My Lumberjack Life: Kelsey Harrington
5/28/2020 7:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA Athletics is continuing a new series called My Lumberjack Life. As May is Mental Health Awareness month, it seemed fitting to give our student-athletes a platform to detail their own mental health journey. These stories serve as testament to the strength and resolve of these athletes, as well as a spotlight on the tremendous stresses inherent with competing in college athletes.
Student-athletes are creatures of habit. We perform the same daily routine, at least five days a week, all year round. Our lives became anything but routine when the outbreak of COVID-19 emerged. When our regimented lives and structured schedules got taken away in an instant, the virus became a new strain on the mental health of student-athletes. We were left with uncertain days, unsure of what the future was to bring. Many of us unexpectedly said our last good bye to the sport we've been playing for as long as we can remember. We had to stop playing our sport that we heavily depended on to keep us going throughout the day.
When we left for spring break, we didn't know when we'd be able to be around our teammates, who are family to us. With the situation we've been living in, it is especially important now more than ever, to bring awareness to the invisible competition that student-athletes face: mental illness.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, many student-athletes relied on their respective sport as a place of escape from the rest of the world. We used the sport we loved to keep us busy, happy, and content. When the pandemic hit, we went from dedicating countless hours of the day towards training to having all of that stripped away. We were left feeling lost with nothing else to occupy our time. No longer were we able to engage in the sport that many have built their identity around. Feeling empty, anxious, and depressed have all been even more prevalent in athletes during this trying time. Our training came to an abrupt stop and now the community of athletes remains hopeful that we can soon return to the sport we love to play.
As a result of the additional stresses brought about by this pandemic, it is also appropriate to bring attention to the additional effects playing sports may have on an athlete's mental health. No one can truly grasp the physical, mental, and emotional demands of the sport an individual plays unless they played it with the same high-level intensity. Athletes are praised and glorified for their talents and successes, but oftentimes, society fails to acknowledge that this "life" sometimes isn't all that glamorous as people make it out to be. It's quite easy for someone to think that an athlete has it all; they get their school paid for, gain popularity, get cool gear, media coverage, and that's just to name a few perks. So how is it possible to experience any other emotion besides happiness, the thrill of victory and pride? Contrary to this established belief, athletes constantly face burnout, stress, injury, fatigue and pressure. All of these things have shown to be prolonged challenges we face that contribute to the decline of an athlete's mental health.
The amount of time and energy we dedicate to both sports and academics can lead to imbalances in our lives. Due to the large amount of time we spend tending to our sport and academic life, we often find that those things hinder our social lives. Along with that, we find that it creates an immense amount of added stress as we attempt to keep up with the demands of life that is required from a student-athlete. Athletes also have an established expectation to perform at high levels all the time. We are expected to be mentally tough and not display weakness, therefore creating the stigma that an individual is considered weak if they are dealing with a mental issue. While being mentally tough is often part of the formula for success in sports, it nevertheless creates barriers that make people unwilling to speak up about mental health issues.
Despite many individual's efforts to bring awareness to the negative stigma mental health holds, the trend continues to be difficult to change in the athletic world. Our society has cultivated the stereotype that those struggling with mental health are considered weak, or it is considered something that's all in their head. However, it is in fact a REAL issue that needs to be discussed further and de-stigmatized.
Change is long overdue.
It is our job to unify against the invisible competition, so together, let's bring a light to this matter and axe the stigma.
- K
Student-athletes are creatures of habit. We perform the same daily routine, at least five days a week, all year round. Our lives became anything but routine when the outbreak of COVID-19 emerged. When our regimented lives and structured schedules got taken away in an instant, the virus became a new strain on the mental health of student-athletes. We were left with uncertain days, unsure of what the future was to bring. Many of us unexpectedly said our last good bye to the sport we've been playing for as long as we can remember. We had to stop playing our sport that we heavily depended on to keep us going throughout the day.
When we left for spring break, we didn't know when we'd be able to be around our teammates, who are family to us. With the situation we've been living in, it is especially important now more than ever, to bring awareness to the invisible competition that student-athletes face: mental illness.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, many student-athletes relied on their respective sport as a place of escape from the rest of the world. We used the sport we loved to keep us busy, happy, and content. When the pandemic hit, we went from dedicating countless hours of the day towards training to having all of that stripped away. We were left feeling lost with nothing else to occupy our time. No longer were we able to engage in the sport that many have built their identity around. Feeling empty, anxious, and depressed have all been even more prevalent in athletes during this trying time. Our training came to an abrupt stop and now the community of athletes remains hopeful that we can soon return to the sport we love to play.
As a result of the additional stresses brought about by this pandemic, it is also appropriate to bring attention to the additional effects playing sports may have on an athlete's mental health. No one can truly grasp the physical, mental, and emotional demands of the sport an individual plays unless they played it with the same high-level intensity. Athletes are praised and glorified for their talents and successes, but oftentimes, society fails to acknowledge that this "life" sometimes isn't all that glamorous as people make it out to be. It's quite easy for someone to think that an athlete has it all; they get their school paid for, gain popularity, get cool gear, media coverage, and that's just to name a few perks. So how is it possible to experience any other emotion besides happiness, the thrill of victory and pride? Contrary to this established belief, athletes constantly face burnout, stress, injury, fatigue and pressure. All of these things have shown to be prolonged challenges we face that contribute to the decline of an athlete's mental health.
The amount of time and energy we dedicate to both sports and academics can lead to imbalances in our lives. Due to the large amount of time we spend tending to our sport and academic life, we often find that those things hinder our social lives. Along with that, we find that it creates an immense amount of added stress as we attempt to keep up with the demands of life that is required from a student-athlete. Athletes also have an established expectation to perform at high levels all the time. We are expected to be mentally tough and not display weakness, therefore creating the stigma that an individual is considered weak if they are dealing with a mental issue. While being mentally tough is often part of the formula for success in sports, it nevertheless creates barriers that make people unwilling to speak up about mental health issues.
Despite many individual's efforts to bring awareness to the negative stigma mental health holds, the trend continues to be difficult to change in the athletic world. Our society has cultivated the stereotype that those struggling with mental health are considered weak, or it is considered something that's all in their head. However, it is in fact a REAL issue that needs to be discussed further and de-stigmatized.
Change is long overdue.
It is our job to unify against the invisible competition, so together, let's bring a light to this matter and axe the stigma.
- K
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