As the school year progresses and the sports seasons are in full swing, most student-athletes have more to manage than just practices, games, and rehearsals. Wins and losses, as well as good and bad performances, often leave a lasting impression on an athlete’s overall mood and confidence for days or weeks at a time. As the competition intensifies, the emotional aspect of athletics has become a prominent topic of discussion among teams at all levels.

A study from Duke University shows that about 33% of all college students will have serious mental health struggles, such as depression, anxiety, or eating disorders. In this group, around 30% seek help through college resources available to them. However, of college athletes experiencing mental health struggles, only 10% seek help outside of the resources available.

Emotional games and bad performances leave athletes with stressful feelings off the field, not just from coaches, but from themselves and their teammates. Balancing extracurriculars and a sport takes a toll on all athletes’ mental health, and sometimes the resources offered aren’t always accessible or prioritized in schools. 

With limited resources available and all the time spent on sports, there is less time for schoolwork, which can lead to burnout sooner than a regular season outside of school. 

A study titled “A Comparison of Team Sport Volume Surveyed Between High School and Club Sport Coaches” found that even though club seasons are much longer, the amount of games and practices that are condensed into that short period of time can increase burnout in specific cases.

“Fall season is practice after school every single day, and I have a lot of homework, and we have games on, I’d say twice a week or three times if we have it on weekends,” said Sophie Porter, a girls’ varsity soccer captain.  

“During the fall, the typical week once the school year started was 3 matches a week on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and practices on Tuesday and Thursday,” Charlotte Black, a JV tennis player, said. 

With these intense schedules, it can be challenging for students to balance school and athletics.

“Yes, it doesn’t really give me a lot of time to do schoolwork, Lilia Harmon said. Then I just have to lock in and focus on it when I have the time to do it, especially in study hall and when I get straight home from dance.” 

 Along with the already existing pressures, being a captain or holding a leadership role within a team can intensify the stress that athletes feel. Not only do coaches rely on them, but after every bad performance, they feel the effects for long periods of time.

Porter described her experience after losing against their rival school and the effect that lingered.

“I think after the game, especially when we lost to MKA, I was really mad, I got home and I was screaming and yelling to my parents, and they were really mad too, and I definitely don’t think I got any homework done that night, and then the next day I was still really mad,” Porter said. 

Instances like the one described by Porter show the complexity of feeling emotional about a performance, and the lasting impact it can have on athletes.

No matter the level of competition athletes compete against, they still feel that sometimes their sport can become everything that matters to them and the validation they need to prove that they are good enough. 

Porter describes this as “I feel like my soccer performance kind of validates my overall mood because if I played really badly one day, I am really down on myself, and I feel like not that soccer is my whole life, but it kind of is because it kind of dictates everything.”

Her words describe this as something that many athletes can relate to; the mental aspect of a game and performance doesn’t fully end after leaving the field or stage. Wins, losses, and good or bad performances carry into athletes’ school and home lives, and can potentially disrupt their ability to focus academically.

Schools like the University of Michigan are improving mental health awareness by educating their athletes through bi-weekly sessions where they can talk with peers and professionals about the challenges they face and learn how to overcome them.

As mental health becomes a greater concern in the sports world, recognizing and addressing the challenges of being an athlete is a step toward creating a stronger, better community for student-athletes.