How it started

The idea behind Youlete was born at a time in my life and athletic career when I was struggling. My name is Kalli Knott, I am 21 years old and I am a D1 athlete. In high school I did varsity volleyball, diving and track and field pretty much year round. My senior year of high school I broke a 21 year old district pole vault record and got recruited to compete for Uconn. I have had 5 seasons as a Uconn student athlete and I have earned 1 bronze, 2 silver and 2 Big East champion titles. From the outside looking in at these stats, one may assume I was always happy and successful. However this is far from the truth.

 In December of my senior year of high school I had a traumatic pole vault accident that nearly ended my athletic career. The following year I competed in the polevault for Uconn. Freshman year is known to be a transition year and this was extremely difficult for me as I was still healing mentally from my vaulting accident just months prior. I was struggling in a way I never thought I was capable of. I was terrified of the sport I had once loved, I lacked motivation to move through the days, and I was anxious just thinking about going to practice. I reached out to several athlete friends across the country hoping for guidance and support, but instead I heard several stories of athletes also struggling with their mental health. When I went home for the summer I was determined to find a way to change this for the better and that is why Youlete was born – to remind athletes to put (YOU) before the ath(LETE).