Column by Christion Stokes

stokesc@findlay.edu

As a current student athlete myself, I’ve been on both sides of the coin dealing with internal battles and seeing teammates suffer in silence as well. A student athlete’s mental health is often overshadowed due to the amount of publicity and praises they are given after good performances. Unfortunately, it isn’t all sunshine.

An athlete’s mental health is tested every time they enter a practice or a game due to their own expectations, the expectations from their coaches and teammates, playing time, etc. Student athletes juggle so much between school, athletics, social life, sometimes work, and at home issues as well. Athletes are human too and are bound to go through some type of mental block and struggle just like everyone else.

I talked with some of University of Findlay student athletes to allow them to share some of their stories and how they’ve had to bounce back from dealing with such struggles. Junior Volleyball player Bria Lomax  explains that mental health within the student athlete population isn’t talked about enough.

“As we all know as athletes, it can affect your game,” Lomax said. “Coaches don’t emphasize it enough, and players aren’t willing to talk about it openly.” Lomax explained how she also would use volleyball to destress, but sometimes volleyball would become the stressor.

“There’s always one day every two to three weeks where you have that super off day,” Lomax said. She remembers one game specifically where it felt like one of those really bad days for her. It was in the NCAA regional semifinal against Grand Valley State.

“I didn’t make a lot of errors, I just didn’t do much in the offensive aspect,” she said. “I know I’m not hitting well, but everyone around me is doing so much, so I’m going to contribute where I can.” Lomax continued to rely on her teammates to get her through that tough time and was able to persevere through the “bad game” she was having.

Senior running back Jayden Farmer of the UF football team also agreed that mental health for athletes isn’t talkedabout enough.

“Mental health is something we should definitely put first when it comes to athletes,” Farmer said. His own mental health was tested when he tore his labrum twice.

“The first one I had never been seriously injured in my life,” Farmer said. “It really just felt like the end of the world.”

Throughout his time at Findlay, Farmer says they have not had a sports psychologist on staff to talk to. The University does offer Counseling Services as well as TimelyCare telehealth counseling.

“Not a lot of them are athletes, they don’t really understand what an athlete goes through daily,” Farmer said.

Farmer lost someone close to him, another athlete, due to mental health issues.

“He (high school friend) was out in California playing ball and when he came back (to where), they found him in his car,” Farmer said. That loss pushed him to pursue a new career goal. He hopes he can provide mental health support for other athletes someday.

“I’m getting my masters in sports psychology so I can help those athletes that need to talk to somebody,” Farmer said.

If we truly value student athletes, then we must value their mental health as much as their physical performance. It’s time to cheer just as loudly for courage in asking for help as we do for winning points on the scoreboard.

*Christion Stokes is a senior journalism/digital media major and defensive back on the University of Findlay football team.