{"id":16478,"date":"2026-02-07T15:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16478"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:35:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:35:54","slug":"student-athlete-club-sponsors-successful-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/02\/07\/student-athlete-club-sponsors-successful-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-Athlete club sponsors successful\u00a0weekend\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Ella Weidenhammer, \u201927 staff writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first weekend of February consisted of an athletically-packed weekend for LVC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the games consisted of \u201cThe Hidden Opponent\u201d awareness games. The Hidden Opponent (THO) is the leading non-profit organization for athlete mental health advocacy, education and support. It provides resources and unites a global community to empower athletes to prioritize their mental health and shatter the stigma within sports culture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One empowered athlete decided to bring a chapter right here to Annville. Lyla Arfanella, a junior on the volleyball team, serves as LVC\u2019s Hidden Opponent president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Hidden Opponent means community, unity, and growth,\u201d Arfanella said. \u201cWe are all current or former athletes with different stories but find similarities in our battles and work to overcome them together. I am so grateful that we have so many members that have joined our community and are working hard to end the stigma behind mental health.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first game of the weekend took place at the Hersheypark Arena where LVC\u2019s women\u2019s ice hockey team faced the Blazers of Hood College. The Dutchmen pulled ahead in the first period scoring two goals in the first 18 minutes by Mallory Burdick and Brysha Schmidt. The final Dutchmen goal of the game was scored by Anna Dale giving the go ahead win 3-1. Norah McCauliffe, a junior team representative, played a big role in the success of THO awareness game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen my team found out we would have a THO Awareness Game, they were very excited,\u201d McCauliffie said. \u201cThis excitement was key to how successful the game was. Mental health is very important to my team, and especially with how long our season is, we always prioritize preserving our mental health. I thought the game overall was a success, not only did we win, but seeing the big turnout for the after-game skate was really special. It truly goes to show how important it is to spread awareness for mental health in athletes, and how seen it makes us feel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final THO awareness game took place less than 24 hours after the women\u2019s ice hockey game. This time, the women\u2019s basketball team took the court wearing a different warmup shirt than usual. Across their shirts was the new LVC Hidden Opponent Branch Logo created by McCauliffe along with \u201cThe Hidden Opponent\u201d written in green and white below. Alexa Holcomb, junior guard whose role is secretary within the organization, helped with setting up the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to be a part of the awareness here at LVC because of my own struggles with basketball and mental health as well, and I wanted to take this opportunity to help others,\u201d Holcomb said. \u201cWe have now had two awareness games, and we loved both of them. Because of our game last year, a lot of my team members have joined the club and even become team reps. This year, we were very excited to host a second one because of how successful and fun our game had been last year, drawing people to our game and spreading awareness for the cause. Many people on my team have dealt with mental health in one way or another, and being able to dedicate a game to something we all have dealt with shows the cause is bigger than ourselves. It was an honor to be a part of.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Dutchmen played against King\u2019s College. Senior Riley Heavlow led the Dutchmen to the sweep on the season against Kings with the final score of 53-33.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Hidden Opponent is not just for our student athletes here at LVC, and all are welcome,\u201d Arfanella said. \u201cWe talk about topics that can relate to the classroom, workplace, and friendship\/family dynamics. Recently, I had to step away from the sport I love due to an injury. It is now more than ever that I am realizing the benefits our THO community has to offer to this entire campus.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If students would like to learn more about The Hidden Opponent, contact Lyla Arfanella at lka001@lvc.edu<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ella Weidenhammer, \u201927 staff writer  The first weekend of February consisted of an athletically-packed weekend for LVC.  Two of the games consisted of \u201cThe Hidden Opponent\u201d awareness games. The Hidden Opponent (THO) is the leading non-profit organization for athlete mental […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16491,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16478\/revisions\/16491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}