The Switch From High School & College Sports
“I don't want people to go through what I did,” says former Jesuit High School water polo player and Stanford graduate Josh Orrick, as he speaks up about how he has spent most of his teenage years and early adulthood perfecting his physical performance and conditioning his body to perform at the highest level. He says, "I went through, and am still going through a period of depression stemming from the stress and pressure that comes from being a Division I athlete." The whole idea that he had of being the best of the best and always striving to win consumed his life in high school but got exponentially worse in college as people reached out less, inhibiting his ability to get the help that he so desperately needed. He says "This kind of alludes to the stigma. People don't want [other people] to know they are struggling. They only want people to see that they're strong and able to push through the pain like a 'good athlete' is supposed to".
Finding Balance in High School Sports and Applying to Colleges
Often, many student athletes are subjected to immense stress due to the near-impossible standards placed before them. While all of this is going on, they still need to show up to practice and face a vigorous and strenuous training schedule in hopes of qualifying for state competitions. The goal is that colleges will notice them out of the crowd and offer scholarship opportunities for them to play at their school. However, they aren't done yet. Once they have gained admission to their desired school after years of hard work, they must put in even more effort into training to compete nationally in bigger competitions. This is while they are still adapting to their adult life and the real world. All of these years of stress build-up and fear of coming forward can lead to certain mental health issues that athletes don’t talk about enough.
Mental Health Studies with High School vs University Athletes
According to a study found with the National Institute of Health around 60% of all high school athletes have experienced a moderate to severe level of stress and mental health disorders due to their sport. As opposed to University athletes when a National College Health Assessment reported that around 31% of male and 48% of all female NCAA student-athletes have been reported to have either depression or anxiety symptoms each year.
Why High School students are more stressed:
Transition from Middle School to High School
The transition a kid goes through to their teenage years has a big impact on their mental health since feelings of being overwhelmed or exhausted can leave a big negative impact while they are experiencing new things for the first time in their lives and are finally starting to adapt to being without their parents more often. Making these decisions and plans on their own, and then attempting to find a career path for their future—a path that will impact the rest of their lives—at such a young age.
Peer Pressure
The pressure student athletes get from their parents, teachers, friends, colleges, and coaches to outshine everyone else and be the best version of themselves is a common scenario in which most high schooler go through and often leads to a poignant impact on one's well being leading to symptoms such as depression, anxiety, mood changes, substance use, etc.
Balancing Grades and Sports
Balancing academics and sports can be a challenge for some high school students, which is why oftentimes they go to their coaches or teachers for help on how to handle all of this pressure. However, instead of acting like colleagues, these peers can appear more as rivals to the students and in return wanting more of their time, effort, and commitment. Acknowledging the importance of grades when playing a sport is very crucial due to the fact that an athlete must pass all of their classes with a C or higher to even play a game. This is a crucial reason why universities don’t care whether you're the best athlete on your team; if you have bad grades, it can impact your chances. These bad grades can also affect the chances of you getting a scholarship for your sport.
Fighting a Rigorous Routine
Maintaining a busy routine in high school, where students have a set schedule every day with 6 periods that always end and start at the same time, can be challenging. For some athletes, practice becomes the last period of the day, often followed by long games that leave them with little to no time for studying. This leads to staying up late, getting insufficient sleep, and feeling less energized the next day.
Elite Athlete Opens up on her Pressure to Be the Best
Cailen Welles Bracken speaks up on the morning news show, Good Morning America about her struggles from high school to a Division 1 program at Vanderbilt University and how it was rigorous and not easy for her. Cailen says that halfway through her first season at Vanderbilt she made the hard decision to take a break from the sport to focus on herself and her mental health. She says that during her first season, she was struggling with depression and that her life all of sudden became defined by her successes or failures playing on the field. She wrote an essay called “ a letter to College Sports'' saying how “ she wants coaches to look at players like humans rather than commodities. I want athletic administrations to recognize the pressure…. They impose on these young adults is intolerable.”
Stanford soccer star Katie Meyer and Duke lacrosse player Morgan Rodgers, who both died by suicide due to the pressure they were facing with their sport, have left Cailen in utter shock as she fears for more young adults. She states, 'It scares me so much to wonder if it could’ve been my team, if it could’ve been me.' She speaks up on how coaches should be there for their athletes instead of criticizing them for speaking up on their mental health. She continues in her letter, 'We have to put the person before the students or the athlete; otherwise, we are at risk of losing all three”
Sources
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Bernabe, Angeline Jane. “College Athlete Speaks out about Mental Health Pressures, Gives Advice to Coaches, Parents.” Good Morning America, ABC News, 25 Apr. 2022, www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/college-athlete-speaks-mental-health-pressures-advice-coaches-84050440.
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