Photo Credit The Players Tribune
Sports are often used to improve your physical abilities but mental wellbeing is very easily forgotten. There are a lot of sports clichés like “suck it up” or a “do or die” mentality which we all hear from coaches as kids. Professional athletes are not superheroes as they too can be affected by their mental health.
According to the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, mental health is a major resource for athletes in relation to their performance and development. Concurrently, athletes experience additional mental health risk factors compared to the non-athletic population, such as high training loads, tough competitions, and a stressful lifestyle. Also, they are forced to deal with criticism with bad performances and forget the human element on why they didn’t perform well.
As we see today, many professional athletes have come out and opened up about their mental health. Cleveland Cavaliers star, Kevin Love, talks about his struggles to The Players Tribune. Love said “This was territory for me, and it was pretty confusing. But I was certain about one thing: I couldn’t bury what had happened and try to move forward. As much as part of me wanted to, I couldn’t allow myself to dismiss the panic attack and everything underneath it.”
Sometimes we as sports fans just want to see our team win and are blinded to realize professional athletes still have a life to live after their performances. Love said “I’d never heard of any pro athlete talking about mental health, and I didn’t want to be the only one. I didn’t want to look weak.” This explanation shows why athletes have a hard time coming out with their issues.
Another mental issue that a professional athlete can face is what is life after a career is over. What comes next? We see former professionals become commentators like Shannon Sharpe or Charles Barkley, but some struggle with this new chapter. A Counseling center in Hoboken, New Jersey, Anchor Therapy stated athletes are not usually educated on what it feels like to retire from a professional sport.
Most athletes train many hours a day, have a specific diet they follow, and have a daily routine. Once they stop training, they notice the gaining weight which increases the feeling of shame and low self-esteem. Former Olympic swimmer Libby Trickett, who retired in 2009 and again in 2013 said her struggles with depression came from being unable to come to terms with her identity post-sport and finding another passion during retirement. Another example is former NBA player Delonte West, who made headlines last week after he was seen walking around the streets asking strangers for money. Over the past decade, West has fallen on tough times as he struggles with homelessness, bipolar disorder, and financial difficulties. The headlines had caught the attention of Mavericks Owner, Mark Cuban who reportedly picked up West at a local gas station in Dallas, Texas and offered to pay for his rehabilitation treatment. As of September 28th, West has entered a rehab facility in Florida.
Overall, there are many challenges that come with becoming a professional athlete. There are some athletes like Kevin Love that have been very open during his mental health and there are others who still cannot open up about their own health. Sports fans are starting to see this as a trend more often, as NBA player Paul George opened up to reporters on his mental health during his time in the bubble. Again, professional athletes are not superheroes, they are human just like the rest of us.
