positively to the visual direction and mood icons.
Key findings resulting in:
- Feedback to mood logging, giving helpful schedule suggestions
- Clearly sectioned difference between group chat and direct messages
Overlaps Get Flagged
Overlaps get flagged the moment they happen. No surprises, just a schedule that works.
Everything in One Central Place
Everything stays in one central place — mood logging, schedule planning and messaging for group chats and direct messages.
Lessons
- If it creates friction, athletes won’t touch it — speed of logging is everything
- The problem isn’t awareness of mental health, it’s the lack of tools built around an athlete’s schedule
- Talking to student athletes directly revealed that team visibility of mood was both desired and feared — that tension needs to be designed around carefully
Next Steps
- Test the prototype with active student athletes across different sports and school sizes
- Validate with athletic departments — would coaches or trainers want access to team mood data?
- Explore the notification model — push prompts need to feel supportive, not like another obligation
- Understand the institutional angle — could this live inside a school’s existing athlete support system?
