In recent years, more and more professional athletes have begun to speak out about their battles with mental health. Some of the greatest in their respective sports, like Michael Phelps and Simone Biles, have used their platforms to advocate for mental health awareness.
The vulnerability professional athletes have shared has helped create a more open environment for discussing mental health. These testimonies opened the door for these conversations to be had at every level of athletics.
“I think it’s been helpful to be able to normalize and destigmatize mental health and some of the problems that some of those athletes are enduring,” Athletics Counselor Dr. Jorge Ballesteros said.
No matter the athlete, no matter their age, no matter their comfortability with sharing their personal struggles, Ballesteros said it is important to acknowledge the strength of student-athletes.
“They are more than just the athlete, and they’re not the superhuman individuals,” Ballesteros said. “They do superhuman things, which is amazing and great, but let’s not get lost that their mental health is very important.”
College is by no means an easy feat for students. This next step of life can be a huge period of transition, independence and adjustments. For student-athletes, they must also account for performing at the next level and balancing that with their academics and personal life, as well.
All of these factors can add up to an amounting load of pressure for collegiate athletes. That is why some schools have taken extra measures to provide support for their student-athletes.
“Mental health advocacy is important because being a student-athlete or being an athlete at any level, there’s a uniqueness with it, and it’s important to highlight that,” Ballesteros said. “We are all people, and everyone’s mental health is very important.”
Advocacy at Pepperdine
Pepperdine Women’s Indoor Volleyball is one of the teams who emphasizes the importance of their athletes’ mental health.
“The coaches and the staff and the people around us are always making sure that we feel good, not just on the court, but off the court,” said Chloe Pravednikov, freshman Women’s Indoor Volleyball outside hitter.
In an interview with the Graphic in the spring 2024 semester, Head Coach Scott Wong said he commits himself to the Women’s Indoor Volleyball program. One of his focuses as a coach is making sure that everyone on his team feels like they have a voice.
“We, as a program, value our players a ton,” Wong said. “We are 100% committed and invested in helping them grow and be their best version of themselves.”
One way both players said the Women’s Indoor Volleyball coaches helped them was through individual check-ins. This support from the Women’s Indoor Volleyball team coaching staff helped boost connections within the team.
“The coaching staff, like Scott [Wong], was very adamant that if there was ever anything that any of us wanted to do or say about mental health, then we had the space to do it,” Ammerman said. “He was supportive, and so, that kind of just trickled down into our relationships.”
During college, Ammerman said she realized the value of those closest to her. She found it beneficial to confide in her family and friends to help her not struggle on her own. This community of support led her to wanting to create that same community for her team.
“I felt like I struggled for a while on my own, and I learned that family and really close friends and connections can help you through those times so you don’t have to struggle alone,” Ammerman said.
These connections helped Ammerman discover the importance of vulnerability, as well. Wong said he encourages his team to talk about their problems, because it is likely they are not struggling alone.
“It makes you feel more on the same level, and humanizes athletes that are professional,” Ammerman said. “It can also help you connect and find ways to get through tough times.”
The team built themselves as a family through moments of team bonding. Ammerman said the team would have bi-weekly meetings, without coaches, where the players were able to check in with each other.
There were also more structured bonding events, especially in the preseason. At a player’s house, the team would do an intense underwater training they called XPT. Although the exercise is known to be a challenge, Ammerman said she walked away from it feeling more connected to her teammates.
“We weren’t just a volleyball team, we were like a family of sisters that would do things together,” Ammerman said. “We leaned on each other in tough times that had nothing to do with volleyball, like we were there for each other.”
Women’s Indoor Volleyball also made sure to have some fun together. Ammerman said the players would do personality tests, Secret Santa and other things that helped make them closer.
“We really tried to incorporate things off the court that connected us, so that if things on the court weren’t going well, we still respected each other, we still wanted to see each other off the court,” Ammerman said.
The team carves out time during practices to allow players to share anything they may want to, volleyball related or not, Wong said. While some may not relate entirely to another person’s struggles, giving players time to express themselves can benefit the team as a whole.
“I think the more we talk and relate, it helps us to have a little more empathy about where people are at,” Wong said.
As a freshman, Pravednikov said this open space helped her feel comfortable to share if she needed to. She appreciates knowing she can go to her teammates if she needs to talk with them or if she needs help with anything.
“It allows me to be open, and it takes my stress load off a little,” Pravednikov said. “Knowing I have all this help, I’m never overwhelmed.”
An especially important connection on the Women’s Indoor Volleyball team is between the seniors and the new players. Pravednikov said the upperclassmen will check in with the freshmen often to make sure they are all doing okay. Pravednikov has even started reaching out to fellow freshmen, making it known that the entire team is all there for each other.
Ammerman said incoming players may not prioritize their mental health as much as they should. This is why the Women’s Indoor Volleyball team takes the extra step to reach out to these younger players.
“We understand exactly what you’re going through, and it’s going to be hard, but, doesn’t matter what, we are here for you,” Ammerman said. “And if you don’t trust us enough, please go see these people.”
Extra Services for Athletes
The people Ammerman is referring to would be Pepperdine’s sports psychiatrists and the coaching staff who players have said are very supportive of student-athletes. Ammerman said the University works hard to support their student-athletes by providing them with counselors such as Ballesteros.
“There was this need,” Ballesteros said. “So, they brought on somebody, like myself, to solely focus on student-athletes, student-athlete mental health, the well-being of them and being able to provide the services that we’re able to do.”
There has been an increase in suicide rates of collegiate athletes, which calls for the need of more professionals like Ballesteros. Suicide is now the second leading cause for U.S. college athletes, doubling from a rate of 7.6% to 15.3% over the past 20 years, according to CNN.
Ballesteros is not only an Athletics Counselor, but also a sports psychologist and the Coordinator of Athletic Counseling Services. He said the counseling team offers a variety of services to athletes, including one-on-one sessions, mental health awareness tables at games and injury support groups. Earlier this year, the counseling team went to each team to make them aware of these services and how to connect with anyone if desired.
“We’re really trying to support student-athletes, not just at the athlete level, but more importantly, at the personal level,” Ballesteros said. “We’re really trying to provide the best care for them.”
It is an NCAA requirement for all athletes to complete a mental health screener at the beginning of the year, Ballesteros said. The athletes meet with Ballesteros and his team to touch on mental health and hear about the services available for them.
“I’ve really enjoyed this shift into having mental health be a high value at the NCAA level and some of the initiatives that are continuing to happen,” Ballesteros said.
One of these initiatives is the NCAA Mental Health Best Practices. This guidebook outlines what each institution can be doing to help support their players by attempting to “protect, support and enhance the mental and physical health of student-athletes.” Ballesteros said Pepperdine has multiple people working in this realm to support the Waves.
“Both the Athletic Department and Student Affairs have been very willing to be supportive of one another, but, most importantly, very willing in support of student-athletes and their well being,” Ballesteros said.
Collaborations like these can have major benefits for athletes in offering support. Another important collaboration Pepperdine fosters is between coaching staffs and the counseling team. Ballesteros said these connections allow the staff to exchange their observations as well as build trust.
“I think here in Athletics, the coaching staffs have been very open with us and have been wanting us to really jump on board and have been able to make us feel welcome,” Ballesteros said.
Pravednikov said all of the Athletics staff is very helpful, especially reaffirming players that it is difficult to balance being a student and Division I athlete.
Mental Health is Important for Everyone
The emphasis of mental health is important for all athletes. Ballesteros said mental health is a topic that should be discussed at all ages.
If not addressed, the pressures athletes feel that may have started at the youth level can carry on to high school, college and sometimes, the professional level, as well. Ballesteros said if these problems can be addressed at the younger ages, it can help student-athletes as they grow.
“The more you see something, the more regular it is, the less likely you are to feel ashamed when you’re struggling,” Ammerman said.
Some incoming collegiate players may not have had a space to talk about the importance of mental health before. However, college can highlight why it is necessary to maintain this open conversation.
“By the time I got to college, I really realized the significance that your mental health off the court can have,” Ammerman said.
Pravednikov said athletes can struggle to manage their time between their sport, school and personal relationships. Adding in the time student-athletes take away from school to travel for their sport can add to this stress, multiple Pepperdine athletes said. This struggle to balance is why mental health is so important to talk about.
“It’s just a big topic, because the sport is a big part of an athlete’s life, but it’s also keeping up with relationships and being happy off the court,” Pravednikov said.
As the struggles on and off the court could influence each other, so could the unity. Ammerman said the strength her team gained from being vulnerable and connected trickled into their on-court performance.
“I think if you trust people off the court, you’re gonna have more success on the court,” Ammerman said. “We did have that baseline of trust and respect, which I think, stems from that understanding that we all were there for each other through mental health.”
Despite graduating in December, Ammerman said Head Coach Scott Wong reached out to her this summer and asked her to write a speech for their kids’ volleyball camp.
“It was really cool to be given the opportunity again to speak on something that’s really important to me, but also something that I think is so valuable to learn at a young age,” Ammerman said.
This is just another way the Women’s Indoor Volleyball coaching staff is reaching out to players and making it known that it is important to prioritize mental health.
The Women’s Indoor Volleyball coaching staff makes counseling services very accessible, but there are still athletes who won’t seek out help if they need it. Ballesteros said he wants to have a presence on campus to help this.
“We hope to continue to be able to be visible and available to those people who may not want to come in, at least not yet,” Ballesteros said. “If we’re able to plant the seed, that person that was very hesitant to come in is maybe more open to it by this time next spring, or even by this time next year.”
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