The mental health of student-athletes and athletes in general is overlooked because they get a lot of validation from their athletic abilities so crowds don’t pay attention to the struggles behind those achievements. Pressure from parents, coaches, teammates, and most importantly, themselves can be extremely detrimental to athletes’ mental and even physical health at times. 

A lot of athletes’ mental health and mood depend on their performance on the court which is why bringing awareness to it is so important. They can miss a couple shots but score 20+ and do good in every other part of their sport yet dwell on their couple mistakes. On top of that, comments from coaches and parents add to the mental toll athletes go through. It’s crazy to think that athletes willingly put themselves through mental challenges because of the amount of love they have for their sport. 

Janessa Rodriguez (12) mentioned that she joined track which allowed her the mental freedom to not stress. Many athletes find another sport or hobby from their main sport that they can dedicate their time to simply for that reason. “Addressing my issue with basketball was the best thing I could do for myself. I have since learned that my ability to perform does not portray my self worth as a person,” explains Rodriguez. The main thing that athletes struggle with is coming to terms with the fact that how they performed on the court does not dictate their self worth. It’s extremely hard not to get down on yourself and feel less of yourself when you give your all to something and you don’t even play well. Athletes feel like they aren’t good enough because they practice for hours on hours and still make mistakes and have slumps so they start to question why they even try to begin with if they feel they aren’t making any progress or standing out. 

“I began to feel burnt out consistently and had lost my love for something I had given my blood, sweat, and tears to for many years of my life. This made me struggle with my idea of self worth, which was just added on top of my other mental health issues I was dealing with prior to this time.” says Rodriguez. She plays basketball and does shot put; she is a power forward/center in basketball. She has played basketball for over 10 years and even with the struggles on and off the court, she still continues to give her all to the sport simply because her love overpowers everything else she feels for the sport. She also states that “Basketball has given me a love hate relationship but I would not be the person I am today without it. Although I have gone through many negatives because of it, there has only ever been a positive outcome for me,” which gives such a bigger view on how no matter how hard something may be, the struggles you go through will be worth it in the end. 

Mental health in all athletes is widely overlooked, especially in men because outsiders make them feel weak for feeling the way they do. For whatever reason, men are held to the standard of having to be strong and never cry or they’re being “too vulnerable” or “too weak”, which is completely incorrect and insensitive. “For men in sports, mental health is viewed as a shunned idea that many don’t talk about but many experience. Addressing your mental health is a necessity for all athletes.” explains Rodriguez. At the end of the day, everyone is human no matter gender, race, role, job, etc. People are so much more than what they do and act on. As Rodriguez states, “The world needs to be more welcoming to talking about mental health within the athletic world because at the end of the day these people are human and are not only meant to perform,” which is so true and something that more people need to realize. 

Mental health with student athletes is a the same, if not more mentally and physically detrimental than people who only play sports and don’t do school/work. They not only have to worry about athletic validation, but also their academic validation. “With all my sports and school/homework my days are 7am-2am every night trying to do my homework and having practice. I usually fall asleep while doing homework because my body is just overwhelmed. My parents are really big about getting straight A’s so just doing my homework the next day isn’t an option for me. This affects my mental health a lot because I always feel like I’m not doing enough to show them that I’m really trying,” states Makenzie McMillin (11). McMillin is a shooting guard in basketball, outfielder in softball, and runs the 100m and 800m in track. Time management also plays a huge role in the decline of student athletes’ mental health, especially with multi-sport athletes. They have to make time for practices, homework, friends, family, and most importantly themselves; although a lot of the time they rarely have time for themselves.

McMillin’s schedule during the week is very sport-absorbed and repetitive. As she says, “I practice 7 days a week for basketball, 3 times a week for softball and at least once a week for track. I feel very overwhelmed and overly tired all the time; everyday is on repeat.” At the end of the day you really only have yourself so not being able to dedicate any time to yourself is draining. 

Another relative topic is getting injured as an athlete. Most, if not all, athletes make their sport(s) their whole life so when they get injured they have nothing to do with themselves which adds more onto the mental toll of already being injured. Being injured leads to athletes getting in their head and letting their thoughts get to them because usually athletes use their sport as a way to cope with their problems so not being able to be on the court or field leaves them alone with their draining thoughts. “Since you aren’t allowed to play or do anything you can start to feel depressed and sometimes think you won’t ever be able to get back to how you usually play. It can be really defeating but you just have to push through and overcome,” explains McMillin. 

Mental health in student-athletes and athletes, in general, is a topic that needs to be brought up more and paid more attention to. It is way too overlooked given that it’s something that is super significant and happens worldwide.