By admin Sarah Shulze was a star athlete on the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s track and field and cross country teams. She was also a political science major with a passion for women’s rights. She loved travel and adventure, and was a role model to her two younger sisters.
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On April 13, 2022, Sarah died by suicide. From the outside, she was always smiling and looked like she had it all together, her mother Brigitte Shulze said. But inside, the 22-year-old from California’s Ventura County was dealing with anxiety exacerbated by an unhealthy team environment.
“We felt so helpless after Sarah died and there were so many questions,” Shulze said. “We later found out that she had told her coach she had thoughts of suicide. And the coach, for whatever her reasons, didn’t go forward with anything. When you send your child off to college, and especially as a student athlete, it is the coaches and the trainers that spend the most time with your child. To us, it was such a sad fact that this coach was given this information, and just didn’t have the training and the tools to do anything with it.”
Now, Shulze is working with California lawmakers to make training on student mental health mandatory for all coaches and trainers at public and private higher education institutions across the state. This training — which at minimum, must cover suicide prevention education — would have to be completed every two years.
Assembly Bill 1985, authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, was passed unanimously by the California Assembly in May. If it makes its way through the Senate and is signed, the measure will be known as the Sarah Shulze’s Law.
So far, no lawmaker has voted against the bill.
The measure seeks to respond to the unique pressures faced by student athletes amid a national youth mental health crisis. While the University of California — which already requires such training for its coaches — has supported the bill, the California Community Colleges and California State University systems have not taken any position on it. The community colleges said it worked with the Legislature to incorporate a timeline it could adhere to. Currently, all higher education institutions must comply by July 1, 2028.
The trainings, the bill says, can be provided online and free of cost. Mental Health First Aid, a program that trains individuals how to recognize and respond to signs of mental health challenges, is an example of the kind of training that can be used to meet the requirements of the bill.
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AB 1985 is part of a package of three bills awaiting approval that together seek to ensure coaches at schools and higher education institutions are trained on student mental health and can provide appropriate support when a young person is in need. AB 1665 applies to K-12 school athletics and AB 1626 outlines the topics the trainings should cover, including suicide prevention, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and appropriate referrals to professional resources.
In 2024, Maryland passed a law requiring public schools and higher education institutions to provide mental health training to coaches. At least eight other states have similar requirements for high school coaches. California’s AB 1985 would apply to public and private higher education institutions.
“We know there is a huge mental health crisis among the young, and when you look at the pressures that college athletes face, often they’re athletic pressures, but there’s also academic pressures,” Assemblymember Irwin said. “It is really important that the people that often spend the most time with them, their coaches, have some training to be able to identify young people that are at risk and make sure they get the resources they need.”
Katie Meyer, a soccer goalkeeper for Stanford University, died by suicide in March 2022 after she was threatened with disciplinary action months before her graduation. In 2024, Irwin authored Katie Meyer’s Law, mandating that California’s public colleges and universities allow students to select an adviser to help them navigate any disciplinary processes.
For Shulze, addressing student mental health in her daughter’s name means everything.
“I know that she would be very proud having her name attached to something that can help make team environments healthier and mental health a priority just as much as physical health,” Shulze said. “I have very much felt her presence going through this process.”
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