According to a survey held by the NCAA, around 30% of college-level athletes had some sort of self-reported mental health issues.
An example of an athlete’s mental health being affected by high-contact sports is NFL player Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers, who suffered a “vicious hit from Bengals’ linebacker Vontaze Burfict”. Brown was hit extremely hard in the helmet on a play, causing him to go unconscious and need to be carted off of the field. Many experts have gone on record to say that this hit “changed Brown’s life”. Since this incident, Brown has not been the same player he was, bouncing around to a couple of different teams, eventually ending up on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside Tom Brady, who commented on his mental health, “Everybody should do what they can to help him in ways that he really needs it”. Brown went viral in 2022 for taking off his shoulder pads in the middle of a game against the Jets and leaving the field. There are many more examples of his poor mental health and he is a very good example of why an athlete’s mental health should be taken extremely seriously.
As we see a high-contact sport and physical injuries to the head causing poor mental health, we can also see in the NFL that players’ self-esteem and character can also be affected.
In the 2023 season, following a 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Garett Bolles, an Offensive Lineman for the Denver Broncos said in an interview that he is “tired of losing, man” as well as saying “been here for seven years and all I’ve done is lost. And it’s frustrating”. During the interview, Bolles is visually upset and it is known that the sport is affecting his mental health. Going back to what he said, the Broncos records for the last 7 seasons have been 2022: 5-12, 2021: 7-10, 2020: 5-11, 2019: 7-9, 2018: 6-10, 2017: 5-11, and 2016: 9-7. While the team has won games in the past seven years, 6 of the 7 they had a negative record, and have not made the playoffs once. Bolles’ frustration is understandable and gives an insight into what professional sports can do to a person’s mental health.
Mental Health issues are not just a part of the NFL though, players in other leagues suffer from similar problems such as the NBA.
Kevin Love, a Power Forward/Center for the Miami Heat, has Shared “stories of his struggles with depression, anxiety, and other challenges”. Playing a professional sport can bring a lot of stress and pressure on a person because of the requirement to constantly perform well. Love was a victim of these struggles and has also said that opening up about his struggles “changed [his] life”. Kevin Love is yet another example of an athlete who faced serious problems with his mental health.
Psychological and Mental Health should be considered just as much as physical health in sports.
