Athlete Anxiety
Mental Health among Athletes
Do athletes need professional mental help? I can remotely imagine what a professional athlete goes through when I have seen for myself the pressure that I put myself through while swimming competitively.
The moment still feels as if it was yesterday, Feb 2017, the 50-yard backstroke. I am only 1 second away from a Junior Olympic cut-off time to qualify for the ten and under category. That winter season, I had been training hard to ensure I make the cut. It’s felt like I was born to achieve it and to make my coaches and parents proud.
On the day of the race, I jumped in the water, telling myself, "this is it, and to give it my all." I gripped the block bar so tight that it seemed as if I was going to pull it out of the ground. The official yells, take your mark and then presses the alarm. In my head, I think you have to do this; this is what you have always wanted. I see the flags and start my stroke count through the very top of my goggles: 1...2...3...flip. With my feet touching the top of the T, I push off the wall and immediately start my dolphin kick. It was the last 25 yards, I push through, and then through the corner of my eye, I see no one next to me; I thought I would reach my goal.
I touch the wall and immediately look up to see my name on the board; it says 39.43 the qualifying time was 38.27. Devastated by being so close to my goal, I ruined it because the of the anxiety and stress I put cost me a race. It was a lesson learned that I should be giving my best and enjoying it rather than over-thinking it
The Super Athletes Go Through it too
Recently, Naomi Osaka backed out from French Open as she has been experiencing depression since 2018. It was eye-opening for her when her ideal Michael Phelps, the 23 times Olympic Gold Medalist, also had severe mental health issues about his experiences. In 2014 after the second DUI, he contemplated suicidal thoughts, checking himself into a treatment center. The negativity of the public that Osaka faced after her denial to participate in press conferences after matches baffled Phelps.
Isn’t it relieving when you know that you are not alone in this? It made her feel that the issue is so natural and not discussed. But it is so good to have his back when the entire nation was spewing negativity against her, as she mentions. And further, she adds that this negativity is critical to recognize the beginning of discussion around athletes and depression.
Another superstar athlete, Simone Biles, a gymnast, has recently made the headlines to support her mental health. She took a brave decision to pull herself out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games overall gymnastics competition. Knowing that she was not 100%, she scratches her events to focus on her mental health. We are so immersed with their spotlight appearance that we don’t even know the number of athletes on antidepressants.
Final Words
Because of our negligence in providing mental health assistance, we have already lost skillful athletes such as Madison Holleran and Tyler Hilinski. It is high time that we focus not only on their physical training but also on their mental health.
So, if you agree that it is an issue that needs to be addressed, then I will be bringing the athletes and their coaches themselves in my webinar series to give you first-hand information; when we have adequate knowledge about them, that is when we will know how to help them gain mental wellbeing.