More Student-Athletes Put Mental Health at the Forefront of Their Game

November 1, 2022

By Kareemah Muhammad, Sports Writer

Professional athletes such as Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have spoken out on their struggles with mental health and sports. However, when it comes to college athletes, who don’t have the same outlets, it can be difficult to voice their struggles.

Student-athletes mental health cases continue to rise based on a recent National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Student Athlete Well-Being Study in May 2022.

The NCAA conducted a survey with over 9800 student athlete responses in a research study with NCAA Sport Science Institute and the Division I, II, and III Student- Athlete Advisory Committee.

“When I was at UCLA, I found it extremely difficult to prioritize my mental health. I found myself constantly living in a state of heightened stress and anxiety,” said University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) women’s tennis alumna Terri Fleming in an interview where she spoke about the struggles of dealing with her mental health. “Sadly, there are large pieces of my college career that I simply can’t remember because of how stressed I was at the time. If I could go back, I wish I had someone tell me and my friends, that it’s okay to not be okay. We need more support systems and people in athletics that can validate the chaos of athletics and what comes with it,” Fleming added.

The study statistics show that ever since the COVID-19 pandemic mental health has been at a rapid decline at 1.5 to two times higher than it was pre-pandemic. That rate for student-athletes has only gotten worse ever since the pandemic.

College athletes are 2-percent more likely than non-student athletes to suffer from mental health. The mental health sufferings include anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and substance abuse.

“A lot of my peers struggled with anxiety, depression, and panic attacks that often led to needing medication,” Fleming said. “Student athletes are treated like commodities, rather than people, and are routinely pushed to the brink physically, mentally, and emotionally, with no regard for their feelings, only concern for their ability to perform and compete at the highest level,” Fleming added.

The American College of Sports Medicine reported in 2021 that 30-percent of women and 25-percent of men that are student-athletes have reported sufferings due to mental health. Out of that 30-percent only 10-percent have sought out help.

Triggers for mental issues for student-athletes have been reported to be due to missing classes for competition, lack of sleep, drama with teammates and coaches. 49-percent of women’s sports and 36-percent of men’s sports reported academic worries is the main factor when it comes to mental health.

“I feel like student-athletes have an 18-hour work day. It’s getting up for 5 a.m. practice, late night study halls, and somehow managing to have a social life, it all weighs on you,” said former Xavier University of Louisiana basketball player Joseph Scott who talked about the struggles of balancing academics with athletics.

“I remember being on the road and missing class for three weeks at a time. Stressing out about tests, and classwork really takes a toll which overall leads to mental exhaustion,” Scott recalled.

In a 2020 survey, women’s athletics were asked if they dealt with feeling of loneliness and hopelessness. The NCAA reported 38-percent of women’s sports and 22-percent of men’s sports players reported experiencing those feelings as well as feelings of mental exhaustion.

“Being a student-athlete is really difficult. A lot of the times you have to deal with all of the school work then having to go to practice and tournaments. Sometimes professors or even my friends really won’t have any sympathy or understand just because I’m an athlete,” said Lindsey Dixon from the Xavier women’s tennis team.

“Going to 6 a.m. practice and not having any sleep because I’ve been studying; it’s really just risking more injuries to your body. People don’t realize that your mind is connected to your body, and if you’re not completely there you’re not going to be able to fulfill your duties. Hopefully people star realizing that more,” Dixon added.

Student-athletes were asked if they felt their coaches would take their mental health problems seriously, 59-percent in men’s sports agreed or strongly agreed and 50-percent of women’s sports agreed or strongly agreed according to the NCAA report in 2022.

“Seeing professional athletes like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles pulling out of big competitions is eye opening. We know they can perform, but maybe it just wasn’t their time to perform,” said sophomore Xavier cross-country runner Steven Wilson from Atlanta, Ga.

“When we see that, it can be inspiring to us to be able to say I could go out there and give a subpar performance on the track or I can just say I know in my heart I just can’t right now,” Wilson said.