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Around 35% of elite athletes suffer from mental health issues, such as disordered eating, burnout, depression, and anxiety. Coaches at Division I universities are in a position to help their athletes with mental health, as they are the closest adults that the athletes listen to and respect. However, many coaches are concerned about players transferring. Steps can be taken to improve mental health in programs, like giving athletes time to process games and addressing the stigma around mental health. A student athlete from Texas Tech shares her experience, expressing the pressure she feels and the need for coaches to prioritize mental health. Coaches can make efforts to show athletes that there is more to the game than winning, create a comfortable environment for open discussion, and foster team unity. It is important for athletes to feel supported and not punished for their struggles. Implementing seminars and workshops on mental health and providing accessible resources can improve th Hi guys, today I'm going to be discussing what college coaches at Division I universities can be doing to help their athletes' mental health. In the research I've previously done, I found that according to the American College of Sports Medicine in 2021, 35% of elite athletes suffer from disordered eating, burnout, depression, and or anxiety. That's roughly just about every one in three athletes, so this is quite a pressing issue that problems have continued to arise. Coaches are the closest adults that the athletes are surrounded with, listen to, and respect. The NCAA just published an article about the issues coaches have with the mental health in their programs. In 2023, nearly one-third of head coaches through all three divisions reported that they were very concerned about the possibility of players transferring. The concern they show is coming from a place of fear for their programs. However, I believe with more steps taken, coaches can actually improve their program by taking more time to focus on mental health. Nick Saban, the head Alabama football coach, has had more than a handful of championship wins in his career, and he's spoken in many interviews of steps he's taken to try and help the mental health of his athletes. In an interview in 2022, he said that he gives his athletes 24 hours to dwell on their previous games and then put it behind them. This is a step in the right direction, but he still has a lot of athletes that transfer out of his program, despite the wins they usually have. Ask coaches, is this enough, and what more can be done? Understanding the stigma that athletes feel is probably a good place to start. I've decided to bring in a previous classmate from high school, Kelly Mora, who now plays on the Texas Tech women's basketball team, to share her insight. All righty. Hey, Kelly. How are you doing today? I'm good. I'm really excited to be here. Awesome. Well, the first question I want to start off with is, do you feel like there's a stigma around mental health in the program right now? Honestly, I think there is a stigma still, and like, the department says that we have resources, but I'm not sure if anyone really uses them. It kind of feels awkward sometimes to admit to someone I'm struggling when I, like, have this huge opportunity, but I think that'll probably get better in the future. All right. The next question that I wanted to ask you was, have you ever struggled with your mental health personally? Well, I didn't all throughout high school, even with, like, how much attention my team was getting in the state tournament, but now I feel like there's a lot more pressure since I'm helping represent the whole university, and sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm playing because I love basketball, and that's the reason I'm here. Yeah, that's totally understandable, and you said in high school that, like, the pressure didn't really get to you, and I remember everyone's eyes were on you and Aliyah Chavez every single game. How did you deal with that pressure then? Well, it was different because it was high school, and every game just felt like me and my friends were just playing, and we were the best. Now everyone I play with and against was also the best in high school. It almost feels like you're, like, trying to out-compete your teammates, and the coaches don't really do anything to help change that. Do you ever feel like there's a lot of pressure on the image you need to maintain now? Yes, definitely. Even though I'm in college and a student just like everyone else, I feel like I can't always act like it, and that makes me feel pretty alone sometimes. Now after sharing and discussing all that, what more do you think can be done from your perspective, like, in the future? I think our coaches taking more time to show us that there's more to the game than just winning all the time, and making us feel more comfortable to talk to people about it would help a lot. We definitely need to work on coming together and focusing on our bond as a team, and knowing that we're not competing against each other. Alrighty, I just have one final question for you. Do you think if your coaches, and also just coaches in general, could hear these thoughts that something would change, like, do you think it would be effective? I think so. It's hard to tell, because sometimes I feel like they know there's mental health issues, but it just takes so much effort to deal with them. They're not completely ignoring it, but they definitely choose to believe that it's better than it is. Awesome, well thanks for coming and sharing your experience, it was really interesting to hear. Of course, thank you for having me here. After hearing this, I think it just goes to show how much really goes on in the mind of athletes. They don't want to appear weak in front of the coaches that will determine how much or how little they'll be playing, and when I asked Kelly to come on the podcast initially to share her experience, she was very hesitant. She didn't want to feel weak and like she was speaking bad on the program, because she truly loves basketball and playing for Tech, and that was always her dream for as long as I have known her. But I think that's the whole reason that this conversation is so important. Athletes shouldn't feel outcasted or like they'll be punished for having struggles. Having a community that supports each other and doesn't suppress the negative side to this opportunity would be beneficial for everyone. There would be less athletes transferring schools just in hopes that their mental health will improve and go attending four different universities in all four years, and coaches would be able to grow the programs they want by retaining athletes for that long. Kelly is just one example, but many articles and blogs of former athletes all tell a similar story. Moving forward in the future, some things that could be implemented by coaches and staff of these Division I colleges could be doing seminars on mental health as a team or doing workshops. Coming together with the coaches and just discussing what mental issues can arise and giving them the resources that aren't difficult to reach could improve the community within a team. Whether that's bringing in specialists that are readily available or creating specific times that athletes can talk to someone aside from their practice schedule, a good community will present better results in the end and just a better bond between the players and their coaches. And if these small steps are taken, I believe that they're going to provide a big impact for the athletic programs as a whole.