https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/stanford-soccer-death-suicide-experts-no-warning-signs-rcna18713
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1752-4458-4-10
It has been all over the news recently. Athletes speaking out about their struggles with mental health. In 2021, Simone Biles Biles, arguably the best gymnast ever, backed out of the all-around Olympic final that she trained 4 long years for. In the New York Times article, Biles said that she had been “fighting with her own head” and was not in the right headspace to compete. A year later, as detailed by NBC news, Stanford soccer star Katie Meyer tragically took her own life. The nation was shocked by the passing of this girl who had many friends and was excelling both academically and athletically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/sports/olympics/simone-biles-out.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/stanford-soccer-death-suicide-experts-no-warning-signs-rcna18713
Both Simone Biles and Katie Meyer seemed as though everything was going right. The culture around athletics is a very peculiar one. Due to the nature of competition involved with high level athletics there is an emphasis on perfectionism and resilience. Unfortunately, this contributes to a toxic environment in which no one wants to appear like they are struggling. Hence, although it may seem as though athletes are always speaking out about their mental state, in reality, this is just a facade created by the media. The impact of a culture that denormalizes speaking out about mental health was detailed in Amanat Khullar’s article “The silent mental health crisis among South Asian immigrants in US, UK is crying to be addressed.” In South Asian culture emotions are often suppressed and this has led to an epidemic of depression. The suppression of emotions in both an Athletic culture and South Asian culture are linked to perfectionism and high expectations. Often facing tough and unpredictable situations, South Asians and Athletes alike are told to keep their heads high and not let anyone know that they are struggling. In reality, this can be too much and unfortunately lead to depression. In October of 2022, Victoria Garrick Browne came and spoke to Bowdoin College student athletes about the parallels between athletic culture and depression. She told the immense crowd of the mental battles that she fought as a Division I volleyball player and expressed the importance of talking about mental health. Garrick Browne currently tours around colleges and universities giving similar talks to student athletes. Similar to Khullar’s argument, to help end epidemics of depression we must first examine the cultures that surround them. Fortunately, college athletics within the United States has already taken the first step towards this through heightened awareness
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Athletic department hosts Victoria Garrick Browne to highlight mental health
Although mental health has been long overlooked in sports, there are certain signs of hope for progression. Many athletes are stepping up and speaking about mental health, telling other athletes they are not alone. This is a large step forward to bring attention to mental health but I believe real change will come through recognition and support from higher-ups within sports such as coaches, administrators, and owners. That’s why the article “Australian rural football club leaders as mental health advocates: an investigation of the impact of the Coach the Coach project” was a good sign for real change in the future for mental health in sports. The article discusses how Coaches of the Australian rural football club have decided to launch projects to deal with the difficulties of mental health, especially depression. The project provides mental health first aid training (MHFA) to the coaches and club leaders, hence the label coach the coach. The result of this training was extremely positive with 50% of the club members showing recognition of mental illness and 66% reported increased confidence to respond to mental health difficulties in others. Coaches were also seen to have increased confidence well dealing with mental health, a tool they can carry with them their whole life.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1752-4458-4-10
Pierce, David, et al. “Australian Rural Football Club Leaders as Mental Health Advocates: An Investigation of the Impact of the Coach the Coach Project – International Journal of Mental Health Systems.” SpringerLink, BioMed Central, 19 May 2010, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1752-4458-4-10.