Former Division I Athlete Victoria Garrick Is Changing The Idea Of Beauty In Women’s Sports After Battling Depression And Disordered Eating
Former Divison I athlete, TED Talk speaker, podcast host, and now a mega-viral content creator.
At only twenty-five years old, those are just a few of Victoria Garrick’s latest and greatest achievements as she works to undo the harm that stereotypical ideas of beauty and femininity have done to young girls and women around the globe.
Although, Victoria’s mission to change the world did not start without her own personal struggle with body image and worth.
Instead, she reflects on how popular media shaped her internal perception of beauty, beginning right as she entered teenhood.
“The idea of what it means to be a beautiful woman has changed for me many times,” Victoria began in an article she penned for GOOD.
“In 2011, when I was thirteen, I thought beautiful meant weighing the same as the Victoria’s Secret models I googled. In 2013, at fifteen, I thought beautiful meant having the hashtag-famous ‘thigh gap.’ In 2016, at the age of eighteen, I thought beautiful meant not having to edit your pictures on Instagram.”
Still, Victoria’s internal battle with her own appearance did not become the epicenter of her world until 2017.
That year, she committed to the University of Southern California’s (USC) women’s indoor volleyball team.
Instagram; pictured above is Victoria
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And at first, Victoria was overjoyed. She was playing for a Division I team, making friends, and working her behind off.
What she did not know then, though, was just how much the intense routine switch would impact her body.
“After I started lifting and practicing with a Division I team, my body began to quickly change before my eyes. All of a sudden, I was burning close to one thousand and three hundred calories a practice, lifting heavy weights, and eating around four thousand calories each day,” Victoria said.
“This was a huge change from the routine I had grown accustomed to in high school.”
So, after a few months of hard work on the court and in the weight room, Victoria realized that she was no longer a thin and lean girl.
Instead, she was larger and more muscular– a reality that did not truly set in until she went shopping one weekend during her freshman year.
Victoria’s goal for that shopping trip was to find something that made her feel pretty and girly– because, after all, women sweating in the gym 24/7 and squatting hundreds of pounds were not necessarily viewed as “pretty” or “girly” at the time.
Once she grabbed a ton of clothes to try on in the dressing room, though, Victoria’s heart shattered. The jeans she had picked out would not slide past her thighs, no matter how much she tried.
A shirt that she had snagged was way too tight around her now-muscular arms. And the dress she had adored on the mannequin outside would not even zip up her back.
“Behind the curtains of a five-by-five-foot changing room, I silently began to cry,” Victoria recalled.
And this experience, which so many women have unfortunately suffered, stuck with her.
It even jumpstarted Victoria’s year-long battle against her own appearance– during which she tried countless diets, avoided certain wardrobe items, and grew to despise working out for the sport she loved.
“For countless months, I was focusing on my body, trying to be skinnier, and trying to eat less than what my body required to perform,” she explained.
After two full semesters of putting herself through hell, though, Victoria began to question why she was going to such lengths– more specifically, why her firm stomach, defined arms, and solid legs could not be viewed as feminine or beautiful.
“From that point on, my outlook changed. Just because you are not a certain dress size or weigh more than one hundred and twenty pounds does not mean you’re not beautiful,” Victoria said.
“And, most importantly, girls who compete to win the national championship will not, and physically cannot, look the same as models clouding our Instagram feed.”
Then, once Victoria internalized this message, she decided to take it to social media. Online, she began candidly describing her own self-love battles in an effort to repair her mental health and self-esteem.
And honestly, her content creation was a win-win for everyone. She was able to return to using social media in a filter-free, authentic, and carefree way; meanwhile, women around the world were exposed to genuine and relatable content.
So, the young “Victoria Garrick” quickly became a household name among Instagrammers. Then, once she graduated from USC in 2019, the former DI athlete was drawn to new endeavors where she could make an even larger impact.
Specifically, Victoria embarked on a university speaking tour right after leaving school. During that time, she visited colleges across the nation and delivered speeches to female athletes about body acceptance and nurturing.
And ever since then, Victoria’s platform has only grown. She has gone on to launch her own podcast, named “Real Pod,” while continuing to share body-positive content with the world.
“Now I create content full-time for all social media platforms and travel the country to speak to college students and athletes about the importance of mental health and breaking down the stigma surrounding issues like depression, anxiety, and eating disorders,” Victoria explained.
Her TikTok account now has 1.2 million followers; meanwhile, her Instagram account has nearly four hundred thousand followers.
So, every day, people around the globe get to hear anecdotes, tips, and relatable experiences from Victoria– a former athlete who is singlehandedly changing the idea of beauty within women’s sports.
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