The Game Plan of Life with AIIA Athletic Director; Marissa RobinsonThe Game Plan of Life with AIIA Athletic Director; Marissa Robinson
Addict II Athlete Podcast
Marissa Robinson shares how recreational therapy, honest partnership and family‑based fitness shape her work with Addict II Athlete and her marriage to Coach Blu. She reflects on growing up substance‑free, supporting a partner in recovery and using movement to help people rebuild life after addiction.
1:26:08•12 Apr 2022
Recreate Your Life: Marissa Robinson on Sport, Sobriety and Support
Episode Overview
- Recreation can be used deliberately as therapy, helping people replace addictive patterns with structured, goal‑based activities.
- Partners who are not in recovery themselves can still be hugely effective supporters, provided they set clear boundaries and work on their own patterns in therapy.
- Lying and secrecy in addiction often start as survival skills in traumatic childhoods, so understanding that history can change how loved ones respond.
- Relapse tends to start long before the substance is taken, with signs like increased stress, isolation and dishonesty appearing first.
- Medication‑assisted treatment such as Suboxone is presented as a legitimate path for many, with the focus on staying alive, functional and honest rather than chasing a single ‘pure’ approach.
“Recreation, the root word is create. Your recreation is creating again. This is the time to recreate your life.”
How do people manage co-occurring mental and physical health issues while recovering? This conversation with Addict II Athlete’s athletic director, Marissa Robinson, offers a pretty unique answer: you lace up, get moving and literally recreate your life. Marissa shares how she grew up in a small Utah town with a swim-obsessed family, a non‑swimming mum who somehow became a legendary coach, and a packed schedule of sport, study and service that left zero room for partying.
She talks openly about never intentionally drinking, her faith, and how staying busy kept her away from substances – while still acknowledging she has her own patterns to work on. Things get real when she describes dating, falling in love with, and eventually marrying Coach Blu, only to discover he’d been hiding major parts of his past.
Through joint therapy they unpack his childhood trauma, long history of lying as a survival skill, and her own habit of “saving” broken partners. Marissa explains how that hard work shaped their marriage and now informs the culture of Addict II Athlete. She breaks down recreational therapy in plain language, from teaching life skills through sport to helping people learn how to have fun sober again.
That includes practical stuff like how to fish without beer or run races as a family team, and also heavier topics like supporting loved ones on Suboxone and spotting the early warning signs before a relapse. Her favourite line sums up her whole approach: recreation isn’t just about fun, it’s about creation. If you’re wondering how to rebuild life after addiction, or how a non‑addicted partner can genuinely help without losing themselves, this conversation gives you plenty to mull over.
What could “recreating” your free time look like for you?
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