The Mental Performance Corner: Mental Health Awareness for Student-Athletes

Pulling all nighters for school work because they’re at practice all day, or stressing out over a big game coming up. Kids today are under more pressure than ever before, and it’s impacting their health and wellbeing in more ways than one. 

In today’s post-covid world, mental health issues are impacting a huge number of athletes and kids, this is especially true when it comes to student-athletes. Anxiety and depression numbers are skyrocketing. Among professional athletes, data shows that up to 35% of elite athletes suffer from a mental health crisis (athletesforhope.org). And even before the pandemic began, a Georgetown study showed a combined 13% of kids were diagnosed with anxiety or depression by 2020. 

The statistics show that both athletes and kids are suffering from mental health issues, and this particularly hits hard for student-athletes. Luckily, we are seeing a larger number of professional athletes begin to speak up about their own mental health issues and how they have been impacted. From Simone Biles, to Michael Phelps, these elite athletes are sharing their message on the importance of early mental health training and management.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and as parents and coaches, it’s important to not only be aware of the impacts of our own actions towards athletes, but also to be aware of how we can support a healthy mindset associated with sports early in kids. Kids also need to be aware of their own mental health, and learn both self-awareness, and coping mechanisms for managing times of stress or anxiety. 

Sports, while historically part of the solution towards a healthy child, can also be part of the problem if not managed in a positive way. According to Psychology Today, “over 45 million American children participate in youth sports. They have lower obesity rates, lower use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs, higher graduation rates, and overall fewer struggles with mental health than compared to their non-athlete peers.” While that is seemingly great news, there has been a clear shift towards young athletes in sports and is shaping their mental health issues as the competition heats up.

So what has changed in our world, and why is this happening? Aside from the impacts Covid had on kids, there are a few things going on that I see regularly as I’m interacting with these young athletes at games or practices, and even working with parents and coaches. 

One of the primary issues is an early specialization and year-round focus on one sport at too young of an age.

“Unfortunately, early specialization can be linked to negative psychological as well as physical effects,” according to a Banner Health article. Dr. Pardini said, “This hyper-focused, year-round training is associated with stress, burnout and even early withdrawal from sports. These athletes experience less fun and perceive increased criticism.”  

As we see kids specializing at such a young age, they are experiencing a wave of stress and burnout, and that’s taking a clear toll on their mental health. Kids don’t necessarily understand the potential long-term ramifications of this early specialization, and it’s our responsibility as adults to enforce certain rules in order to protect them

Let’s talk about Michael Phelps, who is a huge advocate for mental health for athletes. As one of the most decorated Olympians in history, Michael knows the pressure that athletes are put under from a very young age. He has been open about his struggles with mental health, and advocates for better mental health awareness.

“None of us had normal childhoods per se. Nobody was going to expend that kind of effort to achieve that kind of goal is going to be just like everybody else. Now, there are good sides to that and there are bad sides to that. For me, I don’t want to say I would have done anything differently if I could do it all over again. I was competitive. I was hungry. I loved it. I chose it. But the truth was that my focus got incredibly narrow and intense really quickly, which would have ramifications later in life... even if it wasn’t possible to realize that at the time.”

As Phelps mentioned, he wasn't aware of the long term ramifications of specializing and training year round. No child is. It is our responsibility as their parents (and even their coaches) to pull them back in order to ensure we are taking care of them physically, mentally, and emotionally. Incorporate at least a 4 week break somewhere in the year. Syncing it up with a break from school (summer) is ideal. Play other sports. Nurture other hobbies. Hang out with friends. 

Specializing isn’t the only issue I’m seeing impact these kids. They are also under an enormous amount of pressure, either from external factors like parents or coaches, or even the pressure they are putting on themselves to do more, be more, or be better. Pressure, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is defined as:

• “The burden of physical or mental distress.” 
• “The constraint of circumstance: the weight of social or economical imposition.”
• “The application of force to something by something else in direct contact with it.”

While stress, according to Webster, is defined as: 

• “A state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc;” 
• “something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety.

But where does this stress and pressure come from? These student-athletes are hard on themselves. They’ve created internal expectations which include unrealistic goals or timelines, and they also put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to perform well for external factors. Perhaps they have a coach they are hoping will give them a spot on the team, or a parent who places high demands on them, or maybe even a recruiter coming to watch them. They have goals of college scholarships, playing in the Olympics or a professional organization, and are putting these high expectations on themselves to perform. Kids want to perform well for themselves, but place even more pressure on themselves to perform well for others. 

Aside from their own expectations, if we’re honest about our society, external expectations are also at an all time high. While at a kids sports game, you would expect to see coaches out there encouraging and being positive for the kids. But you’ve also likely seen or experienced the one yelling and embarrassing the kids over their performance. And this is at 7 year olds! At the same time, you might hear parents talking in the stands about the potential for college scholarships for little Mikey. Again, we’re talking about 7 year olds. And the chatter certainly doesn’t stop there. Kids are smart, they are perceptive and they are hearing and feeling this pressure to perform.  

The stress and pressure can ultimately have an impact on their performance through the thought/emotion loop. This happens when a thought elicits a chemical response in the form of an emotion, the emotion triggers a physiological response, and this physiological response impacts their behavior or performance. 

Student-athletes WANT to do well. They want to represent their school, family, state, country, etc. and to prove themselves to sponsors, or college recruits or maybe just even to their teammates. The point is, the internal and external expectations on these kids are impacting them to the point that they are stressed, anxious and on the path to burnout, without the tools to help them recover.

The goal isn’t to say that kids shouldn’t be ambitious, or competitive, or push themselves. We love encouraging healthy competitiveness and ambition. The goal is to keep a healthy mindset, and framework in place that allows these kids to thrive in a competitive environment. The goal is to be aware, and to spread awareness of the potential mental health issues that can arise for these kids if we don’t take action to ensure we are setting them up for success. And the goal is to remember that these are kids, at the end of the day, their mental health matters above the trophies, scholarships and awards.