For every student athlete, sport is a significant part of their life that largely affects how they act or feel. Researchers show how it is a benefit for those who practice it: not only physically, but mostly resulting in psychological and personal development.
Ms. Lower, regular psychology and U.S. history teacher, in her psychology classes gives to her students a highlight of what essentially mental health is, starting to dip toes into this vast and relatively new subject, which is becoming more prevalent than it has ever been.
Lower has a wide background when talking about sport in her family, her brother and her were both athletes involved in the swimming field: “I was a swimmer, I swam for Carroll High School and I was part of the swim club,” Ms. Lower said. “That was my entire identity”.
She enjoyed her sport and the people she got to hang out with, but there were some negative aspects too: “As for every sport, the downside of it are state finals, making teams and getting cuts,” Ms. Lower said. “I would get so frustrated because when you work so hard and not see results or see somebody else get picked for the position that you wanted it’s a lesson to learn, but it’s hard to swallow.”
Her own experience made her think that mental health with athletes is becoming a bigger concern because of how young they are starting sports: “When I was growing up most kids would try out a bunch of different sports, but my brother and his friends, for example, started at five years old swimming and that’s all they knew.” Ms. Lower said. “And especially if athletes are good at it, a lot of them form their identity and pride around that. So if they didn’t do well or they had a year where they weren’t performing really well, that could take a toll”.
She then added that when athlete’s careers are over, they have to figure out who they truly are; this is a challenge especially when transitioning from high school to college: “It’s like a test of how social you can truly be,” Ms. Lower said.
Our school has always offered many different sports for its students: juniors Elaina Fitch and Miley McCard actively participate in the color guard and rugby community respectively. They both started their sport in seventh grade and haven’t left it since: they say the positive aspects about it are that it is fun and they get to know people with whom they create a second family and work hard to improve at what they do in a positive environment.
The only negative aspect of it for McCard is that after the games she might feel very sore, while for Fitch, sometimes sport gets to be a lot to keep track of because of all the practices she’s got (which could go from 3 to 5 days a week); however, she knows that the hard work will eventually pay off with great outcomes.
From what the two girls said, it’s possible to understand that sport is actually more about mental health than physical shape, especially at a young age.
“I think sports are so important for mental health because it’s a space and an opportunity to leave some of your stresses about school or life behind and just get zoned into your sport or calm your mind down and focus on something else,” Elaina Fitch said. “It has helped me because I know when I get stressed and then I show up to practice, all of that stress finally falls away from me”.
Sport is definitely considered a safe place, but stress sometimes gets the better of it. “If I have a lot of anxiety, it can affect my mood in practice and I won’t really do as well,” Miley McCard said.
Fitch sometimes feels the same too. “It happens that I let my stress get the best of me,” she said.
Despite that, the sun always seems to shine, and whenever she gets to practice and finds her friends so happy to see her, she remembers that stress doesn’t define her and that she has people who support her and love her throughout all aspects of life.
Even though sometimes it could be the opposite, and sport might be the reason causing that stress, it is clear that usually sport benefits mental health more than it actually damages it, especially because of the community that it’s created within.
However, it is good to remember that people are unique and have different feelings and experiences that define them as persons, so they shouldn’t ignore the signs that both their body and brain try to address them: that’s the only way to live their sports as best as possible.
