Introduction:

According to an NIH study conducted by Tavish Ward, Thor Stead, Rohan Mangal and Latha Ganti, 91% of high school athletes experience some level of sport-induced stress. When zooming in on this percentage, 60% of these athletes report moderate to severe stress, with 30-40% of them experiencing significant mental health issues like depression or anxiety.

Sports and exercise have many benefits. Through sports, individuals can combine physical, mental and social aspects into their daily lives. However, despite all these benefits, overtraining, various responsibilities, perfectionism, sport discrimination and intensity of sports can hold extreme weight on high school athletes. At times, this overwhelming strain can build up to the point where a student athlete’s mental health shatters and cracks under the pressure, leading to a wide range of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. For all athletes, no matter how perfect things seem, the buildup of life can immediately change sports from a fun activity to one that demands more than they can handle.

Effects on Athlete Mental Health:

Perfectionism–

The longer an athlete participates in a sport, the more natural it is for that athlete to gain competition and want to create goals that will help them succeed. However, goals can turn into an unhealthy idea of perfection being the only way to succeed, which can become dangerous when the athlete experiences performance pressure. This can cause them to feel the need to perform at an exceptional level not just for themselves, but to please everyone around them. Soon, their sport becomes less fun and more like a daily routine.

This constant idealistic ideology can tie into an athlete’s self worth, where they begin to feel that if they make any mistakes or errors during a practice, game or meet, they are somehow “failures.” Perfectionism to a degree is a disease, and if an athlete can’t accept that mistakes are signs of growth, they put themselves at risk of this disease.

Overtraining–

Performance pressure and perfectionism can give further rise to overtraining. Getting better at a sport requires physical training and practice. However, there is such a thing as “practicing too much.” When an athlete becomes too meticulous about their form or their speed,  they can put themselves in intense physical training because they think it will benefit them. In reality, it can bring physical and mental harm. Injuries that come from overtraining can keep athletes out of sports and, sometimes, cause athletes to feel a lack of identity if they connect their self-worth or personality to their sport. This loss of identity can send them into the spiral of depression and other negative mental health effects.

Sport-Life Imbalance–

High schoolers are extremely busy people, balancing everything from academics to work to family responsibilities to extracurriculars. The stress of struggling to balance all these daily commitments on top of playing a sport can affect a student athlete severely and harm their mental health. Some students may even feel the need to stick with all their responsibilities for the sake of college admissions, or they might feel like there is no option for them to quit. When one has so many responsibilities, sometimes it’s hard to find time to breathe.

Discrimination and Isolation–

Discrimination or lack of belonging within a sports team can also be a major contributor to mental health in athletes. Some teams or sports that lack diversity can make athletes feel that they have no one to connect to on a representational scale. Some athletes receive discrimination or hate for their race, gender, sexuality, religion or other aspects of their identity from their team, coaches or outside spectators. This feeling of isolation can make athletes feel alone and depressed. Even though no demographic identifier makes one more or less athletically capable, many athletes still suffer mentally as a result of bullying because of something they cannot control.

Signs of Mental Health Issues:

Some athletes might wonder, “How do I know my sport is affecting me mentally?”. Sometimes, athletes may not even be aware they are facing mental health issues. With the constant amount of stress athletes experience, they can experience mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and PTSD. If these mental health issues are ignored or not recognized by the athlete, they can undergo severe physical and psychological consequences towards their internal health and external relationships, such as panic attacks, eating disorders, substance abuse and even suicide, which is the leading cause of death for young people ages 10-34.

Solutions to Mental Health Issues:

While mental health struggles seem incurable, that does not mean that there is no hope.

Create a Conversation–

Teammates, coaches, parents and other influential figures in an athlete’s life can do a lot to help with the damaging mental health effects sports can cause. If the people in an athlete’s life believe the sport may be taking a toll on their mental well being, those people can create conversation and listen. Sometimes discussion between an individual and trusted friend/adult can create understanding and pave the way for remediation and desire to create change. This discussion can also be done in therapy, where athletes can have a more professional dialogue in order to find ways to improve their mental well being.

Learning to Say “No”–

One of the best ways to improve one’s mental wellbeing is learning to say “no.” Sometimes, a simple “no” is what an athlete needs to ease all the busy things they have going on in their life. Learning to advocate for oneself and saying “no” to that sports practice or job shift is necessary to make the time to breathe. Creating breaks and having time to relax is just as important, if not more important, than every other responsibility in an athlete’s life. Within a sports team, setting up programs or spaces for athletes to be open to professionals, their coaches, parents, or friends about their mental health issues can help them find ways to cope with their stress and any mental health issues the sport may be inducing or building onto.

Accepting Mistakes–

On top of learning to say “no”, athletes should also learn to say “it’s ok”. Within sports, mistakes are necessary in order for an athlete to understand their flaws and learn how to correct them. However, many athletes don’t see mistakes this way and see them more as a failure than an opportunity to grow. If an athlete can learn to accept their mistakes and find ways to become better rather than beat themselves up about it, athletes can accept growth as a necessity not just in their sport, but in life.

Keeping Sports Fun–

Finally, one of the most important solutions is to make sports fun again. It is super easy to get wrapped up in the sport, but keeping in mind that sports is an activity to connect with others and grow mentally and physically is key. If an athlete feels their sport is not fun anymore, they need to think “Why? What is making it so unenjoyable?” If they cannot find one positive thing they enjoy about the sport, it could be time to reevaluate how much time they should spend on it. Sometimes, athletes are so focused on the sport that they don’t take the time to have fun. Finding time to hang out with your teammates outside of the sport or occasionally doing fun activities during practice can make the sport more enjoyable.

While the stress caused by sports can be overwhelming at times, athletics aren’t meant to be a burden. Sports are meant to make you feel good socially, mentally and physically, and if one continuously remembers that, then they become something more meaningful than making a play.