Athletes must balance the rigors of the physical sport and mental health as they enter the fall sports season in Anne Arundel County.,
These athletes specifically train and strengthen themselves physically on a constant basis at the gym/courts/fields. All the JV and varsity coaches have high expectations for the players to perform their very best and never lack, or be lazy. While the athletes push themselves to strengthen themselves physically, do they also push to strengthen themselves mentally? It’s crucial for athletes to have a support system and access to resources that prioritize their mental health. Taking care of their mental well-being can help athletes perform better and enjoy their sport more.
Players like Brendan Abel, a senior at SPHS varsity boys basketball manages his tasks, “I balance my school workload and sports by taking advantage of Falcon block,and getting on task about my school work, and when I get home focusing on sports.”
A widespread goal for athletes is to focus and be mentally in the zone (getting their head in the game). Although pressure to succeed in sports and school can hugely impact your mental health.
Malachi Lee on the JV boys basketball team, for anyone going through the same thing, “Yes it can affect your mental health at times but you can’t let that pressure get to your head, sometimes you just got to distract yourself with other things.”
However no one ever talks about suffering an injury and how it not only impacts your physical health but also your mental health.
Lena Slade a junior at SPHS on the girls varsity basketball team said, “It does, because last year I broke my finger during the season, and I couldn’t play for a couple weeks, and just knowing that everyone else was getting better, and I was kind of on the sidelines cheering, and I couldn’t play, it just made me really upset, and I was losing a lot of playing time and growth, that I could’ve gotten.”
It really can affect the person’s state of mind, because they are not doing what they love, something they do everyday and then suddenly it drastically changes and you can’t do it anymore, that affects the person because they are not used to that and can’t do what makes them happy. Although, when they are injured they can focus more on school, hobbies, friends,etc.
Some of the biggest stressors that can really trigger the mental state really impact physical performance.
Like everyone counting on you to succeed or not feeling confident in yourself. Slade said “My biggest stressor is probably knowing that I’m better than what I get sometimes, like, if I don’t have the confidence in myself, I don’t play as good, but I know I could do better.”
Another stressor expressed through a student, Lee said “you always have eyes on you, and you feel like you can’t make mistakes, you feel like you have to be perfect all the time, but that’s not the case, you can make mistakes because everybody’s not perfect and that’s how I push through.”
Mental health of athletes is deeply overlooked, when they have the highest expectations for everything.
