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In professional basketball, players are often celebrated for their strength and resilience on the court. But for American NBA star Kevin Love, one of the most powerful moments of his career came when he spoke openly about his struggles with mental health.
Now the NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist is helping bring those conversations to younger audiences through animation.
Love and his nonprofit Kevin Love Fund have partnered with Sony Pictures Animation to launch GOAT: Beyond the Game, a free classroom curriculum inspired by the studio’s new animated film GOAT. Designed for schools and youth programs, the lessons use storytelling and workbook activities to help students build confidence, develop resilience and better understand their emotions.
The program brings the film’s themes into the classroom, encouraging young people to talk openly about challenges such as self-doubt, setbacks and the pressures that come with growing up.
For Love, the initiative arose from a deeply personal experience. In 2018, he publicly shared that he had suffered a panic attack during an NBA game, opening up about his struggles with anxiety in a moment that helped shift how mental health is discussed in professional sport.
Shortly afterward, he reflected on the experience in an essay for The Players’ Tribune, writing that “everyone is going through something that we can’t see.” The piece helped spark broader conversations about mental health across professional sport and encouraged other athletes to share their own experiences.
“Talking about how you feel isn’t a weakness,” Love said when announcing GOAT. “It’s what makes you unstoppable.”
The experience in 2018 led him to establish the Kevin Love Fund later that year, with a mission to promote mental wellbeing and help create greater equity between mental and physical health.
Since its launch, the foundation has focused on bringing mental health education into schools and youth communities. Its programs include free social-emotional learning tools and storytelling projects that encourage young people to express their feelings. They also leverage partnerships with leading educators and sports organizations to help normalize conversations about mental health.
Love’s voice carries a particular weight given his long career. A five-time NBA All-Star, he won an NBA championship in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and helped the United States win gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Through the new film and curriculum, the initiative aims to help young people build emotional resilience early, showing that learning to understand and talk about feelings can be just as important as learning the fundamentals of the game.
Educators, coaches and youth organizations can access the GOAT: Beyond the Game curriculum for free through the Kevin Love Fund website.
The animated film GOAT is playing in theatres now and related content is available through Sony Pictures Animation platforms, including its YouTube platform, where viewers can also watch the related short Roarball Roundup.
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