Student Athletes and Mental Health Essay Example

Student-athletes often are looked at as people who are “living the dream” as they are able to play a sport they love while also receiving their education. In reality, being a student-athlete comes with overwhelming responsibilities, high expectations, and countless hours devoted to being an athlete. Receiving a college education is difficult enough as young adults are adjusting to being on their own while still needing to meet obligations and fulfill responsibilities. When you add in the responsibilities that come with being an athlete, it is almost too easy for mental health to plummet. Sports are looked at as a great way to relieve stress, but many overlook the tension and stress they contribute to everyday life. While at first it may appear most student-athletes should benefit mentally from athletics, most experience a more harmful impact due to the long hours, overbearing responsibilities, and high expectations. 

At first glance, athletes are fortunate to have a sport as a stress reliever with teammates and a coaching staff there for support. What many people overlook is the amount of time put into being an athlete. Being a college student is already time consuming; an expected guideline for a student is to spend between 2 and 3 hours studying for every hour of class they attend. In other words “a student taking five 3-credit classes spends 15 hours each week in class and should be spending 30 hours on work outside of class, or 45 hours/week total” (Nelson). This is a lot of time, dedication, and stress for anyone, but now add being an athlete on top of these hours. When it comes to athletics, it is more than just showing up for practice every day. Weight-lifting, film sessions, conditioning sessions, team meetings, traveling for games, and going to the training room to maintain a healthy body as well as prevent injuries, are all activities that are included in being an athlete but many people often do not think of. A survey done by the NCAA, which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, revealed that athletes are putting at least 30 hours and the majority of the time 40 hours a week toward their sport (Wakamo). With these numbers, student-athletes total 85 hours dedicated to both their academics and athletics. This leaves them with 83 hours left in the week, a little under 12 hours per day, for them to sleep, eat meals, have a social life, spend time with friends and family, in some cases work a job, and have free time to do what they chose. When having this much on their plate, student-athletes can quickly feel overwhelmed since they have so much to do and so little time to do it. As soon as someone feels overwhelmed, feelings of stress, anxiety, and worry pour in, all of which contribute to a decline in mental health. Being a student-athlete can be very tedious and time consuming, so athletes have to quickly learn how to prioritize and manage their time. Time management is a difficult strategy to learn for anybody, but it is especially difficult to learn for a young adult who is adjusting to living on their own and learning how to be independent. 

While student-athletes are feeling overwhelmed with their time, they also bear the burden of the responsibilities and expectations that come with being an athlete. Athletes are put under a microscope; they are being watched by their coaches, the NCAA, and the general public. They have to be conscious of their actions at all times, particularly when wearing their college name. Aside from attending practice, athletes are responsible for maintaining a certain GPA in order to be eligible to play, and they must show respect to coaches, their teammates, their opponents, and referees during games, practices, and even on social media (Imm).  Social media is a very common and easy way for athletes to get into trouble. Athletes need to be careful of what they post because posts that include foul language, inappropriate posts on school property or in school clothes, trash talking other teams, complaining about their coach or team, and any posts with inappropriate content such as nudity or partial nudity and alcohol or drugs can get them in trouble (Fore). Another major responsibility and expectation of being a student-athlete is avoiding alcohol and drug use. The NCAA has no tolerance for possession of any illegal drugs, tobacco use, and minors in possession of or drinking alcohol. Athletes over the age of 21 are allowed to drink alcohol, but in moderation and only in their off-season (Alcohol, Tobacco, and drug policy). In order to enforce these rules, the NCAA conducts drug tests at least once a year per team. A failure to pass the drug test or refusal to take the drug test results in consequences which include “community service (on or off campus), reflective paper, game suspension(s), counseling, expulsion from the team and/or department” (Alcohol, Tobacco, and drug policy). The responsibilities alone are enough for a college athlete to worry about, but the fear of the consequences is even more overbearing. Athletes are penalized for these actions, while a regular college student is not subject to the same consequences or any consequences at all. If an athlete fails to fulfill any of their responsibilities and they suffer the consequences, their mental health will be affected. The consequences of an expulsion or suspension could lead to an athlete feeling depressed and disappointed in themselves, ruining their mental health. Depression is a serious mental disorder that many people struggle from, but “student-athletes suffer from depression more often than their non-student-athlete peers” (Gill, 85). Athletes struggle more than others realize, which is why it is important to bring attention to their mental health. 

Athletes are not only held to high expectations from the NCAA, but they are also held to high expectations from their coaches, their teammates, their families, their supporters, and themselves. The pressure of being a student-athlete is difficult and it is often not talked about. Recently, a 22-year-old Women’s Soccer player, Katie Meyer, from Stanford University, tragically committed suicide. Her mother told the press “There is anxiety and there is stress to be perfect, to be the best, to be number one” (Sulek and Lin). Athletes hold themselves to a higher standard because of what is expected of them. When adding up their responsibilities, what they are expected of, and the time they spend on athletics, tragedies such as suicide are more prone to occur. According to the American College of Sports Medicine “Approximately 30% of women and 25% of men who are student-athletes report having anxiety, and only 10% of all college athletes with known mental health conditions seek care from a mental health professional ” (The American College of Sports Medicine Statement on Mental Health Challenges for Athletes). Athletes are suffering from depression due to their activity, and they are unlikely to seek help for their mental health. Mental health is a critical issue that must be addressed in athletics or else the number of people suffering from depression will continue to rise, resulting in more tragedies like Katie Meyer.

Despite its initial glance, the life of a student-athlete entails many more responsibilities, expectations, and dedicated hours than most people imagine. Due to their overloading schedules and overwhelming responsibilities, it is very simple for the mental health of student-athletes to plummet. Once mental health decreases it leads to feelings of depression and in extreme cases, suicide. It is important to encourage better mental health in student-athletes to prevent tragedies from occurring. There are a number of ways to help student-athletes have better mental health, starting with coaches dedicating time that benefits mental health. This could be as simple as a 5-minute meditation session or breathing exercise after practice to allow athletes to decompress. Coaches should have check-ins biweekly with their athletes to ensure they are handling the balance of academics and athletics well. Also, many schools have resources on campus that athletes can utilize when they need to talk to someone about all of their concerns. These are small steps that can make a big difference in student-athletes’ mental health. Mental health should never be overlooked, and should always be a top priority to avoid the tragedies that might result from poor mental health.