Shifting Focus: Youth Sports and Mental Health

“Nice height, we’ll give it a good try.”

That is what the head AAU volleyball coach wrote on my acceptance letter in 7th grade after getting cut from the team the year before. I didn’t care that I made the weakest team; I was grateful to be a part of it. Over the next several years, wonderful coaches gave me plenty of positive attention so I could reach my potential as an athlete. I went on to have a wonderful athletic experience and career at Dordt University. My confidence, self-esteem, work ethic, and leadership capacities were developed through my engagement in youth sports, and for the people that invested in me, I am forever grateful.

Involvement in organized team sports has been well studied and shown to improve emotional and physical self-esteem, respect for one’s body, and improve overall happiness (Collins et al., 2018). Additionally, consistent involvement in aerobic and anaerobic activities provides a child’s developing nervous systems with essential input for their mental health for years to come.

Still, parents and coaches are seeing an increase in the propensity for youth to experience mental health challenges. As we consider the role sports plays in our the lives and development of our youth, here are a few thoughts that might explain this shift:

1. Youth sports are different now.

There are several apparent differences in the ways that developing athletes and the newest “Alpha” cohort experience sports compared to their millennial counterparts. Elite clubs and sports teams have surfaced even in rural areas, pressuring rigorous involvement from athletes and their families. Coaches now identify talent and possible recruits as early as 8th grade, and social media perpetuates the potential optics that an athlete receives throughout his/her career. Gone are the days when an athlete can have a bad game that is forgotten after the newspaper publishes new content the following week. Parents, athletes, coaches, and programs now share pictures, clips, and full video footage of games that may be retrieved and re-lived for years to come. Likes, comments, or sharing from a critical fan or bitter opponent can all be viewed by the athlete and his/her family.

In a world where kids and teens are seeking affirmation and inclusion, this can be a challenging environment to grow in.

2. Neurological Changes

In pre-adolescents and adolescents, athletes go through a neurological experience called pruning. This is when the brain eliminates unused neural connections and strengthens pathways with those connections it deems as essential. For example, athletes may attribute positive feelings to performing and the affirmations they receive thereafter, creating a propensity to achieve and perform throughout life. This pruning process ultimately shapes the core beliefs, habits, and even the emotional regulation they maintain for years to come. The trimming that the brain naturally undergoes during this time requires rest and recovery. Too much intense training and stress can interrupt the pruning process, impair sleep, and damage the nervous system.

3. Specialization

Athletes are pressured to specialize in a sport early on despite the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete. Multi-sport athletes generally demonstrate better overall coordination, mobility, and hand-eye coordination. They are less likely to burn out and have better overall sport IQs. Early sports specialization is uncommon among team sport athletes in D1 institutions (Swindell et al., 2019).

Because of the overuse and repetition involved in sports, in addition to burnout, single sport athletes tend to experience more injuries. A study done in 2020 of female athletes ages 7-18 concluded that athletes that specialized were significantly more likely to experience injuries compared to less specialized athletes (Jayanthi et al., 2020).

4. Setbacks

Injury is often inevitable at some point in an athlete’s career. As a mental health therapist, I have seen several instances when athletes become injured or concussed, causing immediate and sometimes long-term disengagement from the rhythms and routines that once shaped their sense of self. This disconnection combined with plummeted dopamine and serotonin levels can lead to depression and anxiety. Proper shaping and perspective are essential from parents, coaches, and mentors as athletes understand the full scope of their identity, with sports only being a part of it. This should start well before injury occurs.

5. Stigma

Athletes typically hold core beliefs involving the need or desire to perform, push through pain, and succeed. When they experience depression, anxiety, or other mental health symptoms, it can be difficult to ask for help. Although tolerance for stress is typically high for athletes, everyone has a breaking point which can cause significant impairment in social, academic, athletic, or personal situations. These setbacks should be addressed in consultation with mental health professionals that can address underlying trauma and negative core beliefs.

6. Growth Mindset

In Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset, The New Psychology of Success, she urges her readers to adopt a growth mindset as opposed to fixed. The growth mindset encompasses the idea that our abilities, talents, and intelligence have the potential to be developed. What’s difficult for many Gen Z athletes (and sometimes their parents) to understand is that failure, not success, provides defining opportunities for growth. Perfection is impossible and failure is inevitable. Creating a culture of learning from mistakes and continuously challenging oneself socially, physically, spiritually, ultimately provides youth with the self-esteem that they need to be resilient during challenging times.

Ultimately, athletes should be encouraged to develop their identity holistically. They are athletes, but they are first and foremost children of the King. Their fate in life does not depend on the outcome of their tournament, the extent of offers they receive, or how many records they hold.

As parents evaluate the role sports plays in the lives of their child it may be valuable to ask some defining questions. What is the intended outcome of having my child involved in sports? Does he/she truly enjoy it? Does my child understand that the gifts that he/she has are for the sole purpose of glorifying God and building relationships with others? Is my child adequately stewarding the gifts God has given him/her?

Lastly, sports are meant to be fun. Let’s keep it that way.