Student Athletes Mental Health Issues Essay Sample

Katie Meyer was a 22-year-old student-athlete and was a captain and goalkeeper for Stanford’s women’s soccer team. Katie’s peers viewed her as smart, strong, and full-hearted. Individuals started to stereotype her as a strong woman who could take on much stress, but those individuals discarded the fact that Katie was still a human. On March 1, 2022, Katie was found and declared dead by suicide. Not only did Katie’s death shock the sports world, but it led to a rise in questioning athlete’s mental health (“Stanford Soccer Star’s Death” 1).  Katie’s mother, Gina Meyer stated, “There is anxiety…and there is stress to be perfect, to be the best, to be No. 1” (“Stanford Soccer Star’s Death” 1). Similarly, many student-athletes are being brought up in conversations as their mental health is declining. Along with the mental health issues, disordered eating is being brought to the forefront as well. Therefore, with the increasing levels of stress in student-athletes due to high expectations regarding their athletic performance, coaches must be better informed and communicate with the athlete the importance of their well-being in order to prevent declining mental health and avoid disordered eating.

*Throughout the world, many student-athletes are beginning to suffer from a decrease in their mental health. Many stressors are placed on these student-athletes, and the CNN Wire stated, “A 2019 NCAA survey found about 30% of participating female student-athletes felt ‘difficulties were piling up so high’ in the month prior that they ‘very often’ or ‘fairly often’ felt they could not overcome them. Among the participating male athletes, that figure was about 25%, the survey showed” (“Stanford Soccer Star’s Death” 2). Student-athletes often times must balance the rigorous academic demands along with the athletic demands simultaneously. Many times, student-athletes do not have the same time to decompress and recharge mentally due to their difficult and demanding schedules. Due to the increased amount of stress, student-athletes should be afforded extra mental health care that is built into the athletic program. Similarly, coaches who are too focused on the performance the athlete gives, should also focus on the athlete’s entire well-being. An article from Harvard Business Review recently noted, “One clear takeaway from the mental health in sports movement is that a person’s objective success in a particular field does not imply mental health success” (“Athletes Are Shifting the Narrative” 2). One example is that Michael Phelps, a well-known Olympic champion swimmer, who seemed to be on top of the world during the Olympics, was also very open about his struggles with depression and mental health issues. Most people were in disbelief when Phelps publicly admitted his problems because he was performing at a high level and setting Olympic record after record. This and many other examples are proof that just because an athlete is performing on the field doesn’t mean they aren’t struggling with the same mental health issues as others and adding the demands of athletics to classroom can double these effects. [COUNTERCLAIM] Many individuals would argue that an athlete tends to live a healthier life, they gain skills in teamwork, exercise can reduce stress, etc. promoting many positive effects (Thompson 1). [REFUTATION] While this is very true, sports can be just as, if not more stressful, to a student-athlete as they can carry much more pressure than a non-student-athlete. They must succeed in both areas and the stress can lead to a decline in mental health and the development of disordered eating. While a lot of non-student-athletes carry a challenging course load, they do not face the same challenges as an athlete who must also perform for their coaches and the school.

As these pressures put stress on the athlete mentally, it starts to deteriorate them physically. Coaches start to negatively affect the student-athlete when their relationship isn’t strong. An article from the NCAA specified, “Coaches have considerable influence with their athletes, and it appears that their relationship with their student-athletes - and more specifically their motivational climate – can influence the risk of disordered eating. A relationship between coach and athlete characterized by high conflict and low support has been associated with increased eating pathology among athletes” (Thompson 3). Coaches must be held accountable to teach in a manner in which there is high support and lower conflict with their players. This particular style of coaching will have many benefits to the physical and mental well-being of their players, which can lead to a more positive athletic outcome. In a similar note, coaches and society play a big roll on shaping the stereotypes for the game and athletes, and Ron Thompson determined, “In society and sport, athletes are often expected to display a particular body size or shape that becomes characteristic of a particular sport, such as distance runners being thin” (3). These sports are referred to as “lean” sports which usually come with a specific weight class. In these sports this is seen as an advantage, but really it can evolve into disordered eating. (Bowers et al. 3-4). This loops back to decline in an athlete’s mental health as they aren’t accepting themselves. Not only do these student-athletes have to worry about their expected performance, but they now must also focus on the advantages their sport may imply like a certain weight or look. 

Ultimately, coaches must be better informed and communicate with the athlete about the importance of their mental health and body image. [CALL TO ACTION] There has to be a continued push by athletic departments to continually educate coaches and administrators about the dangers and potential mental health obstacles in sports. If the coaching staff and the athletic department were more in tune with what Katie was going through, her outcome may have ended up differently. There have been great advancements in the open dialogue between mental health and athletes in recent years, but more can be done. Wouldn’t happier and mentally healthier athletes perform better for their sports and academics?