Op-Ed: Are youth sports harming our kids’ mental health?
3 years, 8 months ago

Op-Ed: Are youth sports harming our kids’ mental health?

LA Times  

Members of the Brattleboro, Vt., Union High School’s girls’ varsity soccer team practice on Sept. 8, 2020. Evidence suggests that as young people compete more intensely in sports, gains in mental wellness may be replaced by mental health challenges particular to competitive athletics. Supporting psychological well-being in our young athletes feels especially urgent as we emerge from a pandemic that has probably affected everyone’s mental health in some way. Sports medicine experts are just beginning to seriously study the mental health problems that arise in youth sports, but it’s increasingly evident that constant competition, year-round training and injuries can all contribute to anxiety and depression in athletes. While recent research identifies overwork, overtraining and depression as probable causes of youth sports burnout, athlete mental wellness can be supported at home and at practice.

Health Youth Mental Health Athletes Depression Mental Wellness Team Mental Young Anxiety Youth Sports  kids  training  anxiety  team  athletes  youth  depression  oped  competition  health  harming  mental  young

History of this topic

At Paris, the Olympics make space for mental health too
4 months, 4 weeks ago

At Paris, the Olympics make space for mental health too

Hindustan Times  

Paris: Located on the first floor of the fitness centre inside the Athletes Village rests a first-of-its-kind room. That elite athletes, even the unmatched Michael Phelps kind, aren’t immune to mental health issues really came to the fore around the pandemic Games. An IOC Athlete365 survey revealed “that mental health was one of the top priorities for athletes”, Kirsty Burrows, …

Mental health and the Olympics: How the USOPC is preparing for the toll on athletes
5 months ago

Mental health and the Olympics: How the USOPC is preparing for the toll on athletes

New York Times  

Follow our Olympics coverage from the Paris Games. “Sometimes, it feels really anticlimactic.” Despite one of the most successful sporting careers ever, Michael Phelps battled depression and has been outspoken about the need for more mental health care for athletes. Bartley, who has worked with the USOPC since it created a mental health task force in 2020, said that her …

How sports elevates academic performance and discipline
1 year ago

How sports elevates academic performance and discipline

India Today  

In today's competitive world, the importance of sports education in schools cannot be overstated. Fostering talent and holistic development - The key benefits of an integrated sports curriculum in schools extend far beyond the physical realm. Impact on physical health - Integrating sports into the curriculum is an effective way to address the pressing issue of declining physical fitness amongst …

The mental and physical tolls of the tennis season weigh on players by the US Open
1 year, 3 months ago

The mental and physical tolls of the tennis season weigh on players by the US Open

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic considers his mental state just as important as his physical condition when it comes to being prepared to play his best at age 36. “I just feel that there is always, I guess, an extra gear that you have inside of you and you can find when you dig deep to handle and manage energy …

Behind The News
1 year, 7 months ago

Behind The News

ABC  

Cale Matthews, BTN Reporter: It's 6am. Professor Rosie Purcell, Melbourne University: There's an awful lot that we don't know and understand, so this is a group that hasn't really had a lot of attention paid to it, and that's ironic because most mental health issues actually start in this age range of between, say 12 to 25. Harry Bruce: You …

Universities focus on athletes’ mental health after crises
2 years, 1 month ago

Universities focus on athletes’ mental health after crises

Associated Press  

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! “And not only our football student athletes — with all of our student athletes.” Clinksdale said after he was informed that Christian Eubanks, 18, and Caleb VanHooser, 19, had been killed in a single-vehicle wreck just outside of Indiana State’s Terre Haute campus, he went to …

Finding the ‘happy bubble': Mental health key for Olympians
2 years, 11 months ago

Finding the ‘happy bubble': Mental health key for Olympians

Associated Press  

MIDWAY, Utah — Sean McCann peered at the targets through a spotting scope and used a hand-held magnetic board to mark where the bullets hit. Biles’ courage prompted Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history and an athlete who has been up front about his mental health struggles, to proclaim “it’s OK to not be OK.” “It was a …

Mental health among athletes spotlighted in tumultuous 2021
3 years ago

Mental health among athletes spotlighted in tumultuous 2021

Associated Press  

Simone Biles understands now that she was struggling long before she arrived at the Tokyo Olympics, where the unofficial face of the Games and one of the greatest gymnasts of all time was unable to force a smile and push her way through on the world’s biggest stage. Michael Phelps, retired swimmer and winner of a record 23 gold medals, …

Boys who play sports less likely to experience emotional distress: Study
3 years, 2 months ago

Boys who play sports less likely to experience emotional distress: Study

Hindustan Times  

A new study led by University of Montreal psycho educator Marie-Josee Harbec, has found that boys who participate in sports in early childhood are less likely to experience depression and anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. The study also suggested that boys who experience less emotional distress in middle childhood are also more likely to be more physically active in early …

We need to do more about player mental health - ITF chief
3 years, 4 months ago

We need to do more about player mental health - ITF chief

The Hindu  

Tennis governing bodies take mental health issues extremely seriously but are aware that more needs to be done to support players in that area, International Tennis Federation chief David Haggerty told Reuters. "Mental health is very, very important," Haggerty, who is also an International Olympic Committee member, said in an interview at the Games. Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from the French …

Simone Biles makes mental health the talk of the Tokyo Games
3 years, 4 months ago

Simone Biles makes mental health the talk of the Tokyo Games

Associated Press  

TOKYO — Brittney Griner has long been open about her ongoing battle with depression, an ailment that triggered suicidal thoughts when she was younger and last year drove her out of the WNBA bubble because the isolation was too much to handle. “If you’re not your best self, you’re not going to be the best in your sport or help …

‘OK not to be OK': Mental health takes top role at Olympics
3 years, 4 months ago

‘OK not to be OK': Mental health takes top role at Olympics

Associated Press  

TOKYO — For decades, they were told to shake it off or toughen up — to set aside the doubt, or the demons, and focus on the task at hand: winning. Now an analyst for NBC’s swimming coverage, he said watching Biles struggle “broke my heart.” “Mental health over the last 18 months is something people are talking about,” Phelps …

Simone Biles Busts The Myth That Mental And Physical Health Aren't Equal
3 years, 4 months ago

Simone Biles Busts The Myth That Mental And Physical Health Aren't Equal

Huff Post  

Laurence Griffiths via Getty Images Mental health and physical health are still not looked at as one and the same in sports. A Team USA coach reportedly said her exit was “not injury related” but “a mental issue she is having.” Biles later explained what happened in a press conference. “Mental health needs to be recognized as equal in importance …

Into the open: struggles of the female athlete
3 years, 6 months ago

Into the open: struggles of the female athlete

The Hindu  

In 2019, Utkarsha Pawar, 22, from Pune, began journalling. Added layers of pressure There are two parts to building mental health in athletes: Performance enhancement on field and well-being off field, says Divya Jain, a sports psychologist from Fortis Healthcare. The nuances of women’s sport While we will never know the depth of Naomi Osaka’s mental health condition — she …

Times columnists talk Naomi Osaka, mental health, the media and seeing athletes ‘as humans’
3 years, 6 months ago

Times columnists talk Naomi Osaka, mental health, the media and seeing athletes ‘as humans’

LA Times  

Naomi Osaka’s initial decision to skip French Open news conferences and her later withdrawal from the tournament due to her battle with depression and anxiety sparked international debate about the role of media and athletes’ mental health. Under those rules — not the media rules, the league’s rules — the postgame news conference format is actually the best and easiest …

Ahead of Tokyo, a much-needed focus on mental health
3 years, 7 months ago

Ahead of Tokyo, a much-needed focus on mental health

Hindustan Times  

Months before the Tokyo Olympics, these words sound like stating the obvious: “I believed in an equation where gold medal equals happiness.” That equation, as shared by Abhinav Bindra, makes total sense to the Indian athlete. Bindra, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s athlete commission, is also part of the IOC’s Mental Health Working Group that drafted the Mental …

Olympic legends address importance of mental health in sports at Laureus Forum - Sports News
4 years ago

Olympic legends address importance of mental health in sports at Laureus Forum - Sports News

The Hindu  

A group of global sporting stars have come together at the inaugural Laureus Sport for Good Mental Health and Wellbeing Forum even to underline how sport can play to reverse the global mental health crisis among young people. The international field was joined by Laureus Hong Kong Ambassadors Lee Lai Shan, Wong Kam Po, Malina Ngai Man Lin, Alex Fong …

What is Sports Psychology? Here's how you can kick-start your career in this field
4 years, 3 months ago

What is Sports Psychology? Here's how you can kick-start your career in this field

India Today  

From being viewed as a mere hobby or form of exercise, sport is now recognized as a viable career option for those dedicated towards it. Sports psychology is the study of the mental and emotional wellbeing of athletes in relation to their performance, mental health, and relations with sports organizations and settings. History about Sports psychology Sports psychology is a …

Opinion I Athletes aren’t products, they’re human
4 years, 4 months ago

Opinion I Athletes aren’t products, they’re human

Live Mint  

Kokichi Tsuburaya can’t run and it kills him. That only a few win; that it won’t last; that you will be cast aside; that winning doesn’t always mean long-lasting happiness; that when you are done you are often ready for nothing else. Athletes train themselves to mask weakness, lock away vulnerability and keep—as Phelps says—“pain out of sight”. Bindra is …

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