For Gabbie Ewing, the impact of being a student-athlete will last a lifetime.
"I think my student-athlete experience has shaped me in every possible way," she said. "Without it, none of what I'm doing now exists."
The former soccer student-athlete at Concordia Portland had a highly successful college athletic career, scoring 22 goals and adding 18 assists in her 76 games with the Cavaliers. A Division II All-American, Ewing was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2017 and signed a contract to play professional soccer in Sweden following her graduation in 2019.
While Ewing eventually left her playing career behind, she never drifted very far from the athletic world and the community that left a lasting impact on her during her time as a student-athlete. Earning a master's degree in sports management from Solent University in the United Kingdom in 2022, Ewing eventually decided to channel her passion for the student-athlete experience into a career in college athletics.
A pivotal first step came in 2023 as Ewing was named a recipient of the NCAA's Ethnic Minorities and Women's Internship Grant. Awarded annually, the grant is designed to provide financial assistance to Division II and III member schools and conferences that are committed to enhancing representation in entry-level athletics administrative positions. This provided Ewing with the opportunity to take on the role of digital media and championships assistant for the Great Northwest, the same conference in which she competed as a student-athlete.
"Being named a recipient of this grant was so important because I (got) to be part of a group that is often underrepresented," Ewing said. "For me, as an Asian American woman, I think it is so important to have that representation. … This grant has helped give me the basic foundation to set me up for success later down the road."
While Ewing continued to develop her career as a sports professional at the conference, she also took on another monumental project within the athletic community: the founding of The Athlete Confidential.
Developed in 2023 by Ewing, The Athlete Confidential serves as a "community hub" where athletes can come together to tell and share stories about their experiences. Storytelling and discussion take place through a variety of channels, including Instagram, a podcast and a blog. It is a platform that was born out of Ewing's own experiences after finishing her athletic career, as well as her passion for bettering the lives of student-athletes. It focuses on exploring topics such as mental health, relationships, equality, athlete identity and life after sport.
"I decided to form my platform, The Athlete Confidential, really because I had my own struggles with mental health," Ewing said. "I needed a place to talk about it. I didn't know who to talk to, I didn't know how to talk about it. I just felt that I (couldn't) be the only one feeling this, and I didn't want other people to feel like they were alone in what they were going through."
Individuals are free to discuss sport-specific topics on the platform, such as performance goals, training plans and game tactics, but they are also encouraged to dive into human experiences and identities that exist outside of sport.
While the platform has allowed Ewing to connect with current and former NCAA athletes, it has also opened conversations with professional athletes, coaches and athletic trainers from across the country and throughout the world who understand and recognize the universal language of sports.
"We as individuals who play sports and have grown up playing sports — the way that we see the world is often through the lens of sport," she said. "That shapes a lot of our experiences and who we are. So The Athlete Confidential is really trying to communicate (with) people that can understand us and relate to us on a different level."
Since the platform was launched in January 2023, Ewing has received positive feedback and witnessed tremendous success. The platform has continued to grow and evolve rapidly both on a national and global scale.
"I think that this platform has made more of an impact than I anticipated when I first started," she said. "It just validates that people need to hear these stories. … It's important to continue sharing and keep moving the needle forward on these topics."
While The Athlete Confidential has continued to grow, Ewing's professional career has also continued to take steps forward, allowing her to continue to use her passion for bettering the student-athlete experience in her everyday life. Recently named the assistant athletic director for marketing at Western Washington, she has the opportunity once again to make an impact on student-athletes within the Great Northwest, an athletic community that has played a significant role in her development as an individual.
Wherever Ewing's career may take her in the future, she plans to rely on her own student-athlete experience to fuel her work while continuing to be an advocate for student-athletes everywhere.
"My long-term career goals are to continue helping and supporting student-athletes in whatever form that takes," she said. "I'm able to relate to the student-athletes because I've been there and I've experienced what they've been through. I think that is just going to help to propel me into a lot of success in the future."