When an athlete is asked how they’re doing, they’ll more than likely say they’re doing fine. Athletes are supposed to say that. We’re not supposed to have any weaknesses because weakness shows a sign of imperfection. The standard an athlete sets for his or herself has to be met and that set standard has to be met through nothing short of perfection.
“Everyone has flaws. Athletes just aren’t allowed to show them.”
However, the idea that athletes don’t have weaknesses couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone has flaws. Athletes just aren’t allowed to show them. This standard for an athlete isn’t set by anyone but the athletes themselves. We hold ourselves to this ideal of excellence because we convince ourselves that we need to be faultless in everything we do. On days when it’s hardest to be perfect, mental health is put to the test. As for myself, mental health was never something I took into consideration until I came to college.
“When we don’t perform to the set standard, it means failure.”
I’ve been playing sports for as long as I can remember. From football to baseball, track to wrestling, the athletic mindset is something that was molded into me from a young age. The standard of perfection is nothing new to me, but I’ve found the pressure that comes along with the standard impacts more than just athletic ability.
An athlete’s worlds blend. I’ve come to discover that a practice or game affects the other aspects of my life. For me, a bad morning practice means a bad day. And it’s the same for so many other athletes. It’s the mindset of a competitor; someone who strives to be greater than they were the day before. When we don’t perform to the set standard, it means failure - you are a failure. It sounds a bit dramatic, but the pressure athletes put on themselves is intense and dramatic as well. This pressure was omnipresent while I was growing up, but until I attended a university where athletics are valued so highly, I was unaware of how greatly it affected my mental health.
"I could no longer 'be the standard' because I felt that I couldn’t do my part on the team. "
I became aware of how football affected my mental health after football was taken out of my life due to a knee surgery. During only my second practice as a college football player, everything changed after an injury that would alter my perspective on my life as an athlete. Recovering from a surgery is something I had never done until that point in my life. I never knew how difficult it could be. Having to deal with a new school, physical therapy, and COVID all at once put a major burden on my mental health.
I could no longer “be the standard” because I felt that I couldn’t do my part on the team. I felt insignificant and fruitless to my peers and coaches. As a male athlete, I felt that these problems of mental health I was facing didn’t matter; that I needed to face them on my own because that’s what a man does. “It doesn’t matter, get better” is something I’ve heard many times in my sports career, and while this phrase has good meaning to it, it also has a negative impact on my mental health.
“When you push your mental health aside, there becomes a constant war in your head.”
This saying that I’ve heard so many times - “It doesn’t matter, get better” - is a good one when it comes to forgetting about what you’ve done: your wins, your losses, your mistakes, and focus on what’s next: the next rep, the next day, the next game. But when you apply the saying to your mental health, you find yourself thinking that it doesn’t matter. You find yourself saying “my mental health doesn’t matter, I just need to get better”. When you push your mental health aside, there becomes a constant war in your head. You begin to let every small negative detail affect your day.
“But we forget that we are more than just athletes. We are human.”
One bad morning practice means that the rest of your day is ruined. As athletes, we let our sport define who we are. But we forget that we are more than just athletes. We are human. Our identity goes further than the sport we play. We might not always be perfect, but we strive to be the standard on and off the field. And that’s what makes us athletes.
I n this strive for being perfect we must remind ourselves that our purpose is more than just our performance on the field. An athlete’s purpose is so much more than their role on the field. We are more than a bad practice. More than an injury. More than an athlete.