Hayden Holland knows pressure. As a North Oconee High School volleyball player, she feels the weight of expectations and the time demanded of her.
“I think it’s so looked down upon in sports; people don’t understand mental health is a big part of sports,” Holland said.
Just so much to do all the time, so much expected of you — all the time.”
Sports and physical activities have long been used to promote mental health and wellness, but the stress of training and competition can put athletes at risk of anxiety, depression, stress, disordered eating, fatigue and other harmful conditions.
In recent years, both professional and collegiate athletes have spoken out about mental health struggles. Colleges have taken a public stance and integrated psychologists into sports teams, but high schools have consistently fallen short in this area. However, this October, the Georgia Psychological Foundation decided to start initiatives that address mental health concerns among high school student athletes by assessing needs in high schools across the state.
Kip Matthews, sports psychologist on the Georgia Psychological Foundation board, is heading up this program to bring change to high schools in Georgia.
“If we can help people address mental health concerns before it becomes problematic, then it’s just going to be so much more effective in having people live happier, more peaceful kind of lives,” Matthews said.
In most high school athletic programs, the conversation around mental health is not openly welcomed. University of Georgia volleyball player Tori Harper described the shift in culture around mental health from high school to college as game-changing.
I don’t think I really acknowledged that side of the game,” Harper said about her high school career.
“I feel like, like I said, it was often overlooked, so I never really thought that was a part of it. I felt it. I knew it was there, but I never really knew what it was … now, the difference is, it’s that little piece where, it’s like the little extra piece to your puzzle … the piece that connects everything.”
College gave Harper the opportunity to talk to therapists and open up to her teammates, but that missing piece could have been addressed years sooner if resources and education were available to high school athletes, too.
Licensed clinical social worker Leon Banks said education also has to go beyond the athlete. If the schools, sports organizations, athletic directors and parents that surround athletes aren’t educated, no matter how much athletes know, change won’t happen.
Matthews describes the challenge in high school sports as “trying to thread this fine needle between fostering participation in organized sports in the high school, while at the same time helping them not to overemphasize the role of it in their lives to the point that their whole identity is around that of an athlete.”
When discussing his vision for the initiative, Matthews mentioned penetrating booster club meetings to better convey the urgency and need for support directly to the people who fund high school athletics.
He explained that if funding were unlimited, the ideal high school mental health support system would look like that of many universities. Matthews was an intern at the University of Maryland after the death of basketball standout Len Bias and was able to watch as a psychologist entered the realm of athletes and connected with them.
“It kind of created this very casual relationship where if [athletes] happen to step into her office and have a conversation, it wasn’t seen as being that big of a deal,” Matthews said, “and it allowed her to be able to, you know, keep her finger on the kind of pulse of what was kind of going on mental health wise, among the players in the different teams.”
The state of Georgia could have psychologists embedded in its high schools or school systems to create an enduring presence, he said.
Matthews said he also would love to see mandated trainings on topics like eating disorders and substance abuse, all things that the NCAA requires athletic departments to provide for student athletes.
With this initiative in its beginning stages, progress is on the horizon. Matthews is expecting a preliminary meeting with the Georgia Psychological Foundation in the near future to decide on committee members. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been more open about the ways the state of their mental health affects their day-to-day life.
The pandemic “really opened the doors to people seeking out psychological support, pursuing counseling, like never before,” Matthews said.
And as more and more people seek out counseling, it’s becoming less and less stigmatized.”
Holland has been able to lean on her coaches and teammates when she feels overwhelmed, an opportunity not many high school athletes have. Her coach, Taylor Brooks, has opened the conversation around mental health and allowed athletes to express their needs without fear of judgement.
“Coaching is more than just X’s and O’s,” Brooks said. “I think that that’s really important.”
“I think that you can still have high expectations and hold athletes accountable, without, you know, diminishing relationships and respect in your program,” she continued. “And I think a big part of that comes from mental health and kind of knowing that as long as there’s mutual respect and a baseline of understanding of, hey, we’re doing this and I’m holding you accountable to accomplish this task because I know that’s what we can reach. Let me give you the steps to get there.”
Madison Shapiro is a student in the undergraduate certificate program at UGA’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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