Fighting Mental Health with Awareness, Acceptance, and Action

In the past few months, we have seen 3 of the world's best athletes have to miss some of the biggest events in their sports because of mental health issues.

Sha'carri Richardson, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles have all missed major events in their sports because of mental health issues. 

Sha'carri Richardson used marijuana to deal with the pain of losing her mother during the Olympic trials. Richardson said that she smoked marijuana as a coping mechanism after a reporter - who she described as a complete stranger - told her that her biological mother had died.

Naomi Osaka said that she needed to miss French Open press conferences to take care of herself mentally and to exercise self-care and preservation of her mental health. She received a world of backlash, and support, for her decision.

Simone Biles is considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time, and she made the stunning decision to withdraw from the Olympics, acknowledging the tremendous pressure she had been facing as the 'head star of the Olympics,' and she said that she needed to focus on her mental health.

Being really good comes with a lot; it comes with a lot of good and a lot of bad. I have three daughters, and this makes me think of the pressure that I put on them to be good at the things that they do. There is a lot of pressure that athletes today have to deal with today that athletes have never had to deal with before. The media pressure, the never-ending presence of social media, and the level of scrutiny that they face from so many angles are obviously overwhelming to some.

What do we do as coaches and parents? In the book Making Work Human, the authors write that psychotherapists know that inner change is generally a three-step process: awareness, acceptance, and action. We should be aware that mental health is a real issue and find where and when mental health issues happen with our athletes. We should accept in a positive and healthy way that something can be cone about it and then take appropriate action.

All three of these athletes were aware of their mental health issues, they accepted it, and they took action. They protected themselves. The results might not be what they wanted, and looking at the level of judgment and scrutiny, it is not what many of the people around the world wanted. But Naomi said something powerful in an interview with Time Magazine. She said, 

"Life is a journey. In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow. I learned a couple of key lessons. Lesson one: you can never please everyone. The world is as divided now as I can remember in my short 23 years. Lesson two was perhaps more enriching. It has become apparent to me that literally everyone either suffers from issues related to their mental health or knows someone who does."

You can't please everyone, and you are never alone. 

I started this blog years ago because I wanted to document everything that I was learning on my journey to become the best coach that I could be. It has morphed into something bigger, and I now write for a couple of different reasons: I like to write, and I want to help create a positive, healthy space in the sports world.

Stories like the stories of Sha'Carri Richardson, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles are important. Even our youth athletes face a lot of pressure. We have to be aware of that. We have to accept that. And we have to be willing to take action to protect them while helping them continue to shoot for and fight for their goals.