Last week, more than 160 student-athletes converged on the campus of Youngstown State University, looking for sports-related wisdom.

The 10th annual Game Changers Sports Leadership Summit was held on May 6 at the DeBartolo Stadium Club, and Michael Engram, founder and executive director of Game Changers, was pleased with the turnout.

“It’s about personal and professional development for the high school athletes,” Engram said. “They get physicality — all the camps, all the 7-on-7s, some of them have personal trainers — but to me, there is not a balance on the other side — the integrity, the leadership development.”

The three pillars Game Changers focuses on are “career fitness, mental fitness and financial fitness.” Engram said “intention” was this year’s theme, the idea that intention with a student-athlete’s future can flow into their mental fitness.

Three guest speakers were the centerpiece of the event. They were Nitra Rucker, vice president of human resources at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee; Matt Clapper, chief financial officer of the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and Mike Adams, former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle turned life and yoga instructor.

“By (Adams) being from the surrounding area in Farrell (Pa.), it’s one thing when you pull somebody from outside northeast Ohio to kinda understand the dynamics of what our parents went through with steel mills closing and manufacturing, and how that affects the reality of what our young people are going through now,” Engram said. “Also, May is Mental Health Awareness month, so it was super important for me to bring that aspect to our young people.

“(Clapper) spoke about careers, but he also spoke about budgeting and financial fitness, and making sure you do the little things now. Get into the practice of those spending habits and saving habits, and how those transition into life.”

Rucker provided a different perspective for sports careers. She talked about the various professions in the athletic world such as business or marketing.

“This isn’t just the local high school level, but this is global,” Engram said. “A lot of young people don’t necessarily see how what they’re doing now and what they’re studying in college can affect the type of life that they want to live. That’s for any community.

“If the four corners of your city are the only thing that you’ve seen, then you haven’t been able to enlarge your territory and mental capacity to see the possibilities that are out there.”

There were two panels, a professional panel and a college panel. The college panel consisted of collegiate football and volleyball athletes from YSU and Rice, who spoke about the importance of creating a community on a team, staying focused and on the right path and the keys to mental health while in college.

“The college athletes are always a highlight for the event, because for the high schoolers, they aren’t adults that have a hidden agenda. ‘My mom told you to tell me to stay in school or get good grades.’ This is the college athlete that looks like their big brother or big sister,” Engram said. “For a lot of them that aspire to be college athletes, they’re listening as if they’re giving gems.”

The event used to be held on Saturdays, but it was moved to a Tuesday to help with any transportation issues for students. Engram said schools allowed students to bus to YSU, which helped with the attendance numbers this year.

Engram said the more than 160 attendees is double what the event did last year, and that included a group that came in from John Marshall High School in Cleveland.

“A lot of times, this type of stuff only happens in the major sports markets, your Clevelands, your Pittsburghs,” Engram said. “Our young people don’t necessarily have the transportation just to pick up and go drive an hour, hour and a half. Long story short, it went extremely well.”

Engram said the current economic climate made things challenging this year. He said sponsorships for the event, which help fund the summit and provide shirts for attendees, shrunk for the non-profit.

“When things happen in the business world, they definitely trickle down and have an effect on us,” he said.

But Engram was pleased with how things went at YSU. He said the increase in attendance could be a springboard for the 2026 summit, but he will continue to try and get the word out about the services Game Changers provides for the next generation of student-athletes.

“Our young people need more of this, whether it’s Game Changers or not,” Engram said. “This is something that I believe in. I had a great coach that cared more about the athlete than athletics.”