In the pursuit of athletic excellence, the world of sports often loses sight of the mental well-being of its athletes. Starting from a young age, children are often tossed into sports, as they are widely recognized for instilling teamwork, discipline, and physical fitness. Unfortunately, the unfavorable impacts of athletics often go unspoken of. In today’s state of sports, athletes are battling unprecedented levels of mental health challenges due to rapidly increasing expectations to perform. The pressure to achieve such a high level of success can exacerbate anxiety and other psychological struggles, ultimately robbing participants of the joy in competing.
Sports can be a detriment to mental health for a variety of reasons. In athletics, participants must be at their best all the time, which comes with an immense amount of pressure and stress. While feeling some pressure can be a positive thing and lead to increased focus, too much can ruin the enjoyment altogether.
Gwendolyn Huete, the Student Wellness Advocate for the STAR Wellness Program at Tahoma High School, has seen many cases of stress reaching unhealthy levels.
“A lot of times it’s because [athletes] put a lot of pressure on themselves to reach a certain goal or they might be comparing themselves to others and comparing yourself to others can be anxiety provoking.”
Huete is not wrong in that many athletes struggle with comparison. While these insecurities may come from internal factors, the increasing level of talent and expectations these days can worsen self-conscious ideations about oneself.
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association wrote an article titled Burnout in Athletes detailing the cutthroat culture of sports.
“The attitude of ‘more is better’ in terms of constant activity in a quest for individual or team success is prevalent in today’s sports world, starting at the youth level and continuing through the secondary school and collegiate levels.”
The drive of athletes to outcompete others and reach goals can lead to overtraining and consequently burnout.
Another big component to sports and mental health struggles are identity issues. As an athlete, the lines between who one is off their playing field and on become very blurred. It can become increasingly difficult to separate self worth from performance and skill.
Huete explains, “it’s good to have passions but when it reaches the limit where it’s all you identify with yourself, then it can cause problems because then it’s not only about the sport; you lose yourself in the process.”
It would be unfair to hold a conversation surrounding sports and mental health without mentioning the proven benefits they can provide as well.
“Exercise in general is very good for your mental health. It produces positive hormones like dopamine and serotonin that increase your happiness. It is also good for mental health because you’re working in teams and you’re working on a common goal and when you achieve it there’s satisfaction in that,” explains Huete.
While it’s true not all athletes suffer from negative consequences of sports, it is crucial for athletes, coaches, and support systems to be aware of these potential challenges and take steps to help create a safe environment for these issues to be talked about.
