After redshirting his freshman baseball season at Hawaii, Xander Sielken made the decision to leave his home state for California to continue playing the sport he loves.
What was out of Sielken’s control, though, was how his loved ones would react. In 2023, Sielken was unexpectedly cut off financially by his family before he resumed playing baseball for West Valley College in Saratoga, California.
During his redshirt freshman year, Sielken worked multiple jobs, including working as a valet, cutting hair, and baking and selling homemade banana bread.
“It was really a grind, mentally and physically. I was working every weekend, I had the job, baseball, schoolwork,” Sielken said. “And, I was just barely getting by, and I literally had just enough money for my rent and my food. I didn’t really have enough money to buy me stuff. I was just trying to get by, paying my rent and my food.”
A challenging journey with more obstacles awaited Sielken, but his comeback culminated in a return to the diamond.
Sielken, now a redshirt junior at Cal State Monterey Bay, and Levi Jung-Ruivivar, a gymnast at Stanford, have been selected as the recipients of the CalHOPE Courage Award for February.
Presented monthly since February 2022, the CalHOPE Courage Award honors student-athletes at California colleges and universities who have overcome stress, anxiety and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity.
Sielken’s journey took a turn for the worst in the spring of 2025. He broke the hamate bone in his hand and surgery forced him back home to Hawaii for two months of recovery, where financial stress and isolation weighed heavily.
Sielken didn’t intend on returning to California considering his tight financial situation, but his teammates insisted he make it back to the mainland in time for the playoffs. Each of Sielken’s teammates contributed to buying his ticket back, which allowed him to appear in a key elimination game.
Sielken went 3-for-4 with a triple in a win-or-go-home game, and in the process helped West Valley finish second in the state.
“That was pretty amazing,” Sielken said.
Jung-Ruivivar faced her own mental and physical challenges. After impressing at the 2024 Paris Olympics while representing the Philippines, Jung-Ruivivar made the difficult decision in January 2025 to step away from gymnastics and address an eating disorder.
For years, Jung-Ruivivar had struggled with the eating disorder, even as she pursued Olympic dreams. Though she enjoyed her classes, hanging out with teammates and college life in general, her mental health continued to decline during her first year on campus.
“It was really tainting my love for the sport,” Jung-Ruivivar said in a statement.
Jung-Ruivivar committed fully to recovery and stepped away from school and training for five months to focus on treatment. Though her treatment took longer than she expected, Jung-Ruivivar said it reshaped her life.
Once Jung-Ruivivar returned to campus, she did so mentally stronger, and eased back into training with the support of coaches and medical staff. She has publicly shared her story in the hopes of reducing the stigma around eating disorders in aesthetic sports, and to encourage other athletes to seek help.
“It’s part of my story,” Jung-Ruivivar said, “but it’s not my whole identity.”
As a redshirt freshman, Jung-Ruivivar has impressed with the Stanford gymnastics team. She is competing in all four events, and was named ACC Newcomer of the Week for the week of Feb. 10. She holds season-best scores of 9.950 on bars and floor and a 9.925 on beam.
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