Mental Health Stress in Athletes

If there's one thing about being an athlete, it's that you need to find time to do everything you love in the short 24 hours you have in a day. Piling all of your workload, time, and life on your shoulders while training for the thing you love, mental health can play a significant role in one's life. The higher the level you play, the more factors come into play.

In 9th grade, my second year at Springs, I realized I had more academic and sports work than time in the day. My eighth grade year was manageable, but I would be lying if I said Dr. Cooper's class was a breeze.  Then my freshman year hit me harder than any serve.  

I was sitting in Ms. Jacobs world history class while looking through all the assignments I had to complete for the night. On top of that, I had a three hour practice that night too. I knew that if I didn't go to the practice that night, I had a shot at finishing all my work and sleeping a good six or seven hours. However, fear of running laps at the next practice, or the crazy amount of fitness outweighed any amount of homework I could have. Every passing hour at practice, meant one more into the night. Not only was I exhausted from the practice that night, but I was also overwhelmed when I got home to open up the blackbaud assignment page to see everything that had to be done before the next morning. 

Hours would go by playing my sport, and I could remember seeing my warm comfy bed on the way to my desk to do my work. I would open up a coffee or energy drink, and sit down and complete all my assignments. Hours would go by, and I would still be completing my homework. I would find myself either staying up too late and not getting my work done, or falling asleep too early and not being able to complete it all that night. My head would start hurting from not getting a good night's rest, and I could find my stress levels rising higher and my mental health dropping. Not only would it be “just a once a time thing” but it would become a routine. 

I however found a way out of that routine this year. I found a way to manage my stress with tennis and still find a way to focus on school, which is important (especially for Springs students). I'm not as worried about what my day will look like if I don't show up, or what would happen if I didn't finish my assignments. I now focus on completing everything through getting home early enough and using all the time in my day I have to start up on my work for the next following night. I now feel less stressed by doing this each day, and my mental health is healthier. 

I have a feeling other highschool athletes relate to this story. Anna Simms 23',president of BC2M club here at Indian Springs, states “Going to Indian Springs, and it being an academically challenging school, having soccer for 1.5 hours a day, five days a week can get stressful. Being active helped me however. Although balancing out my time is stressful and having to choose between “being punished” vs being focused on academics, I've realized how important it is to manage my time and complete all my work, all while having a handful of things on me.” 

Anna continues, “Sometimes when you end up going to practices, it makes me feel better and takes the stress of school away for an hour or two which is nice, and being with all my teammates. Temporarily my stress is down while I'm at soccer but also it can make my stress higher if I know I wasn't prepared so managing my time and workload helps.” Over her time here at Springs, she says that her stress has gone down and mental health has gotten much better even while being a student athlete. 

When your sports’ season arrives, a mixture of academic time and  athletics can feel overwhelming. Although going to an academically challenging school, it is possible to manage and control our mental health all while continuing to excel at the sports and studies one desires.