Across all sports, parents and coaches push their student athletes to be the best and play at the next level. Everybody always talks about committing Division 1 or even playing professionally. However, the one aspect that both coaches and parents tend to neglect is the athlete’s mental health. While encouraging athletes to get to the next level is a good goal to have, it’s also important to stop and think: are my athletes really okay?

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Social Media 

With the rise of social media, people in the sports world use it to promote themselves in order to get recruited by colleges and showcase their accomplishments. This can create a toxic environment for young athletes, especially those who struggle with comparing themselves to others. 

“There’s a climate now where you can see everyone else’s achievements really prominently on social media. Sometimes that makes people fall into patterns of social comparison where they’re looking at other people and feeling like ‘what I’m doing isn’t good enough,’” said Mr. Noah Knopf, a 9th and 10th-grade history teacher, who also played college lacrosse at Harvard University. 

When young athletes see someone else doing better than them, it’s possible that they could start to spiral, creating unhealthy habits that include overworking and burnout. 

According to Mr. Knopf, young athletes, “haven’t necessarily developed a perspective to be able to see that those things are not so important – that can be risky and lead to some mental health challenges.”

Rather than viewing social media as a setback, some young athletes use other people’s achievements to show themselves how they can do better in a healthy way. It gives the athlete a perspective of what they could achieve if they put the work in without feeling bad about their own accomplishments. 

Noah Harris, a ninth-grade tennis player said, “I think a lot of people when it comes to mental health in general and comparing themselves online, it might be a negative experience; but in terms of sports, I get to see where I could be and I feel like that helps to motivate me.”

Playing One Sport All Year Around

Nowadays, it is very common for young athletes to stick to one sport instead of broadening their horizons and playing a sport for each season. Highly competitive club teams train year-round, which results in students not participating in other sports or pursuing other interests. 

Miya Lauher, a tenth-grade varsity basketball, field hockey, and junior varsity lacrosse player, said, “Playing a bunch of different sports requires different skills – my lacrosse and my basketball are closely linked.” 

Miya’s experience shows how playing multiple sports produces a more well-rounded person. Sticking to one sport all year can also cause the athlete to lose the passion they once had for their sport and, like with social media, create burnout.

“I think that playing on multiple teams, multiple sports, not burning out of a single sport because it’s the only thing you do, that’s really important and sometimes gets lost today,” said Mr. Knopf.

However, some students are so passionate about their sport that they do not want to play other sports. Playing only one sport can create comfort and familiarity in rough times when the athlete may be experiencing change in other parts of their life. 

“When I’m doing badly mentally, tennis can be kind of an escape for things that are kind of difficult to go through,” said Noah. “In general, I prefer tennis over basically everything.”

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Burnout and comparison are only some issues that athletes struggle with in their day-to-day life. Whether the goal is to get to college, play professionally, or even make the starting lineup, athletes must remember that it is just a game. At the end of the day, a sport should be the escape, not the problem. Overall, athletes who struggle with various mental health setbacks should realize that they are not alone. 

“I think it’s really helpful to know that some of my peers are also going through this and I’m not alone,” said Miya.