Mental Health During Sports

Teens’ mental health while playing sports tends to be different from player to player. Many athletes tend to keep their problems to themselves and not express them to their coaches, teammates, or parents. But this can be a distraction when trying to focus on playing an important game because players are just going back to how they are feeling and their mental health.

Sophomore Emina Huskic stated, “while playing volleyball my mental health tends to be stressful, but in tough situations, I try my best to keep a positive mindset.” This can show that while playing sports your mental health can take a turn and go a different way than expected.

Samantha Fitch, a junior on the dance team, said her teammates provide positive energy. “When things get tough I can count on the team to be uplifting and cheer for each other while running the dances, which helps a lot, Fitch said. To help with mental health problems, it’s best to open up and talk about what’s going on with coaches and adults right away. But this can go towards coaches too because they should be able to talk to their players and address the problem if they see something is up.

Other student athletes turn to physical activity to relieve stress. Jude Smull said, “when I’m feeling bad or down about my mental health during football, I work out and lift when things get hard.” This shows that for most athletes it’s different for everybody on how they cope with their mental health. Athletes may feel more comfortable if their coaches can see how they are feeling and if they talk to them first about their mental health.