080 | The Stigma Around Having Our Lives Together | Kyla Richey

Kyla Richey is a mentor and role model for young Canadian athletes. Being able to share her journey has been something she doesn’t take lightly. But she also wants young women to realize that life is not always what it appears to be. Although it may seem as though she has a picture perfect reality, she has experienced deep loss and great pain with the loss of her brother and subsequent battle with anxiety and depression.

This conversation explores our need to share our lives vulnerably and the quest to end the stigma that we need to have our lives together to happy and successful. 

Kyla Richey is currently captain of team Canada women's volleyball. She has played for over ten years with the senior national team and has so far played seven years of professional volleyball around the world (Germany, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Peru). She played for the powerhouse UBC Thunderbirds where she won five back to back national titles. Despite a very successful sporting career, Kyla has had her fair share of ups and downs.

The summer before her senior year of high school, her two best friends were killed in a car crash while she was away competing with the Junior National Team. More recently, her younger brother died six years ago and since then, has been struggling with the realities of balancing this life with her grief. An advocate for younger athletes, she wants to bring attention to the daily struggles that we all try to burry. Whether that is dealing with confidence, learning how to step into your true self, balancing athletics and grief, or battles with mental health, Kyla wants to bring it all to the surface. Talking through these issues and being as real as she can be on social media and on her website (re her blog), Kyla hopes that she can foster community and relationship between individuals who might relate. With dreams set high on qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she is working hard to inspire both teammates and individuals in her volleyball circle worldwide. 

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