Mental Health Awareness Month
Everyone is going through something.” Kevin Love. Whether you're a youth athlete, a college athlete, or a professional, you've likely experienced some form of stress, pressure, fear of failure, loss, injury, player comparison, or other challenges that the general public isn’t aware of.
Two years ago, I lost a friend and former teammate who took her life. Two weeks after her passing, a soccer mentor I had looked up to also took their own life. The news of their passing left me feeling completely numb and paralyzed. After seeking counseling, talking to my family, and allowing myself time to grieve, I realized something important: it's crucial to care about others, certainly their well-being, but also their mental health. This should be a top priority along with basic human kindness. I think part of the problem why it’s not, is that in any advocacy efforts it is a common human tendency to not prioritize or fully understand certain issues until they directly affect them personally or the individuals close to them. But here is the problem with this: mental health is a part of everyone's life. Physical health is the state of your body, and mental health is the state of your mind, feelings, and emotions. Physical health can influence mental health, and vice versa, therefore they are intertwined. Mental health or "self-care" is not someone else's problem! We just might all have different ideas of what mental health looks like. Which brings me back to Kevin Love's quote, “everyone is going through something.” Youth and student athletes have a lot to try and navigate through, such as the pressure to perform, injury prevention, injury recovery, school, family, friends, player comparison, etc.
The solution in helping athletes with navigating though this is by adding mental skills training and mental health supports in athletics. Helping athletes have resources at their finger tips and then helping them develop mental strength and resilience is game changing. Giving athletes strategies that will also help prevent them from feeling debilitated when facing challenges, pressure, or adversity, can lessen instances of self destruction, self-harm, and suicide.
I knew immediately I wanted to be a part of the solution, not just because of losing these two incredible people, but because of athletes like my younger sister, my brother, all the youth athletes and their families that have reached out to me to share their personal stories and struggles. It’s time to take action, and it's time we foster a sports culture where the whole person is addressed, not just the athlete. We need to have a more balanced, holistic approach where mental health is added to routines to help our student and youth athletes. Workshops from athletes on self-awareness, helping coaches with bringing social-emotional skills into training, and providing support and education for parents on the mental struggles their children may face are essential. Fostering nutrition, strength, mentality, and recovery are also essential to athletic performance, not just the athlete's craft and talent.
My goal in my advocacy efforts is finding sustainable solutions through the power of sport. Not only sustainable but reasonable and inexpensive. Something all programs can easily add to their club and sports programs. One simple change for sports programs in helping youth athletes cope with the mental stresses and pressures that come with playing competitive sports is athlete bag tags. Bag tags are less than .80 cents a player for clubs with ten or more teams. The sports bag tag would have a QR code that links to the soccer club's website and their resource page that would include hotlines and support information for athletes U13 and older. The list would include hotlines and resources like the National Bullying Hotline, National Eating Disorder Hotline, National Suicide Prevention Hotline, Mental Health Crisis & Access Line, NCAA Mental Health Resource page, etc.
The second is adding a mental skills curriculum or component to their sports programs. This can be anywhere from partnering with organizations like Female Footballers, mentorship programs, or a mental skills coach. Or clubs adding opportunities where teams have conversations and team building weekly. Topics like positive Self-Talk-To take place, Mindfulness techniques, such as breathing exercises or player and peer check-in conversations taking place, team journaling, etc. Utilizing mental skills to not just cope but navigate successfully and healthily through the pressures the sport often comes with is a real benefit.
Another example of a simple change that the Sac Republic USL Men’s team did was add a 988 Lifeline patch to their jerseys, branding, and messaging for the entire season (not just May). This helps in the importance of bringing attention to Mental Health Awareness.
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to competitive sports and training. I encourage those who read this to help promote change, find solutions, take action! As I mentioned previously, there are sustainable, easy solutions to start implementing these needed supports. As Dr. Candice Williams shared, “We have to put the person before the student and athlete otherwise we are at risk of losing all three.”
Aubs