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Female athletes are overlooked

             Mental health issues can impact anyone no matter what their gender, race, sexuality, and religious beliefs are. Then why does society view female athletes differently when compared to male athletes? Both genders are still human and can experience the same effects of mental health. “According to a 2016 study, about 30 percent of surveyed female student-athletes showed signs of depression, compared to just 18 percent of their male counterparts” (Barcella 2017). Female athletes are not put on the same pedestal as male athletes and that is very damaging. For the little coverage of mental health for male athletes, female athletes receive substantially less coverage. This needs to be changed in order to help improve and save the lives of female athletes all over the world. We are going to talk about some female athletes who deal with mental health issues.

           Serena Williams is often considered to be the greatest female athlete of all time. She is a household name who is the best female tennis player of all time. In 2015, Serena Williams suffered an unexpected loss against Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals. The upset took a toll on her as her coach said, “She was depressed … she does everything with 100% of her heart so you are more disappointed when you don’t reach your goal. Plus, she has a level of expectation that is much higher than anyone” (Guardian Sport 2015). Serena took the loss hard as she did not speak with her tennis coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, for two weeks after the tennis match. Her coach represented tennis and it was clear she needed a break from the sport as she didn’t want to deal with or talk about tennis during those two weeks because breaks are very vital when it comes to sports. Serena’s identity is tied to being an athlete, and this loss has put her in a downward spiral of depression. There is more to life than just sports, and this is the same with someone’s identity as having high expectations and not achieving the things that you aspire to accomplish can cause mental health issues as. Having a results focused mindset will only hold someone back in their athletic career. Even though a loss may appear to be negative an athlete can use that as a teaching moment and improve on the aspects which contributed to the loss. This will benefit them throughout the duration of their career as the negatives will turn into positives and their weaknesses will turn into strengths. Even the greatest female athlete of all time is vulnerable to mental health problems.

           Another female athlete that has dealt with mental health issues for a good part of her life is WNBA superstar Liz Cambage. She wrote an exclusive article for The Players’ Tribune on August 11th of this year which received wide acclaim from the sports world as she talked about her history in dealing with mental health in extreme detail. During her rookie season she spent almost every night alone, locking herself inside her house and crying her eyes out for hours. She then talked about how she was on suicide watch in 2016 and had the hardest conversation in her life with her mother in which she told her that she did not want to live anymore. During this most recent season she was off her medication for a brief time for anxiety and depression. After a game in which she had a terrible performance she then had an uncontrollable anxiety attack after the game. She decided to get back on her medication and needed to take some time off to recover. She ended up missing the next two games in order to get rest (Cambage 19). She was essentially rehabbing herself just like any other typical injury. Her main point of the article was to be transparent with the public in order to help remove the stigma of mental health. The impact of this article from her is very huge as she is one of the main stars of the WNBA and her story will impact tons of people to look at mental health issues as a legitimate problem in the world of sports.

           Mental health issues impact both genders despite the lack of coverage for women athletes. This needs to change as female student-athletes are more likely to undergo mental health issues when compared to male student-athletes. Serena Williams and Liz Cambage have made positive impacts in the mental health community due to both speaking out about their own experiences with the issue. I challenge everyone out there to check on one of your friends or family members as mental health can impact everybody. Also, send in any questions that you may have about mental health in sports.

 Barcella, L, ( August,2017).A Third of Women Student-Athletes Have Mental Health Problems. Vice. Retrieved November , 2019

from https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d37nby/a-third-of-women-student-athletes-have-mental-health-problems

Cambage, L, ( August,2019).DNP - Mental Health. The Players' Tribune. Retrieved November , 2019

from https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/liz-cambage-mental-health

Sport, G, ( November,2015).Serena Williams took break to recover from depression and knee injuries. The Guardian . Retrieved November , 2019

from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/04/serena-williams-depression-knee-coach-patrick-mouratoglou

“https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106116012-1569355850599serena.jpg?v=1573751449&w=740&h=416”

““https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Cambage_2019.jpg/800px-Cambage_2019.jpg”

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Here is a Podcast that we did about mental health!

Special Guests:

Carolina Arcay and Miguel Cepeda 

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Success can be deceiving      

     What would your dream version of life consist of? Some of you hope to be famous or to be wealthy or even powerful and many other things. A life that revolves around sports can be a very interesting or fun one due to the potential benefits. Sports create a platform that makes every athlete a role model as countless teenagers look up to them. Young athletes often see just the glamorous aspect part of life of the top established athletes around the world. It is often assumed that once someone reaches success then they are set for life and everything just falls into place. This is not always the case as one of the greatest athletes of all time had difficulties with mental health and that is none other than Michael Phelps.

     Michael Phelps is a retired swimmer who currently holds the record for the most Olympic medals in history with a total of 28, including 23 of them being gold medals (Muto 2017). He has had the ideal life that any teenage athlete would want to have given his career accolades along with his financial success, but he has revealed over the past years that he has dealt with mental health issues. In an interview with Mic, Phelps revealed that he first noticed mental health issues when he was only 18 years old. He would hide the problems and just keep swimming, claiming that being in the pool was a distraction from everything that was going on. When asked if shame played a part in his reasoning to conceal the mental health problems he responded, “No, it's probably just because I am an athlete and we are not supposed to have problems.” Male athletes are pushed to be emotionless warriors who feel no pain and show no weakness. Having this mentality at a young age can be very harmful as it can lead to an increase in mental health problems throughout the entirety of one’s life. The stigma, of how talking about your mental health is considered a weakness, is very damaging. A negative perception of mental illness could cause feelings of shame for someone who encounters issues. The athletes could refrain from wanting to seek help as a result of their own insecurities. We believe, strictly in a hypothetical sense, a young athlete could develop mental health problems by being too involved in sports leading to depression or anxiety.  This particular athlete could keep everything bottled up leading to the impairment of mental functions. This will directly impact school, work, personal, and athletic abilities. In an unfortunate situation this could cause the athlete’s world to spiral completely out of control endangering themselves and others. These professional athletes are portrayed to be like fictional heroes when in reality they are normal human beings just like everyone else. Phelps revealed in an interview with Megyn Kelly that he reached a low point where he did not want to be alive anymore. She then notes that this was after him becoming an Olympic champion telling him that, “there may be a lot of people out there wondering how can that be, you were so successful?” His accomplishments did not make him any less susceptible to the dangers of mental health. Success in this situation did not directly relate to happiness in this case as suicide was once an option for him. The accolades, achievements, and wealth that Phelps gained as a result of his athletic career could satisfy some people, but it is extremely vital to know that it impacted his life negatively as well. The increased awareness of mental health will help better assist those who currently suffer from it and will allow future generations to open up more about their troubles. The freedom to be vocal about your mental health without feeling like you’re being judged will allow people to be more open.

     Michael Phelps is a prime example of a legendary athlete who underwent mental health issues during and after his athletic career. He allowed himself to become vulnerable in these interviews in order to help save lives and to increase mental health awareness of all people of all ages. We advise each and every athlete to continue to play the sports that they love but once they notice something different about themselves, then they should evaluate the important things in life and seek help. If Phelps could be affected by mental health problems, then so can any regular young athlete. If we were to now ask you what your dream life would consist of, we hope that happiness would be the number one response. We want everybody to check on one of their friends or family. You never know who could be going through something.

References:

Muto, J, ( December,2017).'I didn't want to be alive': Michael Phelps talks about struggle with depression. Today. Retrieved October , 2019

from https://www.today.com/health/michael-phelps-struggle-depression-mental-health-issues-t119969

Pictures:

“https://cdn-s3.si.com/images/Michael-Phelps-SI-cover-shoot-SI523_TK1_00034.jpg”

“https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims3/GLOB/crop/5795x3800+0+56/resize/1028x675!/format/jpg/quality/85/http%3A%2F%2Fo.aolcdn.com%2Fhss%2Fstorage%2Fmidas%2F3cb6c66c0f507f0e7b82ff6da0b4c2a3%2F0%2FRTS10TFB.jpeg” 

Videos:

Mic “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ifD9cKkLU”

Megyn Kelly TODAY “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao4fEglWqms”

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Our first investigation on Mental Health from the point of view of a former high school athlete! 

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The Heartbreak of Early Retirement

     NFL athletes are often regarded as being the best football players in the world. There are numerous benefits that come along with being an NFL player but there are also many negatives that come with the profession as well. NFL players are no longer waiting until their play-making ability deteriorates or wait to reach an older age in order to retire. As of recent there has been an unusual number of athletes that are retiring early, which is considered their prime, such as Andrew Luck, Chris Borland, and Rob Gronkowski. We are going to examine this social issue of NFL athletes retiring early. 

     Rob Gronkowski is a former NFL player who retired at 29 years old. He was an elite talent that garnered five Pro Bowl selections and is often considered to be the best tight end of his era. The three-time Super Bowl champion stated that his NFL career took a toll on him both physically and mentally. Gronkowski suffered multiple concussions, back, knee, and quad injuries throughout the duration of his nine-year career. He experiences “mood swings” and currently does “brain exercises” to help combat against the damages from head injuries that affect his mental health (Chiari 2019). This information is very disturbing as Gronkowski was a fan favorite while he was in the league. To see a superstar athlete like Gronkowski share the troubling effects of playing football is very concerning as many young athletes idolize him. 

     Chris Borland was one of the first NFL players to retire early due to concerns of his mental health after football. He only played one year at the NFL level but quickly made his impact achieving All-Rookie Honors. Borland suffered two diagnosed concussions during his athletic career but claims to have suffered an alarming 13 more concussions that he chose not to officially report. After he retired, he initially felt hopeless as he explained, “I would oscillate between feeling trapped and feeling aimless… I had opportunities walking away, but didn’t know what I wanted to do” (Jones 2018). This is a feeling that most NFL athletes have once they retire as they have an identity crisis between being an NFL athlete and struggling to find something that gives them the same drive and feeling that football once gave them. Chris Borland currently works with the After The Impact Fund to help former NFL players and military veterans who suffer from traumatic injuries. His surprising retirement still impacts the NFL as current players seek him out for advice on how to deal with life after brain injuries.

     The most recent and shocking NFL announcement is the retirement of Quarterback Andrew Luck. He was a four-time Pro Bowler and was the 1st overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. He announced his retirement at 29 years old during a press conference after a preseason game. He suffered numerous injuries and went through long and brutal rehabilitation processes  in order to get healthy. These injuries impacted him greatly as he mentioned an “Cycle of injury, pain, rehab;injury, pain, rehab… I haven’t been able to live the life I want.” Luck states, “I made a vow to myself that I would not go down that path again. I find myself in a similar situation. The only way forward for me is remove myself from football and this cycle that I’ve been in. I made a vow to myself that if I ever did again, I would choose me in this sense” (Haislop 2019). It is heartbreaking to see Luck in this emotional state as he was mentally worn down from playing football and clearly not happy playing the sport he once loved. He realized that his physical and mental health are more important than money or a continued career in a profession in which he no longer desired to be in. 

     We believe that this trend of NFL athletes retiring early is only going to increase. New technology and awareness of mental health is going to continue to expand throughout the sports industry. Teenage athletes should have their mental health as a top priority in life. All athletes in sports go through something similar to the aforementioned superstars. It is extremely vital to be cautious about your body and health, especially when playing sports frequently. All sports have some sort of risks as you are going to be physically and mentally tested. Teenage athletes should not have to deal with some of these problems that these particular athletes are going through. Sports such as football may be fun but is it really worth harming your health? It is best to use your head just like these former football athletes. 

References: 

Chiari, M, ( August,2019).Rob Gronkowski Reveals He Had Liquid in His Head, Mood Swings Due to NFL Career. Bleacher Report. Retrieved September , 2019

from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2851564-rob-gronkowski-reveals-he-had-liquid-in-his-head-mood-swings-due-to-nfl-career

Haislop, T, ( August,2019).Why did Andrew Luck retire? Colts QB explains decision to end NFL career. Sporting News. Retrieved September , 2019

from https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/why-did-andrew-luck-retire-colts-qb/1nta6urevjrpi1p4wm8dy4pops

Jones, M, ( April,2018).After leaving San Francisco 49ers after one season to protect his health, Chris Borland isn't looking back. USA Today. Retrieved September , 2019

from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/04/20/chris-borland-not-looking-back-health-concussions-49-ers/534902002/

Pictures:

"https://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/003/825/686/hi-res-b2d667c3a8bb72d9926433e6c609cabd_crop_north.jpg?1567095434&w=3072&h=2048"

"https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/styles/adaptive/public/images/2017/10/csd-borland-for-web.jpg?itok=Rn4dy55s"

"https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/ap-colts-luck-football.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1"

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Thinksports brings awareness to the mental health issues surrounding the sports industry! We are here to educate, inform, and prepare you for a long healthy future! Want to know more? Follow us!