Overwhelmed, mentally exhausted, worried about academics and burdened by high expectations.
These emotions are just some of the difficulties many athletes and the NCAA have said are consistently challenging many student-athletes. With this reality, schools have started providing more support for athletes in recent years.
This year, NCAA athletes’ mental health concerns are down in every category compared to 2020 and 2021 surveys, according to the NCAA. Pepperdine has taken initiative to advocate for their student-athletes’ mental health by providing three sports psychologists and an on-campus mental health advocacy group The Hidden Opponent, multiple members of Pepperdine athletics said.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” Athletics Counselor Jorge Ballesteros said. “That gives me a lot of hope — a lot of promise that many people like myself will continue to have jobs and hopefully provide adequate and holistic services to student-athletes.”
The Problem
Suicide rates among NCAA athletes have doubled over the past 20 years — going from 7.6% in 2002 to 15.3% in 2022, according to CNN. This increase has led to suicide being the second highest leading cause of death among NCAA athletes, according to the same CNN article.
One recent event that brought light to the seriousness of athlete mental health was when former Stanford Women’s Soccer goalie Katie Meyer took her own life March 1, 2022, according to Fox KTVU.
“The Stanford situation put a light on this conversation,” said alumna Olivia Miller (‘23), former Pepperdine Women’s Cross Country runner. “People realized mental health was something we all need to take seriously and talk openly about.”
Pepperdine Takes Action
One solution multiple student-athletes said has helped their mental health is being provided with dedicated sports psychologists outside of the campus counselors that are accessible for all students. Pepperdine provides their student-athletes with three sports psychologists they can use for one-on-one sessions to discuss any topic — whether it be related to sports or not.
A Graphic survey consisting of 51 Pepperdine athletes found 51% of respondents have used Pepperdine’s sports psychologists individually, and about 68% said they are able to easily fit it into their schedule.
“Student-athletes are also offered after hours care,” Ballesteros said. “So if they call our counseling center phone number after 5 p.m., they will be connected with a provider over the phone, and they can meet with them, you know, for as long as they are needing to be seen with or heard of.”
The survey also found, when asked to rate their experience using Pepperdine’s sports psychologists out of 10, with 10 being the highest rating of satisfaction, the average answer was an 8 out of 10 — with 10 out of 10 being the most common answer.
Using Pepperdine’s sports psychologists has helped with managing emotions when it comes to tennis matches, Winter said.
Apart from one-on-one meetings, Pepperdine’s sports psychologists have also met with entire teams at once, said Kevin Roberts, Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball redshirt junior outside hitter.
These meetings serve as a time where the psychologists can help a team work through challenges they collectively face, Roberts said.
“We just have a topic we all deal with — last time it was pressure or focus — things we all deal with differently,” Roberts said. “We thought of ways that would help, and he [Ballesteros] provided ways that would also help.”
Another solution Pepperdine athletes have implemented is partnering with The Hidden Opponent, a non-profit mental health advocacy group for collegiate athletes, according to their website. The non-profit’s goal is to end the stigma of mental health through advocacy, education and support.
The Hidden Opponent puts this mission into practice by raising awareness for mental health struggles as well as teaching a curriculum about mental health, hosting different events and connecting athletes across thousands of colleges and universities, Miller said.
“This is to create a holistic view of mental health and what it means to be a student-athlete while taking care of your mental health,” Miller said.
A strong aspect of The Hidden Opponent is the way it helps bring athletes together, said Eden Mittelsdorf, Pepperdine Women’s Cross Country senior and head of Athlete Mental Health for the Waves Leadership Council.
“A huge thing that The Hidden Opponent does is it has a social media platform that comes out with stories of various athletes to make sure you know you are not alone in your struggle,” Mittelsdorf said.
Scott Wong (’01), Pepperdine Women’s Indoor Volleyball head coach and alumnus, said the amount of resources for athletes has grown significantly since he was a student-athlete at Pepperdine from 1998-2001.
The Women’s Indoor Volleyball team has made it their goal to advocate for mental health as they wear hair ties that are green, a color symbolizing mental health awareness, and hold team meetings to check in on each other, Wong said.
“They [the Women’s Indoor Volleyball team] proactively do things on their own to meet without the coaches to be able to check in on everybody,” Wong said. “And sometimes, like I said, it could go into this long, drawn out thing, but it’s always productive. It always has the goal of let’s share, let’s hear and then let’s grow.”
The NCAA Health and Wellness study shows student-athletes are reporting fewer mental health difficulties, according to the NCAA. The study consisted of 23,000 NCAA athletes, collected data from Sept. 2022-June 2023 and found mental health concerns from multiple categories were down from 2020-21.
“The research would indicate that stigma is decreasing,” Ballesteros said. “The newest NCAA mental health report, which was released earlier this year, late last year, in December — [the] stigma is decreasing amongst student-athletes using a provider.”
Areas That Still Need to be Addressed
A different Graphic survey of 38 athletes from 38 different schools in the NCAA found 39.5% of respondents do not have a sports psychologist at their school. Of the 60.5% that do have a sports psychologist, over half have never used them, only 17.2% use them often and 0% always use them.
Among the suicides by NCAA athletes, 77% of them have been male athletes, according to CNN. At Pepperdine, the amount of male and female athletes using the sports psychologists is not equal, Ballesteros said.
Of the respondents who have not used Pepperdine’s counseling center, 71% were male.
“Probably three-fourths of our people that are coming in are women,” Ballesteros said.
While the NCAA Health and Wellness study showed a lot of progress, it also found self-reported mental health concerns were more common in athletes of color or athletes identifying in the LGBTQIA+, according to the NCAA.
“I try to still have hope that we’re growing and we continue to grow,” Ballesteros said. “And that other institutions will hire someone like myself or somebody at a similar level to be able to provide services and support.”
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