Athletes are most known and appreciated for their prowess and health in their sport, but the health of their minds often goes unmentioned.
The nature of athletics adds varying factors to athletes’ mental health. While athletics creates extra stress, the structure and rhythm of athletics also help relieve stress.
Nursing major Johanna Brown, a junior on the Seattle Pacific University women’s track and field team, notes this ambivalent effect.
“There’s a lot of added pressure and a lot of time commitment with running,” Brown said. “But it also really helps me balance my school stress with having designated times every day where I’m going and spending time with people and working hard and just kind of clearing my mind of all the other stuff.”
Kyle Luttinen, a graduate data analytics student and forward for the SPU men’s basketball team, echoes many of Brown’s thoughts about pressure and structure.
“I think it helps in some sense because you have a good balance between school and athletics,” Luttinen said. “You get into a nice routine, but there’s also stuff that can take a toll on it. You’re in that same routine, doing a lot of the same things every day.”
Luttinen also mentioned that he makes sure to take the time to recharge.
“It’s good to be very focused on working hard on your basketball, athletic and academic aspirations, but there’s also a time that you need to turn that part of your brain off and be able to have that second side of your life,” Luttinen said. “I go play some golf and get outside, that helps me. I go hang out with my friends and watch sporting events that aren’t basketball and just talk about things that don’t have to do with it.”
Similar to Luttinen, Gabe Endresen, a junior history major on the men’s track and field team, notes the importance of taking breaks, especially at a time when coaching shakeups and general uncertainty in the track team negatively impacted his mental health.
“Sometimes I just take a break from everything and do whatever I can to make myself happy, whether that’s listening to music or writing my stories,” Endresen said.
Every athlete’s experience with mental health is different. It can be affected by the sport that they play, their own experiences and a multitude of other factors.
Brittan Dalberg, a sophomore exercise science major on SPU’s rowing team, notes that the nature of training for rowing gives the team a mental health challenge. Namely, rowers spend a lot of time looking at rowing machines.
“We spend a lot of time on the rowing machine, which can cause a lot of mental blocks,” Dalberg said. “I struggled with having the instant gratification of the time right in front of me, which then took a toll a little bit on mental health.”
Meanwhile, Luttinen, who was on the University of Washington men’s basketball team last year, notes the effect that differences in expectation between playing in a Division I school versus a Division II school have on his mental health.
“At UW, there’s a little bit more pressure and stuff on social media. You’re seeing a lot more people and money involved. Being at SPU, it’s refreshing that it’s more just a basketball sense,” Luttinen said. “I think just the main thing at both places is you gotta find that balance.”
For Brown, the individual and objective nature of track presents a unique challenge, as the team takes second place to the athlete.
“A big thing for me is the performance anxiety of a very objective sport. You have a time and you’re trying to beat that time,” Brown said. “It is a team, but your time only depends on you. So, I think I’ve gotten really nervous before meets, like trying to PR every time.”
To resolve her concerns, Brown takes solace in her faith as a way to anchor herself, steady her mind and broaden her perspective. This keeps her from succumbing to mentally draining tunnel vision.
“I think something that’s really helped me is realizing, especially with my faith as a Christian, not putting my worth in my time but running from a place of already being valuable,” Brown said.
With all the stress and pressure inflicted on an athlete’s mental health, there is just as much serenity given to them as well. Despite the toll rowing takes on her, Dalberg has seen her mental health improve in great proportion.
“It’s the most beautiful thing, just being out there in the morning and seeing the sunrise,” Dalberg stated. “In that aspect of it, my mental health improved immensely.”
