Will 2022 be the Year We Prioritize Athletes’ Mental Health?
As fans, we often overlook the human side of elite athletes and limit them to the expectations of a high-performance machine. Recently, a number of high-profile athletes have made their personal experiences part of the public discourse, challenging us to expand our one-dimensional viewpoint. Naomi Osaka was one of the first elite athletes to discuss her mental health struggles publicly. When she withdrew from the French Open, having dealt with depression for the previous three years, her announcement ignited a flurry of public conversations about this important topic. Simone Biles then intensified the spotlight on mental health challenges and elite performance when she withdrew from competition halfway through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Despite her personal struggles, Biles remained at the Games, and the world witnessed her unwavering support for her teammates throughout the competition. Lyndsey Vonn, the most decorated skier of all time and a personal idol of mine, recently described her 18-year struggle with depression in sport which included almost two decades of dealing with parental divorce, her own divorce, and countless injuries and setbacks.
It is not all bad news, though. The 2022 Winter Olympics seem to be the harbinger of a fresh attitude towards safeguarding athletes’ mental health. Alex Cohen, the senior sports psychologist of Team USA, announced that mental health is the key focus of this year’s Olympics. The US team will have access to group therapy, counseling, support helplines, and apps designed to support them. This effort aims to change the assumption that athletes must be at the point of breakdown and personal crisis to perform at the highest level.
Team USA’s 2022 initiatives exemplify the change the entire sports community has needed for a long time. When top athletes like Osaka, Biles, Vonn – and many others throughout the years – open the forum for discussion of critical mental health issues, it shows young athletes that it’s ok to talk about their own mental health struggles and it’s ok to take a step back from the competition when their personal wellbeing is at stake. As a result of this paradigm shift, Team USA has responded to their athletes’ mental health needs with world-class support.
However, let us remember that the world of sports does not end with the Olympics. Millions of young people and amateur athletes spend hours globally training, practicing, and competing each day. They deserve to benefit from this change, too. Let’s hope that this shift in safeguarding mental health will also reach local clubs, developing countries, and non-professional athletes, who must balance a litany of personal responsibilities and sporting ones. We need to build an open-discussion community of coaches skilled at talking to athletes about mental health and who can provide high-level support or be great listeners when needed. We must help athletes build resilience and develop healthy mindsets as a community. Our goal for 2022 (and beyond) should be injury-free physical and mental health at all levels of sport.
We also believe that taking better care of athletes’ mental health requires participation from the entire sporting community. To support that endeavor, we have developed evidence-based, self-paced online training courses to equip coaches from all backgrounds with the tools to help athletes, students, and clients cope with high-pressure situations and environments. We understand the importance of mental health for everyone and have designed the course to help people thrive in high-performance sports, excel in multinational corporations, sit for exams – and simply navigate day-to-day life more effectively. We aim for course graduates to become experts at using our specialized coaching techniques to empower their clients to manage stressors, cope with setbacks, and remain motivated to achieve their goals.
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