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Mental Health Awareness Month is in May, therefore talks about it are typically through that month, but this June and July, it seems like mental health is subtly making headlines in the sports industry. Though it is making headlines and being talked about, it is not nearly getting as much understanding as it should – and that is a huge issue.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought light to the importance of taking care of your mental health, however, as an athlete, it seems as though there is still a taboo. Piling on the everyday pressures and requirements of a professional athlete is enough to make them feel mentally unhealthy, but when you add a pandemic, it seems impossible to get the help they deserve.
To understand the importance of mental health, especially when it comes to professional athletes, we need to understand the facts and figures that support this case. According to a study conducted by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, anxiety and depression are prevalent in 34% of current elite athletes and 26% of former elite athletes. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) found that 23.7% of college athletes experienced significant depressive symptoms and 6.3% have moderate to severe depression symptoms.
We grew up watching athletes like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, and Shaun White, and idolized them because they are some of the best players in their respective leagues. But when our society looks at any famous figure, whether a pro athlete or a Grammy award-winning musician, we tend to forget that these people are still human. We tend to forget that they feel emotions – like us – and therefore think they can take hateful comments, the pressures of games, and the requirements of their agents. But that is not the case.
Naomi Osaka. Sha’Carri Richardson. Richard Sherman. These names have been in the news lately for something related to their mental health, but they only got minimal support – and not from the media.
Naomi Osaka, a No. 2-ranked, four-time Grand Slam tennis winner, withdrew from the French Open after discussing on social media that she suffered from bouts of depression since 2018, alluding to how pressuring press conferences contributed to her declining mental health. For these reasons, she was fined $15,000 and threatened with suspension her decision to not participate with the media at the French Open.
Sha’Carri Richardson, the professional sprinter who won the women’s 100-meter race at the U.S. track and field trials securing her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics later this month, was suspended from doing so because she tested positive for marijuana. In an interview with NBC, Richardson spoke about why she used marijuana – as a coping mechanism for the unexpected death of her biological mother. If this is not enough making one grief deeply, Richardson mentioned that she learned about her mother’s passing from a reporter during an interview. This can absolutely be triggering, and that is just the surface of her emotions and possible depressive symptoms.
And in the last few days, we have heard about Richard Sherman, free agent cornerback in the NFL, who was arrested on suspicion of burglary domestic violence, among other charges, after crashing his SUV, attempting to break into his in-laws’ home, and fought with police officers. Richardson was also intoxicated and threatened to kill himself at the time. This should have raised a major red flag, and as the story unfolds, I hope he can get help from this situation. There is an underlying issue going on with Sherman that led to these actions, but there already is not enough discussion about his mental health and why this happened.
Something that is common in all three of these stories is the lack of support from the media and lack of understanding from the organizations these athletes are apart of. Yes, to a certain degree in each of these stories, rules were broken. But are rules and regulations far more important than a person’s mental health? These athletes – and countless other elite athletes who suffer from mental health-related issues – oftentimes receive very minimal support, though they are earning immense amounts of money and engagement for their respective organizations.
It must be up to us to make the changes needed to get professional athletes’ voices heard and hold organizations accountable for penalizing athletes for taking care of their mental well-being.
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