All around the world, people tune in to watch athletes on the big stage perform and compete against one another. Whether that be on the college or professional level, the accessibility of watching sports has grown. With such growth, we also see the topic of athletes and their mental health trending. Social media outlets like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter have allowed athletes to express their feelings towards mental health issues and advocate for the larger cause of mental health. While athletes are speaking out about these issues, fans and viewers also have a say in the matter.
People have expressed their issues towards athletes speaking out about mental health. Some show support for players and rally around them, while others show a lack of understanding and shame a player for showing emotions or speaking out about them. Seline Flores, Goalie on the Fillies soccer team opened up about a common problem faced by athletes, “I feel like athletes struggle the most with their confidence. One minute you think you’re good but the next minute you can think that you’re absolutely bad, and it makes a difference on how you perform.”
Athletes have always been put on a pedestal; we almost forget that athletes are human too. Athletes are people who have their own mental, physical, and emotional struggles just like everyone else. Freshman Robbie Gilmour, a guard on ABAC men’s basketball, commented on the challenges faced by athletes and how he deals with them. “Pressure can be one of the hardest things to deal with,” he said. “What helps me deal with pressure is focusing on the idea of winning rather fearing failure.”
Pressure on athletes can take on many forms, whether socially, academically, professionally, in extracurricular activities like clubs, or in their own respective sports. Student-athletes have expectations to find balance in their day-to-day lives. First basemen for the Fillies softball team Jillian Langley spoke about how athletes struggle with scheduling and how it affects their mental health. “I believe as athletes we always try to do the best in everything we do. Trying to have a social life while playing a sport and going to school full time is hard mentally.” Langley continued, “We get so wrapped up in preforming the best in the classroom and on the field that we don’t even think about social life until it’s over.”
Other than balancing the workload of academics and athletes making sure that they are socially putting themselves out there, one of the main forms of pressure for athletes is their performance, whether it’s on the court, on the field, or in the rink. Performing in practice and in games is what can make or break it for a lot of athletes. Performance pressure can impact an athlete’s mental well-being from the expectations of parents, coaches, and teammates. While athletes find joy in a sport that they are passionate about, it is hard not to take failure seriously when making a mistake. Athletes are not only representing themselves but the school or organization they are playing for, which can cause a burden of expectations on oneself.
A small forward on the Fillies basketball team, Analis Hernandez, talked about the challenges athletes face. “It’s super overwhelming sometimes especially when you go to a school because of a sport. You do things because of the sport, and sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything you have going on.” For players, the toll that comes with representing their college comes with added expectation. She continued, “You’re playing up against different schools and when you’re underperforming, it takes a toll. Like you’re doing all this work and sometimes you ask yourself, why is it not paying off?”
The public seems quick to fault athletes for their struggling or speaking out about their issues. When the public does this, they may not realize how it impacts athletes. Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Micheal Phelps, Demar DeRozan, and many others have all spoken out about mental health issues, whether it has affected themselves or even their own peers. While there are a lot of negativities among fans or viewers who tune in to watch these athletes, these athletes who bring awareness to mental health issues have made an incredible impact.
There is such a stigma in professional and college sports fanbases that must be addressed and normalized through increased awareness. When famous athletes speak up, it encourages other athletes and non-athletes to speak out about their own struggles. By seeing such strong role models, even younger viewers can find strength by prioritizing their mental, physical and emotional health. Sports are so important because they create a community where people can come together and support one another.