Inside the Mind of Elite Athletes

The Hidden Battles of Athletes

Sports is 90% Mental, and 10% Physical

With the development and advances of our society through the use of social media and social influence our most elite athletes and humans are also greatly impacted. During the COVID 19 Pandemic; NCAA found Thirty-eight percent of those in women's sports and 22% of the men's sports participants reported feeling mentally exhausted constantly or most every day. With young adults, especially college athletes, the statistics are startling: 33% of all college students experience significant symptoms of depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions. Among that group, 30% seek help. But of college athletes with mental health conditions, only 10% do. Among professional athletes, data shows that up to 35% of elite athletes suffer from a mental health crisis which may manifest as stress, eating disorders, burnout, or depression and anxiety.

Some very well known elite athletes who have spoken out about their experience with mental health battles include; Lindsey Vonn; 3 time olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps; 28-time olympic medalist, Kevin Love, NBA Champion, U.S. FIBA & Olympic Gold Medalist, Serena Williams; 23 time Grand Slam victories. Naomi Osaka; 4 time Grand slam victories, DeMar DeRozan; 5 time all-star and olympic Gold Medalist, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. And the list goes on. The highest achievers in sports and their career have all battled some of the biggest mental and emotional experiences in their life. The biggest battles we face in life are between our two ears, and it's a silent battle until it is expressed. However, a daily ritual practice of checking in with yourself, your emotions, your mind, your body, and your spirit is often something that gets by-passed in sports and elite athletes. Because the perception becomes “I have to perform at a high level to be loved” “I have to live up to the expectations my family, friends, and fans have created” “If I fail or mess up, will people still love me, will they still cheer for me?”

This might seem extreme, but if you talk to any athlete, at some point this has crossed their mind; their praise and glory comes from winning and not losing. So a person's perception of success in sports becomes the emphasis and foundation of praise. An athlete feels and thinks they will not be loved if they aren’t playing, competing, and winning like they have previously shown. So it's easy to identify the problem, but within the problem is also the solution. What are these athletes aka humans being uplifted, praised and glorified for? Their ability to perform at a high level and win. What are these athletes aka human beings not being praised for; Being themself. So as their brain develops, they have a perception and belief that they can only be an athlete, they can only be who they perceived to be loved for.

A big problem in sports and mental health is emotional expression. Many athletes aka humans have many hidden battles and do their best to focus only on their sport and performance and ignore the fact they are learning, growing and developing just like any other human. But are they given the same grace, patience, and ability to develop? The standards the society has put on athletes being and maintaining a pedestal status is like an icy road. A person will create stress and pressure to live up to the standards others create. And this is why each individual person must create and maintain their own standard of self. To remember; beyond an athlete they are humans first. The same way people get dressed for work, athletics has become an entertainment, a career, a comradery, and many more things. But at the root, we are talking about humans developing, growing and learning to be better people. How are we giving athletes an opportunity to learn and develop their mindset, emotions, mental processing, and social pressures of the world? Especially knowing the world of mental and emotional health being 1 in 8 people. Knowing that anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorders. What are we doing to develop the children and kids of the future? Every athlete at some point will no longer be an athlete, how are we creating the environment for them to be their best self, for as long as they possibly can while representing a team, city, state, country?