{"id":91811,"date":"2020-09-01T17:35:32","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T22:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=91811"},"modified":"2020-09-01T17:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T22:35:32","slug":"pandemic-amplifies-mental-health-struggles-in-already-vulnerable-young-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/pandemic-amplifies-mental-health-struggles-in-already-vulnerable-young-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic amplifies mental health struggles in already vulnerable young athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dan Moberger<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

At 5:30 p.m. on a muggy Tuesday in mid-July, parents dropped off their teenage daughters at Fleet Fields, a parking lot converted to basketball courts in Chicago\u2019s Bucktown neighborhood. Flanked by industrial-looking brick buildings on three sides, the blacktop has afforded an attractive, open-air training grounds for Flow Basketball Academy during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The thermometer read 83 degrees when practice began, and sparse, wispy clouds decorated the otherwise clear blue sky, leaving the sun an unimpeded lane to the young athletes. Not long after coach and co-owner Korie Hlede started running the team through drills, sweat beaded up on the brows and arms of players. None of them wore a mask.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

An hour later, most of these players climbed back into the passenger seats of their parents\u2019 cars, their still-heavy breaths circulating near a loved one. They did it and continued to do it throughout the summer because a key part of their lives vanished from March to June, and they were desperate to get it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my teammates have hoops in their alleys, but I don\u2019t have an alley,\u201d said Charlotte O\u2019Toole, a rising high school senior who plays on the 17U Flow team. \u201cI literally could not shoot for two months, which was really, really hard and so discouraging for my mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel like you\u2019re losing something.\u201d<\/p>\n

High school and college athletes already battle a range of stress factors: extreme pressure to succeed, improving but still insufficient mental health awareness, inadequate and underutilized counseling, and sports-centric personalities that don\u2019t allow for an identity without athletics. Now, because of inactivity and infrequent social interaction and separation from the sports they love, the pandemic has exacerbated those mental health issues and exposed flaws in the way they are treated.<\/p>\n

The country already wrestles with a mental health crisis. Adolescents are particularly at risk for a major depression episode\u2014characterized by two or more weeks of depressive symptoms. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found an estimated 3.2 million, or 13.3% of, Americans aged 12 to 17 in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode in 2017.<\/p>\n

Then, throughout May, a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health surveyed 3,243 adolescent athletes to study the effects school closures and sports cancelations had on participants. Compared to historical data, the findings showed an increase in symptoms of depression.<\/p>\n

\"Wisconsin<\/p>\n

The study also found decreases in physical, psychosocial and overall health. Dr. Tim McGuine and his research team determined the decline in quality of life had to be, in part, due to the lack of sports and sports-related social interactions.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cSports is a great way to form an identity, although there are a lot of pitfalls with that,\u201d said Dr. John Mayer, a Chicago-based psychologist and president of the International Sports Professionals Association.<\/p>\n

Mayer said athletes are lost without sports. Many develop substance abuse, among other unhealthy coping mechanisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see that in these adults who are populating the stands,\u201d Mayer said. \u201cThey\u2019re 50 years old, and they\u2019re wearing their letterman jacket from when they were in high school. That identity is still in them and sometimes never supplanted by another identity, which is really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Jayne Raquepaw, a Houston-based psychologist who specializes in treating athletes, said some patients pay her $175-per-hour fee because they\u2019re not enjoying their sport anymore but are too invested to give it up. The pressure of earning a scholarship adversely affects their enjoyment of the game, and the pandemic only worsened the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are still vying for scholarships in spite of play being shut down,\u201d Raquepaw said. \u201cThey are still very much concerned about their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flow athletes traveled to tournaments throughout the summer. At one in Indianapolis in early July, their first tournament back since reopening, parents and players ignored mask and distancing mandates, according to several Flow players. Despite concern over that lack of adherence to safety protocols, Flow participated in multiple tournaments this summer.<\/p>\n

\"Flow
Rising sophomore Ella Glascott looks to pass during a Flow Academy practice on July 14. (Dan Moberger\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicole Mann, mother of Natalie Mann, a rising senior on the Flow 17U team, called the tournaments \u201cnerve-racking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball is a passion for her, so we\u2019re willing to take that risk,\u201d Nicole said. \u201cWe\u2019re being pretty careful in most other areas of our life. We\u2019re choosing to take a risk in that one because it\u2019s a high priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Levin, a Massachusetts-based life coach who works with teams and individual athletes, said \u201cpressure\u201d does not properly describe what many young athletes feel. He uses the phrase \u201coutcome fever.\u201d Counting NCAA and junior college athletes, approximately 6.7% of high school athletes go on to play in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have tutors by the time you\u2019re 12, and your parents have selected the sport you\u2019re going to be great at,\u201d said Levin, a former clinical social worker and therapist. \u201cIt\u2019s very important in the new parenting playbook that you are great at stuff, so gone is the age-old opportunity to find out who you really are and pursue what you really want as a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

A parent of one of Raquepaw\u2019s patients, a junior in high school, physically chased down a recruiter during a basketball game last winter. She said the patient was distressed by the pressure, as well as the embarrassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain parents who are just over-the-top overbearing,\u201d Raquepaw said. \u201cThere are still parents out there who do put too much pressure on [their children].\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the blame, according to Raquepaw, also falls on coaches, but she acknowledged coaches may not have time to balance individual players\u2019 psyches and putting together a winning squad.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of every season, Robert Brost, boys basketball coach at Bolingbrook High School in suburban Chicago, said he tries to ease pressure on his players during a meeting with their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone lost their minds when we lost two in a row,\u201d said Brost, whose squad went 26-6 last season. \u201cI always say, \u2018We are going to lose some games that we shouldn\u2019t. We\u2019re going to play bad sometimes. Your kid is going to have games where he scores 25, and he\u2019s going to have games where he scores 0, so you\u2019ve got to be ready for all of those, and then you\u2019ve got to love him just the same.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Brost said his coaching style has evolved in recent years. He now schedules one-on-one meetings, with both athletes and parents, that focus on academics and personal issues, not just basketball. During the pandemic, Brost has remained in touch with players, but said Zoom calls do not encourage the same emotional sharing that he elicits in person. He also acknowledged a lack of mental health training for high school coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have to take psychology of sport, but those are more about motivating athletes and getting them to do what you want them to do, rather than dealing with the issues that they have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Required training for coaches differs around the country. The National Federation of State High School Associations offers certification programs, but they are not always required, and none of the course topics are specific to mental health, although there is a subsection on \u201chealth and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without extensive mental health training for coaches, the burden falls on school psychologists and counselors. According to 2016 research by the University of New Hampshire\u2019s Carson School of Public Policy, less than 20% percent of school districts meet the American School Counselor Association\u2019s recommended student-to-counselor ratio. The recommendation is 250:1, but the nationwide median ratio is 411:1.<\/p>\n

John Morrissey, baseball coach at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, said his son Owen struggled during his freshman season on the team, which resulted in anxiety and depression. Morrissey hired Levin to work with Owen, then later to work with the whole team. Levin piloted one in-person group session before the pandemic forced the consultations online. The team lost its season.<\/p>\n

Parents of many Middlesex students hire counselors or psychologists because the school only employs one counselor for 400 students, according to Morrissey. For students who can\u2019t afford a private school like Middlesex, where tuition costs $65,940 a year for boarding students, life coach or psychologist rates may not fit into the budget.<\/p>\n

At Evanston (Ill.) Township High School, Joyce Anderson has a unique job title: college-bound student-athlete advisor. She said she has not seen her job description in any other high school in the country. Anderson works with Evanston\u2019s counselors to help ensure student-athletes are eligible for college sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis happens all around the country: a kid works really hard, gets an A and then finds out that [a certain] class didn\u2019t count for NCAA eligibility,\u201d said Anderson, a former Division I tennis player at Columbia. \u201cI think of that as a big mental health problem. You were recruited for athletic ability, but then you were told that you basically weren\u2019t smart enough to be a college athlete, which is horrifying, and it\u2019s not the truth. All kids can achieve academic eligibility. It\u2019s not an insane threshold, it\u2019s just complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

She estimated 25 Evanston students each year played college sports before the school created her position six years ago. Since then, that number hovers around 50 or 60.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools at all levels, all the way through college, really do a weak job of attending to the mental health needs of kids,\u201d Mayer said. \u201cNow, you have the stigma of mental health within sports, and you have a double whammy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, that stigma could have meant the difference between an athlete seeking help and trying to tough out their mental health concern. Now, the convenience of walking into a counselor\u2019s office is gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always feel like if I were to go in there [or set up a remote meeting], I\u2019d be like taking up their time,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cIt\u2019s not worth it when there are so many other people having so many bigger problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brost, whose program has produced high-level college players and a recent NBA player in Ben Moore, said he sees a reluctance in athletes to seek counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a stigma behind athletes being tough,\u201d Brost said. \u201cThat stigma is hard to fight, even though you have Kevin Love coming out and being a great ambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love, an NBA champion and five-time All-Star forward, wrote a story for The Players\u2019 Tribune in March 2018, detailing his mental health struggles. In June, the Cleveland Cavalier won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs for raising awareness of mental health issues. Other high-profile athletes, including fellow NBA star DeMar DeRozan, have also publicly shared their struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy sharing what he shared, DeMar probably helped some people \u2014 and maybe a lot more people than we know \u2014 feel like they aren\u2019t crazy or weird to be struggling with depression,\u201d Love wrote in that article. \u201cHis comments helped take some power away from that stigma, and I think that\u2019s where the hope is.\u201d<\/p>\n

A panic attack during a November 2017 game prompted Love to begin seeing a therapist. The American Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates 6.8 million adults in the U.S. suffer from generalized anxiety disorder, yet less than half of them receive treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids aren\u2019t necessarily presented an opportunity of how to help themselves and talk about it, then they won\u2019t necessarily go out of their way to figure it out or find someone to talk to,\u201d said Patrick Burke, a rising sophomore at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.<\/p>\n

Burke worked on awareness campaigns while attending Mount Mansfield Union High School in Jericho, Vermont, where he played football, baseball, hockey and a season of lacrosse. In the fall of 2018, a group that included Burke organized games to bring awareness and raise money for mental health initiatives. Just before the games, MMU lost a student to the very thing those games were supposed to prevent. Just after MMU went remote in March, another student committed suicide.<\/p>\n

After the first student\u2019s death, MMU intensified its aggressive awareness campaigns, which resulted in more students being open to regular visits with counselors, according to David Marlow, the school\u2019s director of student activities. He said MMU is working to hire two more counselors to handle the caseload.<\/p>\n

\"MMUHS\"
One of Mount Mansfield Union High School’s mental health awareness signs hangs on the back of bleachers. (David Marlow\/MMUHS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his Players\u2019 Tribune article, Love wrote: \u201cCreating a better environment for talking about mental health \u2026 that\u2019s where we need to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel Divis said awareness of mental health has improved in recent years, in part because of athletes like Love. A former hockey player at Saint Michael\u2019s College in Colchester, Vermont, Divis\u2019 own mental health struggles prompted him to cofound the awareness group Hope Happens Here in 2015 with teammate Justin McKenzie, whose friend committed suicide that summer. Divis said the responsibility also falls on athletes who are more relatable to younger demographics, which is why Hope Happens Here connects college players to high schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessional athletes who have millions of followers are doing really, really good things for mental health awareness,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving gone through even what I did and knowing others go through much worse, I think it feels right and is almost a duty to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Divis\u2019 sister plays lacrosse at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. He said she\u2019s nervous about missing her senior season next spring if sports are still on hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has relationships, friendships,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something she\u2019s been working toward for a long time. I know that she\u2019s struggling, and I know that I\u2019d be feeling the exact same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

One sector of athletes that the University of Wisconsin study did not focus on was those who benefited from the time off. Just as sports mitigate stress for young athletes, they can also be a cause of anxiety and depression, according to Mayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have kids who are nervous and having self-esteem issues with sports,\u201d he said, \u201csome of the kids are relieved because their teams aren\u2019t participating. It\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, I don\u2019t have to deal with a lot of this emotional turmoil that comes with playing a sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The existence of this group supports the argument that young athletes need to diversify their identities, according to Dave Landers, a retired professor of psychology and gender studies at Saint Michael\u2019s College. Landers, who helped create Hope Happens Here, said Divis\u2019 and McKenzie\u2019s outside interests\u2014Divis\u2019 interest in law and McKenzie\u2019s in software engineering\u2014were integral to their identities and helped them once they left behind college athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get out of middle school and in high school, there\u2019s stuff in the newspaper featuring you in athletics\u2014not as a student, not as a son or a daughter or a best friend or someone who does volunteer work,\u201d said Landers, who was also the school\u2019s representative to the NCAA. \u201cIt\u2019s all around you as an athlete. If you lose that because of an injury, or you lose that because of graduation, or you lose that because of coronavirus, what do you turn to?\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the long-term psychological effects of missing athletic seasons and months of school won\u2019t be known for years, the short-term effects shown in the University of Wisconsin study can be factored in during reopening risk assessments, McGuine said.<\/p>\n

\"Flow
Charlotte O\u2019Toole, left, rushes to defend Ella Glascott during Flow Academy\u2019s July 14 practice at Fleet Fields. (Dan Moberger\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of weighing her own decision to sit and be safer or play and risk COVID-19, O\u2019Toole said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to harm people in any way, but I feel like we\u2019re careful. Sort of. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reluctance to stay off the court, diamond or field, even with the added risk, shows sports\u2019 influence on mental health, mistreatment and misunderstanding of which is a pandemic in its own right, especially now in the wake of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I go to my friends who aren\u2019t playing basketball, I\u2019m the one who\u2019s bringing that risk,\u201d Glascott said. \u201c(My mother) thought that was kind of disrespectful, but she does understand that basketball is super important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Players on the 17U Flow Academy AAU basketball team practice at Fleet Fields in Bucktown on July 14. Flow suspended play from mid-March to late June because of the pandemic but resumed upon Phase 4 reopening and participated in several tournaments this summer. (Dan Moberger\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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