Awesome Women in Philly: Healing Trauma Through Sports

Photo by Dimitry Anikin on Unsplash

Mariana Folco, LSW, has spent over 10 years as a mentor, coach, and youth development professional. With a background in social work and a people-centered approach to her work, she helps develop and lead trainings on how to integrate trauma-informed practices into a sports context. A native of Argentina, she has worked extensively with Latino populations in Philadelphia as a bilingual domestic violence counselor and legal service coordinator with unaccompanied immigrant youth. Mariana has also been a rowing coach for over 10 years at the high school, collegiate, and masters levels for programs across the country.

What’s the most rewarding part of being a licensed social worker?

One of the things I appreciate most about the social work field is how vast and all-encompassing it can be. There are so many different roles a licensed social worker can take on, and the field really allows you to take the path that feels best for you, and learn so many different skills along the way. Maintaining licensure also means having to take continuing education courses, which is such a great way to keep learning, stay current with the field, and connect to other social workers. I love the opportunities to meet so many wonderful and caring people in this field.

Are there any myths about social work you’d like to dispel?

Sometimes there’s this misconception that social workers are unkempt, underpaid women who work for government agencies and take kids away from their families. But there are so many different career paths social workers (male and female!) can take with their unique skillset, many of which can actually be quite lucrative and in a range of settings, such as non-profits, hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinical settings, higher education, politics, and many others.

Why is social work even more important during COVID-19?

In a time of physical distancing, social connection is more important than ever. Access to information, resources, and social support is essential during this strange time. People may be experiencing a range of emotions and realities: isolation, anxiety, financial hardship, challenging family dynamics, mental and physical health concerns, and much more. Social workers in different capacities are well-equipped to provide support during this unsettling time.

You recently transitioned into a new role at a non-profit called Students Run Philly Style, which transforms young people’s lives through distance running. How can sports help people address trauma?

Sports are perfectly suited to help people address trauma for so many reasons! A definition of trauma I heard once that really stuck with me is that trauma is the wrenching away of control. When we experience a traumatic event, either in one moment or over time, our brains go into survival mode (fight/flight/freeze) and we experience a variety of physiological symptoms, such as elevated heart rate, tense muscles, sweating, and vigilance that activate to protect us. Because this happens at a biological level, trauma stays in our bodies long after a traumatic event has happened.

The great thing about sports is that they give us a physical and emotional release, and the choice about how and when to do this. For example, if you go for a run, you might experience the same physiological symptoms mentioned above, but the difference now is that when it gets to be too much, you can stop running. Sports give us the chance to learn and practice how to regulate our brains and bodies, and have a huge link to mental health. Sports are also packed with different roles and responsibilities on teams — captains, stretch leaders, equipment managers, hype people — and the ability to contribute to something is essential in the healing from trauma. Sports have clear rules, expectations, schedules, and seasons, which bring a sense of predictability and stability, often lacking for someone who has experienced the chaos and uncertainty that can come along with trauma.

The greatest thing about sports is that this all happens in the context of supportive teammates and coaches who leverage the most important resource of all for someone who has experienced trauma: relationships, connection. One of my favorite quotes about this is from Bruce Perry, a doctor who has done a lot of research around trauma: “relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.”

If you’d like to get involved, head to https://www.studentsrunphilly.org/ and click ‘Get Involved’ for more information on how to become a mentor/running leader on an existing team, start a new team, volunteer at events, or make a donation to our program. We love new friends!

You also coach women at the Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club on Boathouse Row. In what ways do you think organized team sports are beneficial to women?

Sports had a huge impact on me growing up (and still do), and in so many ways put me on the career and life trajectory I’m on now. I’ve had the privilege to coach women at different levels over the past 13 years and one of the greatest things I’ve seen is how sport can help girls and women build life skills like self-awareness, discipline, contribution, leadership, and social confidence that they can translate into other aspects of their lives. When women get to be part of a team with a positive culture, they can really bring their true selves, find their voice, challenge themselves physically, and elevate their standards and those of the women around them.

One of the reasons I love coaching rowing is because it’s a life-long learning experience. Rowing is so technical and there is always something to improve. This allows women to keep pushing themselves, keep pushing the needle forward, and keep finding success on and off the water.

If someone was interested in coaching a sport, what steps could she take to make it happen?

• Think about why you want to coach! What draws you to coaching? There are a lot of sports-based youth development organizations in Philly that rely on awesome volunteers. You could start by reaching out to one of them, or connecting Up2Us Sports who places coaches at many of these organizations through an AmeriCorps year of service.
• Get training! A lot of people think they can just ‘jump in’ to coaching (I was ‘thrown in’, but wouldn’t recommend it), but there is so much training and learning that is essential to be successful in this field.
• Finally, stick with it. Coaching gets really hard sometimes. But for every tough day, there are some really incredible ones around the corner. Remember your ‘why’, develop a coaching philosophy, and hold those closely on the best and worst days.

You qualified for this year’s Boston Marathon, but it’s been pushed back due to COVID-19. What are you doing in the meantime to keep working towards your running goals?

As a long-time runner having spent about half of my life in Boston, ‘Marathon Monday’ is a really special day that sort of punctuates the start of spring, so it’ll be tough not to be there this April. That said, at the start of this year and training cycle I developed a stress fracture in my foot which put me out of commission for 6 full weeks. That really set back my training, and to be honest, I wasn’t feeling very prepared to race well this week! So in a strange way, the delayed race has sort of helped me.

I’ve been using this time to really focus on full recovery, figuring out the cause of multiple stress fractures over the years, building a strong mileage base (rather than increasing it each week), slowly adding speed back in, and really just trying to get as healthy as possible for the fall.

I run with a team called Furthur Training and Racing, and we’ve gotten involved in a “Virtual Grand Prix,” which is about racing alone but contributing towards a team point total against other teams around the country. Every two weeks we race a different distance: 10k, 1 mile, 5k, Half Marathon. The funny thing is that one is never properly trained for all these distances at once, so it’s definitely kept things interesting! I have some pretty badass high-level runners on my team, so I’m motivated to race hard (tough to do alone!) and contribute to my team in any way I can! I hope this helps me stay fit and healthy until the fall, and that Boston goes off in September as scheduled.

If someone wanted to get into running, how could they start their journey?

As an individual sport, running can seem intimidating or just not that fun for a lot of people. But it’s really a team sport too! Philly has a great running community, and there are lots of running groups people could join as a first step. Philadelphia Runner is a great local running store, so I would suggest going there to find out about group runs, and having have them help with finding the right shoes. With the right people and the right shoes, running can feel so much more enjoyable.

Then it’s about sticking with it long enough that you start improving your endurance, running longer distances, and feeling better as you do it. I would also say don’t be scared to sign up for your first race! Even a short race can really help runners experience the community, support, and exhilaration that the sport brings. Once you experience the feeling of crossing a finish line, it’s hard not to get hooked.

What advice would you give yourself as you were graduating high school or college?

It’s okay not to know what’s next. Try new things, say yes to things when other people believe in you (even if you don’t yet believe in yourself), spend time overseas, and identify what you enjoy reading about. Find time for the things that bring you joy, whether or not they end up being part of your career, those things, big and small, are ultimately the ones that matter.

What podcast are you loving right now?

I love the podcast Finding Mastery with psychologist Michael Gervais. I first discovered it a few years ago when he interviewed Des Linden (my favorite pro runner who is total boss lady and wonderful human) after she won the Boston Marathon in 2018. In the podcast, he interviews the world’s best athletes, business minds, musicians, coaches, and artists to try to understand the psychology of how they push the boundaries to excel in their fields, often in the most challenging environments. As an endurance athlete, perfectionist, and lover of stories who is fascinated by brain science, this podcast does a great job capturing how amazing people master their ‘craft’.

Awesome Women in Philly is a semi-weekly Q&A series by She Steps Up, a Philadelphia, PA-based group aimed at empowering women, trans, and non-binary folks professionally and personally. Check out our website for events.