The Value of Mental Health In Sports
5 collegiate student-athletes have died by suicide in fewer than two months this year. In the wake of these deaths, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), parents, coaches, and sports fans all over the world have been forced to acknowledge the increasing need for mental health resources in athletics. “Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for college students, according to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. Approximately 1,100 suicides occur on college campuses across the U.S. each year” (Walravens). All athletes at the college and professional levels are expected to play at their best for their team, college, or country. However, at what point is it no longer ok to put a sport before one’s wellbeing? When an athlete dedicates 20+ hours a week to their sport and physical health, are they getting the same training for their mental health? When an athlete is training for the Olympics and they have only four years to get ready for the next games, are they taking time for their mental health?
In her TED talk on Athletes and Mental Health, “The Hidden Opponent,” Victoria Garrick talks about her struggle with depression and anxiety as a Division I (DI) volleyball player at the University of Southern California (USC). Garrick talks about the stigma around mental health for all athletes. “We need to make a change societally to make people care this much about mental health because… right now a physical injury is treated more seriously than a psychological injury and that needs to change ‘’ (Garrick). An athlete could easily get the day off from practice for a physical injury if they are limping or it is visible that their knee is swelling. However, it is hard for an athlete to say that they have been feeling depressed or that they haven’t been sleeping due to their anxiety because they may be viewed as weak. Furthermore, Victoria talks about the fear of missing practice at the Division I level because it will set an athlete back, however, athletes are required to sit out if they are physically injured. But no one makes someone rest if they are not mentally healthy; it’s up to them to decide (Garrick).
The lack of mental health resources in athletics and the stigma around getting help for emotional struggles restrict athletes from taking care of their mental health. Of course, there are assumptions and expectations that if an athlete is ready to physically perform at such a high level then they should also be mentally prepared. However, if athletes don’t take care of their mental health their bodies could end up paying the price. “Good mental health can positively affect your physical health. In return, poor mental health can negatively affect your physical health” (Contributors and Brennan MD). Schools and programs need to provide their athletes with resources or knowledge on how to practice mental wellness. Providing resources and education allows athletes the opportunity to learn about ways to manage their mental health before they find themselves in a difficult situation.
Princeton lacrosse player, Crista Samaras, discussed her struggle with suicide and how college lacrosse saved her in a recent Forbes article. Samaras’ story shows that not every college athlete struggles with mental health challenges due to their sport. Samaras shared that she tried to commit suicide multiple times in high school and up until her sophomore year at Princeton. However, playing lacrosse gave her a responsibility to her team which distracted her from her struggles. Samaras says she faced the common collegiate athlete stressors “including missing classes for practice and tournaments, keeping up grades, maintaining optimal physical health, and remaining injury-free… while Samaras faced these stressors, she says that lacrosse for her was a saving grace”(Walravens). Samaras goes on to say how she loved the hard work on the field but she said there was no denying “it was tough, and even overwhelming on top of academic responsibilities, but the accountability I had to my team, my coaches, and the younger girls I coached helped keep me alive’’ (Walravens). In Samaras’ experience, her sport is the thing that saved her from everything else that was falling apart in her life. However, it is important to acknowledge in the world of college athletics, there is a culture of mental toughness that can lead to mental health disorders and psychological distress. For that reason, student-athletes are less likely to discuss mental health concerns. Of “college athletes with mental health conditions, only 10%” seek help (Kuik and Potts). Furthermore “among professional athletes, data shows that up to 35% of elite athletes suffer from a mental health crisis which may manifest as stress, eating disorders, burnout, or depression and anxiety” (Kuik and Potts). These stats show that there is a need for education, conversation, and resources to help athletes. Unfortunately, the assumption that athletes’ don’t struggle with mental health does not allow for change.
Ever since I committed to a school in the Big East Conference, I have become a basketball fanatic. While writing some of this, I watched the NCAA college basketball national championship game. As I watched the last game, I contemplated the commitment that each of these student-athletes has to their team and their academics. Their title is student before athlete, yet in March, they have played a total of 12 hours of official games. That is not counting practice and traveling to and from each game. I can only imagine the intensity and pressure that is put on each player. The national championship game had a total of 18.1 million viewers and the Duke vs. UNC semi-final game had 18.5 million viewers. With that comes 18.5 million opinions of the game and how each player performed. Media outlets such as Twitter get flooded with opinions that can negatively affect these athletes. An article on the Concordia University Chicago website about sports performance being affected by social media stated,
New research reported by Reuters Health suggests that late-night social media use may have a negative impact on an athlete’s performance the next day. In the study, NBA players who were active on Twitter between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. the night before a game saw a marked decrease in performance.
Fans can interact freely and at any time with the profiles of athletes, their schools, or teams. This pressure can be hard to live up to and has even affected some of the best Olympic athletes.
Another factor contributing to the stress on college athletes is scholarships. Scholarships allow people to afford school or they are used to reward athletes for their commitment to a school and sports program. But what happens when an athlete stops performing their best due to an injury or psychological issue? Most D1 financial scholarships are one-year contracts so they can be rescinded after one year for any reason. The NCAA compliance statement says, “the decision of whether a student-athlete is awarded institutional financial aid is made on a year-by-year or term-by-term basis, depending on the regulations of the institution” (Drotar). This can make performing and playing a sport extremely stressful. For this reason, the NCAA has tools for supporting student-athletes, but are they good enough? “All colleges have mental health professionals on campus for all students to utilize, but athletic departments are not mandated to have them on staff like they have physical health professionals” (Young). Furthermore, most campus counseling centers don’t usually have psychologists who have the training and education to counsel the specific and unique psychological needs of student-athletes. By not staffing mental health professionals in college athletic departments, schools are ignoring the mental health crisis in college sports and not supporting their student-athletes. Instead, to help them, “the athletics administrator must provide effective mental health support services for student-athletes, as well as providing a resource to teach coaches and student-athletes psychological skills to enhance sports performance”(McQuade).
When people watch college, professional and Olympic sports, it is often overlooked that there is a person outside of that sport with struggles and challenges. When you are watching your favorite NFL quarterback make a throw, are you thinking about how much pressure is put on the player to make the throw and make it to the Superbowl? Are you thinking about how they might feel if they miss that throw and a packed stadium start booing them? What about college athletes? When you are watching your favorite college team, are you also thinking about how they are expected to play at the highest collegiate level while going to school? For an in-season athlete, their day consists of about 5 ½ hours of practice not counting team meetings or watching film. They have to go to class and maintain a certain GPA to be on the team so that equates to 5 hours of classes. You also need to calculate the time to eat and study. By the end of the day, there is no time left to be a college student.
The mental health crisis in sports also affects professional and Olympic athletes. Retired Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps has become open about his mental health struggles. In a Sports documentary on HBO that Phelps narrated and co-produced called “The Weight of Gold,” he talked about his substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts in the past. “In 2014, his second DUI left him contemplating if he should ‘just end it all,’… Instead, he checked into a treatment center” (Medaris). Phelps also shared that he struggled with his identity after retiring from swimming in 2016, “‘Yeah I won a s — t-ton of medals. I had a great career’, ….So what? I thought of myself as just a swimmer. Not a human being” (Medaris). Phelps has shared that he has used tools like meditation and journaling to help his mental health. He is now the face of Talkspace, an online therapy platform as he credits therapy for changing his life. If these mental health tools helped a world champion swimmer with 28 Olympic medals they would probably be helpful to other athletes struggling.
Six-time Olympic medalist and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the team final and the women’s individual all-around at the Tokyo Games to focus on her mental health. To see a powerhouse like Simone Biles on a worldwide stage be able to open up about her mental health struggle and then decide to put her mental health first was shocking. During an interview at the Olympics with CNN Biles said, “Whenever you get in a high-stress situation, you kind of freak out… I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being… It just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head” (Ramsay et al.). Thankfully Biles was able to get the help and support she needed from her team to decide that it was not safe for her to compete. After the games Biles shared how she hoped she could compete for herself, but instead, she felt like she was still performing for other people. “So that just, like, hurts my heart, because doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people” (Macur). The pressure put on athletes to come home from the Olympics with a gold medal is so immense that it is creating burnout. Biles opening up about her mental struggles created a space for change around the topic of mental health within professional sports. The best thing that the Olympic committee or professional or college teams can do is provide resources like sports psychologists and mental health days to help their athletes. Furthermore, USA gymnastics has dedicated every Wednesday to be a mental health day to allow all their athletes time to take care of their wellbeing (Park). It’s acknowledgments like this that are promoting a safe environment for mental health that will help athletes be more aware of their wellbeing. When athletes are given recourse and support to improve their mental health they will end up being able to compete better because of it.
The world and the sports community need to accept that psychological illnesses are just as important to treat as physical injuries. “Playing a sport does not make athletes immune to mental health challenges” (Kuik and Potts). Especially when athletes are taught to remove and mask their emotions, to win. In the Forbes article about Crista Samaras, she explains it is essential for student-athletes to have a support system outside of their team and coaches. ‘‘Athletes need to know they have someone in their corner who is 1) not deciding their playing time, and 2) not directly benefiting from their performance” (Walravens). Fortunately, athletes like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps prioritized their mental health and have openly been ok with not being ok. Furthermore, college athletes like Victoria Garrick, have started to share their struggles with mental health in sports. Professional and college athletes speaking out about their struggles has proved that mental health is as important as physical health. To prevent more athletes from suffering, colleges, the NCAA, professional teams and the Olympic committee need to implement mental health resources and guidelines for their athletes. The mental health of teams can be supported by providing players with resources such as weekly appointments with a mental health professional, a support system outside of the team, and strategies and skills tailored to each athlete that is struggling. For athletes, the idea of winning and losing can go beyond a field, court, pool, etc. Athletes have started to find support for and make progress with their mental health challenges. However, they need to be listened to and supported or else they are in danger of losing something far more valuable than a game.
Works Cited
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