Episode #180 - Aubrey Ide

Episode #180: Grief, Identity, and Playing Through Loss with Aubrey Ide

In this episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat chats with Aubrey — a Division I field hockey player at Lehigh University and co-founder of the Live Like Liv Foundation — to talk about what it’s really like to navigate profound loss as a young adult and student-athlete.

After losing her best friend, Liv, to leukemia, Aubrey found herself balancing the demands of Division I athletics while carrying a grief that felt impossible to put into words. In this conversation, she shares how loss reshaped her identity, her relationship with sport, and the way she shows up for others.

Aubrey opens up about:

• What grief looked like behind the scenes of being a “high-functioning” athlete

• The silent pressure student-athletes feel to keep performing while struggling internally

• How vulnerability became a source of strength

• Building the Live Like Liv Foundation to honor her best friend’s legacy

This episode is a reminder that student-athletes are navigating more than practices, games, and exams — they’re navigating life. And sometimes, that life includes unimaginable loss.

Learn more about Live Like Live here