Although they started out primarily working with basketball teams, The Chosen Ones are making waves through the high school. As a team that works to build student athletes’ physical and mental strength, they are excited to take on the challenge of Northview’s athletic teams.
The Chosen Ones is a community group created in 2017 based in Grand Rapids, led by brother-sister duo Wes and Nikki Trammel, Josh Roberson and Chris Warner. The team brings a combination of degrees in social work and sports management, as well as a passion for sports, especially basketball. A fusion of their specialties resulted in The Chosen Ones: a directed sports practice followed by a team bonding and mental health session.
A session begins with a normal practice, where each team focuses on skills and techniques. After the practice, athletes sit down with their teammates to learn about and discuss a different topic on mental health each week, including coping skills, social media, self-image, failure, anxiety and depression. The goal is to educate student-athletes while providing the team with a safe place to connect over their emotions.
“Our first group was [the] Ottawa Hills girls basketball team,” Warner said. “That was a cool experience to see how we can mesh both our passions, and what we felt was needed for the student body population.”
As experts in basketball, The Chosen Ones are starting their work at the high school with the basketball team, but are eager to branch out to other teams in the future.
Wes Trammel and Warner played basketball against each other in high school, and carried their devotion to the sport to the collegiate level.
“Basketball has always been our love. [This program] stemmed from conversations that we would have at work, and some of the trials and tribulations that we went through as a student-athlete,” Warner said. “There were several different factors added to that too, but we both realized we could have done things a little differently and how much more effective we would have been on the court or in the classroom.”
For Trammel, the energy he’s creating with The Chosen Ones was something he needed as a high school student-athlete.
“When I played growing up, I didn’t feel like I had a space to be able to share with my teammates what’s going on with me, whether it’s a family issue or issue with my girlfriend or whatever that may be,” Trammel said. “I felt that if I opened up and shared I would get called soft, or [told to] suck it up and just play.”
Trammel created this program in memoriam of his younger self, and in the hopes of giving other young athletes a better environment than he had.
“I always wonder, if I had a resource like this program, what my career would have been like,” Trammel said. “If I had a mentor or someone that I could safely share everything with, then they could [have] given me resources or helped me learn how to cope with different things.”
Warner also needed someone to help him cope with the pressures of being a student-athlete. He moved to the United States for college on a scholarship after growing up in Montreal, Canada. Even though there were other Canadians on the team, Warner had a hard time adjusting during his freshman year.
“I didn’t realize how difficult it was gonna be, and then my grandmother passed away,” Warner said. “It started to affect me academically. At that time, I may have been depressed but didn’t even realize.”
While dealing with his grief, Warner relied on an academic adviser who provided him with a safe space to process his emotions, the same setting he aims to create with The Chosen Ones.
“I had developed this thing of holding things inside,” Warner said. “If I didn’t [change], who knows how bad it would have gotten. Once that happened, I was able to reach out. I felt comfortable talking to my teammates.”
This is the feeling Warner and Trammel hope to bring to the high school. After meeting with some coaches and Athletic Director Pat Marsman, Warner and Trammel felt encouraged about the change they could make in the community.
“Marsman [gave us some] feedback and he mentioned a couple of things,” Warner said. “Before we could even get through the pitch he was all on board. We talked with him, we talked with Dion Charity about it, and they were excited [because] they noticed the same things, but there was nothing really outside of the school that was being offered.”
Dion Charity is known around the district as a sports enthusiast, mental health supporter and a passionate guidance counselor. He recognizes the importance The Chosen Ones offers to individuals.
“I think this program will do a good job helping all around, [and in] understanding the highs and lows of being a student-athlete. They have their own personal experience, which I think is great,” Charity said. “The program itself is really built to provide that understanding of what we go through.”
The Chosen Ones main priority is creating a safe place for student athletes where they can feel heard and supported.
“We will not judge you. It doesn’t matter what you say. It doesn’t matter how crazy you feel inside, or how crazy that thought is,” Trammel said. “We will help you process those thoughts, those situations.”
