Coach Resources

Athletics and Mental Health 

We all know the power of sports. It's wonderful impact on our minds, bodies, and our entire lives. Friendships, schools, and entire communities benefit from sports through their emphasis on team spirit, character, and discipline. While there are incredible benefits to athletic participation, sports involvement may contribute negatively to students' overall mental wellness. For some, youth sports are becoming increasingly professionalized, pushing adolescents to focus on one sport to the exclusion of other hobbies and or other sports. Students may struggle to find time for their athletic training and academic responsibilities, others may also have to balance part time, or even full time, jobs. Injuries, emotional stress, and physical strain can put student-athletes at higher risk of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts than their non-athletic peers. The pressure to perform may be further exacerbated by high expectations of earning college scholarships or winning state titles for their school and hometown. All of these factors come in to play during a time when adolescents are forming their identity and establishing their personal worth. 

Mental health in athletics is an increasing focus in professional, collegiate, and youth sports leagues, and rightfully so. In the past decade,  high profile athletes have spoken up about their personal mental health concerns bringing attention to a previously overlooked issue.  Creating an athletic environment with a heavy emphasis on mental, in addition to physical, wellbeing addresses these concerns and promotes healthy minds and bodies, while still winning games. 

Mental Wellness-Centered Coaching

Coaches are uniquely placed to either positively or negatively impact their team's culture as related to mental health and wellness. Creating an environment that fosters communication and open dialogue regarding these issues can be, quite literally, life-changing for your student athletes. Work to be aware of potential warning sings for different mental health concerns in adolescents, and particularly athletes, strive to end the stigma of mental illness by talking about it often, and try promoting mental wellbeing through some of the strategies detailed on this webpage. 

Signs of Concern in Student Athletes

Abrupt changes in sleep patterns  Fatigue

Changes in eating habits Mood Swings 

Unexplained changes in athletic performance Apathy

Decline in academic performance and/or grades Social Isolation

Unmanageable levels of stress before a game or meet Persistent pregame anxiety 

Pregame anxiety might look like: 

Fast breathing Elevated heart rate

Sweating Muscular tension 

Negative self-talk Poor concentration 

Nausea or vomiting Feeling of weakness

Let's Break the Stigma 

• According to The American College of Sports Medicine, approximately 30% of women and 25% of men who are student-athletes report having anxiety.

• More NCAA student athletes will experience psychological issues severe enough to warrant counseling than their nonathletic counterparts.

• Eating disorders are found to occur at higher rates for female athletes than non-athletes with 8% of student-athletes suffering from bulimia and 1.5% suffering from anorexia; these rates are all comparatively higher than their non-athlete counterparts. 

• A higher proportion of individual sport athletes reported anxiety or depression than athletes participating in team sports.

Mental health concerns are hugely prevalent in adolescents and, particularly, in student athletes. Despite it's widespread nature and increased targeted efforts, many student athletes feel uncomfortable talking about mental health-related struggles with their coaches or teammates. 

Promoting Mental Health as a Coach

Establish genuine relationships with student athletes. In addition to helping you learn about the motivations of each player, it also increases the likelihood that you will notice any sudden or concerning changes in attitude, mood, or habits that indicate cause for concern. 

Foster relationships, within the team and outside of it. Encouraging bonds between students and their teammates and classmates is vital in their transitional developmental period. As student athletes work through identity formation, positive friendships are of critical importance both within and outside of athletic settings. Within the team, this might look like using a part of practice once a week to play a silly game or complete a team building exercise. Promoting relationships outside of the team could look like reminding student athletes that spending some time hanging out with their friends each week is just as important as completing their training regime. 

Encourage hobbies outside of their sport. In the case of an injury or illness, students who haven't had the time to develop other interests and skills could feel lost without something to focus on. 

Participate as a team in community service. These projects positively impact team health, wellness, and leadership skills, as well as giving your team a positive presence in their community. Ask students to brainstorm ideas or discuss causes they are excited about. Cross country teams could run with local shelter dogs weekly or monthly,  basketball teams could clean up the gym after two games each season to thank the custodial staff, or teams could visit a local nursing home in their uniforms before a game to offer some homemade treats. Find more great ideas here. 

Highlight the stories of professional athletes discussing mental health and wellness. 

Olympians and professional athletes are speaking out about their mental health to end stigma and catalyze change within athletic programs. Consider featuring one video or story monthly. Depending on the size of your team, students could each choose a story or video to share! 

Emphasize the importance of sleep. Lack of sleep contributes to anxiety and depression. Athletes with rigorous training and academic schedules are often sleep deprived.  In addition to discussing the importance of sleep, consider how you might support their sleep habits. This could look like shortening practice one afternoon a week or before they semester's final exams, so student shave more time to finish their homework and get to bed. 

Consider a training in mental health first aid. Courses, included zoom trainings, may be found here. Skills learned in these trainings are a valuable asset to your coaching toolbox. 

Develop a supportive pregame routine. Ask your team to collaboratively create a pregame routine that supports their mental health and wellness. This could be as simple as participating in a 5-minute meditation, like those found in our video library, or practicing visualization.