By Matt Goodman
The transition from a college athlete to everyday life wasn’t gradual for Olivia Gott – it was immediate.
“I went to bed one night, and I was a softball player at the University of Virginia,” Gott said. “Then I woke up the next morning and I wasn’t.”
Gott, a four-year starter on the University of Virginia softball team, faced something that many athletes experience but rarely talk about – an identity crisis. All of a sudden her life had lost its identity, routine, and structure.
The Florida native said her experience playing softball at UVA was life-changing. Traveling across the country and building strong relationships with her teammates made the experience one that she would never change.
Gott’s playing journey also extended beyond the United States through her Jewish heritage. The 2022 Maccabiah gold medalist was recruited to play for Team Israel, eventually making Aliyah and becoming a dual citizen, allowing her to compete on an international stage.
At the 2022 Maccabiah in Jerusalem, the dual citizen helped Team Israel win a gold medal – an experience she claimed was deeply meaningful.
“It was indescribable,” she emphasized. “I felt home.”
Standing in the tunnel at Teddy Stadium, surrounded by teammates and holding the Israeli flag, Gott described the moment as emotional and overwhelming.
“It means so much more than just playing the game,” she said.
However, during her senior year at Virginia, she started to worry about what would happen to her after college. “That occupied a lot of my head space,” she illustrated. “I didn’t really know what was in store for me when I graduated.”
After graduating in 2019 with a degree in English, Gott said she wasn’t ready to step away from the game completely. With her playing career over, she looked for a way to stay connected to softball, continuing her involvement in athletics as a graduate assistant for the softball team at the University of South Carolina while earning her master’s degree.
Now a mental health therapist specializing in athletes, Gott works with individuals facing many of the same challenges she once endured.
Many of the athletes she works with experience “lots of performance anxiety, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, low confidence,” Gott emphasized.
She noted that mental performance is just as important as physical preparation.
“What are your mental reps like?” she said. “What’s going through your head when you’re alone?” Gott said asking herself those same questions during her playing career helped her become more aware of the mental side of the game and better manage pressure.
Now, four years after her collegiate playing career ended, Gott is preparing to return to Israel for the 2026 Maccabiah, this time as a mental health specialist for the Maccabi USA delegation. In her role, she hopes to support athletes on and off the field, helping them navigate the mental challenges that come with high-level competition.
“My softball career and my professional career in mental health encourage me to be my most true unapologetic self; Jewish and proud,” she added.
For Gott, what once felt like the end of her identity as an athlete has become a new purpose – helping the next generation better understand the mental side of the game.
Matt Goodman is a sophomore at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, studying Broadcast and Digital Journalism with minors in Sports Management and Psychology. He has experience in sports play-by-play broadcasting, color commentary, and sports reporting. Contact him at mgoodm06@syr.edu or connect with him on LinkedIn.