The Players' Tribune

TPT Assist

Welcome to TPT Assist, a platform for contributing athletes to share the charitable causes they support and raise awareness about initiatives that aim to better our society.

ALL STORIES

When Wyatt Spalding was 12, he was told that his Cerebral Palsy made sports impossible. He kept dribbling. He kept dreaming. He became a Special Olympics Hall of Famer. This story is bigger than basketball.

Wyatt Spalding

Dion Dawkins wrote this for Buffalo: “I needed a few weeks before I could do this. I hope you all understand.”

Dion Dawkins

Putting your thoughts — your darkest, most brutal ones — into words is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Hayden Hurst

Sometimes I feel like no matter what I say next, it’s impossible for people to understand how I really feel.

Darius Leonard

Don’t worry about what anybody says. Don’t worry about how your boys react to it, or about what people got to say about it on social media.

Ben Gordon

Keep on fighting, Black girls. I see you. I got you.

A’ja Wilson
Misty Copeland ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre, one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United St

The funny thing about ballet is that it’s strikingly similar to being a Black woman in America. 

Misty Copeland

When I came back from hell in 2011, I had a very specific routine, and most people, including some of my teammates, called me crazy.

Bryce Salvador

"Every single kid should be equipped with a basic knowledge about anxiety, depression, OCD and other mental health issues."

Corey Hirsch

Now, as a 56-year-old guy who has been through a ton, I realize that my life in hockey was really mainly all about gaining a platform for what I’m doing now.

Clint Malarchuk