The bell rings, ending her last hour: AP Language and Composition. Junior Jacalyn Yakel walks out the door with an essay assignment, vocabulary quiz prep, a cross country workout and figure skating practice after school.
“I feel like I’m less stressed because I’m just used to being in sports and it keeps me busy. I feel like if I have to study for a test, I’m less stressed about it because I’m used to having a lot on my plate. So when you get something like that, it’s less of a deal to you because there’s other things going on. I have a more positive outlook on things because I have a lot of experience all around,” Yakel said.
One way student athletes differ from other students is with their mentality. If an athlete is coachable on the field, court, pool or ice, this skill directly translates to the classroom. Athletes take risks. They are not afraid to fail and learn from their mistakes by adapting to different situations and skills like these prepare student athletes for post-high school life and all its diverse challenges.
“The situations that athletes experience allows them to have a more realistic understanding of how they can set goals and what they can achieve as they move into the collegiate world and workforce,” according to nationalfederationofstatehighschoolssociations.org.
Over the past few years, high school athletes’ anxiety increased, prompting coaches to prioritize their athlete’s mental health. The rate of mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression in student athletes is 1.5-2 times higher than identified before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a student-athlete well-being study conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
“Every coach I have ever had has talked about mentality. They say that it is just as important as the physical aspect of things. Your mentality is what helps win matches and what sometimes causes you to lose them as well, so it is important that your mentality is as strong as your game,” junior varsity tennis player Alexis Gabriel said.
While it is imperative for individual athletes to carry a strong mentality, it is equally important for the entirety of a team to create a positive environment. Team captains are valuable assets to each team because they mentor the new and younger athletes. It is essential for teams to bond and foster an atmosphere that does not induce stress or anxiety in their athletes so everyone can perform at their peak performance.
“It is very important for the whole team to have a positive mindset. The team leaders play a big role in this; the younger athletes look up to them and when they see them working hard and believing, it carries over to everyone else,” varsity women’s cross country coach Steve Carcone said.
Athletes also face physical challenges, like injury or illness. When an athlete is unable to compete, it forces them to mentally work towards healing. Whether a bone fracture or common cold, athletes steel their mind and focus on the positives to recover.
“I would say [a pivotal moment in my athletic career] is when I broke my leg. It really changed my mind to take every game seriously and every practice because it could all be gone at any moment,” senior varsity football running back and varsity track runner Bryce Hurley said.
Student athletes push through challenges and make sacrifices in their everyday lives to better themselves in their sport. It’s not always easy, but they find a balance in their life between their friends, family, sports. In the end, the challenges and triumphs student athletes face in their competitive sports help them grow. They also apply the lessons to their life outside of athletics.
“When you have this goal and you’re chasing it for a long time, and then you reach it, you just want to keep doing better. So when you reach a goal, it just makes that goal not as exciting anymore. You have to have a new goal,” Yakel said. “And when you tie that into life, you’re just going to keep going. You can’t settle; don’t settle on something, keep striving.”
