by Janyla Duncan

Mental health is an important aspect of our lives. For athletes, they always have to take mental health into significant consideration. Often, mental health becomes ninety percent of their sport while their actual performance is the remaining ten. Whether on the court, field, track or in the classroom, failing to prioritize your mental health as you need could affect you negatively.  

I was able to grab some insights about athlete mental health from a few players here at Greensboro College. One player I asked said, “I think mental health is very important considering what we do is a lot of hard work. I think that every athlete should just take time to take a break and just focus on their mental health, to take time to work on it.” Student athletes have to put in a ton of work between schoolwork and their sport, and this brings in a lot of stress. It is crucial for everyone, but especially athletes, to prioritize mental health. 

I interviewed more players and specifically asked them how their sport affects their mental health. One player said, “I feel like my sport has had a significant impact over the years on my mental health. When it comes to confidence and building yourself up over time, I tend to go through my moments of sadness.” Another player said, “I think my sport helps my mental health a lot. It gives me a way to let go of things that are bothering me and focus.”  We rarely think about how mental health can affect one’s performance in their sport. Though the sport itself is a fun and relaxing activity for many, it does not take away the fact that the pressure of playing well can put a toll on an athlete’s mental health.  

Without a doubt, mental health is very challenging. It can be uncomfortable to discuss and hard to work on while simultaneously focusing on sports and education. As one of the players I interviewed mentioned, “Sometimes it gets hard when you keep pushing and motivating yourself when you want that push and motivation to come from others. Not getting enough support from others takes a toll on what you think about yourself and how you play. I feel like you should still keep trying to motivate yourself because at the end of the day, you are the only person that is going to motivate you during the toughest of times.”  

Using resources on campus is a great way to deal with mental health. As one athlete mentions, “I utilize my resources because I do not like feeling upset nor do I want to feel any type of way that is going to make anything worse in my life. I try to fix a problem, not add to the problem. I use many resources such as counseling and talking to my friends.”  

When dealing with mental health struggles, it can feel like you are all alone and that no one is willing to help. I asked different people about how they deal with these feelings and they all emphasized the importance of opening up to others, utilizing any resources and reaching out for help. 

As a student athlete, it can be challenging to keep on motivating myself to keep pushing every day. When I struggle with mental health, I often think that I do not need to talk to anyone about it. I do not want to share my bad experiences, so I always think I am alone. In the past, when I have reached out for help, I have been severely let down; my own problems have even been used against me several times, so I just end up keeping my problems to myself. This was not the best solution and I figured that out the hard way. Everything just kept going downhill from there – it affected my grades, how I ate, gave me bad migraines and I wanted to be alone most of the time. Once I started to speak up about how I felt or why I was acting the way I was, my coaches understood, and it felt like a whole lot of weight was lifted off of my shoulders and I no longer felt alone. 

It is very important to prioritize your mental health. Speak to someone when you feel alone or if you are struggling to push through and make sure to utilize your resources. You are not alone and never will be.