More Than Meets The Eye

The high school environment is a stressful one — filled with AP exams, social life, and everything else in between. Now add in sports. High school seasons often span for only a month or two but are packed with practices and games that only add to the pressure. With such rigorous schedules, potential injuries, traveling for matches, how do student athletes manage their bodies and minds?

When you look at high school sports, your instinctive thought is that they’re beneficial. They’re a way for students to let out their energy and move away from the stress they may be feeling in other parts of their life.

But, if you take a deeper look, you can see the effects can also tend to be negative.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 8.6 million sports- and recreation-related injuries occur each year. One study found that early sports “specialization” leads to a greater risk of injury. The expertise required to play in high school often requires years of development. As you might expect, sports injuries negatively impact most athletes — especially if you’re dreaming of landing a college scholarship.

For young athletes looking to continue their youth career, high school sports is the next step, but that step can be a challenging one. The opportunity to play against competition that older, more physically developed, and have more experience is something you can’t find anywhere else.

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Derek Falor a Certified Mental Performance Consultant at Thrive. He formally coached at Lakeside and was the head coach of the girls varsity soccer team. He has been involved in the world of sports for over two decades. Throughout his time consulting and coaching, he has watched as the attitude and attention of mental health in sports has changed, especially at the high school and collegiate level due to the increasing amount of exposure the general public has to these elite athletes. He knows what its like to play and coach high school and what the athletes have to go through to succeed.

“I think the rapidity of the news cycle has encouraged there to be quicker elements of change with respect to student athlete health. We’re also recognizing now, especially with things like name image and likeness deals (commonly referred to as “NIL” deals) where an athlete who used to be an amateur, and now he or she isn’t really that anymore. Their primary source of income, even if they’re a collegiate athlete, is dependent upon their ability to compete.”

The importance of mental health is especially prevalent at the collegiate level. The transfer portal has required colleges to be more in tune with their athletes needs since they can just pack up and leave essentially whenever they feel like it.

“The transfer portal now has also encouraged athletes to look for places that they feel comfortable being in an environment where they feel desired scene wanted cared for all that stuff. Whether it’s good for sport or not, I do think that that now creates an environment where the administration and the coaches need to show care for the athletes, or the athletes will leave and leave quickly.”

At Thrive, Falor works with youth athletes of all kinds. But given his coaching background, soccer tends to be his specialty. He has worked with club teams as well as individual players looking to be better mentally. The work he does gives athletes the mental skills they need to succeed on the field, something that is just as important as physical prowess.

So how does he approach working with athletes seeking to improve their mental fortitude?

“Oftentimes they’re feeling anxious about outcomes or having trouble controlling anger over mistakes or things like that. That age group tends to struggle with one of those two topics tend to be the primary situation sometimes maybe a third topic is is confidence has dipped in some way you know whether it’s a lack of confidence in a new skill or a skill that they’ve been able to execute in the past, and maybe they’ve hit a bump in the road or challenge.”

Falor believes that the high school atmosphere allows athletes to flourish. The energy of the crowd, the comradery of the team, and the intensity of the moment allow these athletes to grow. They have the opportunity to gain leadership skills and learn more about time management.

“I think [athletes] develop those leadership moments because you’re looking across skill levels, and over four years, that leadership, that mentoring, and that peer-to-peer work that show up in high school sports are great for developing leadership skills.”

Despite that, just because sports have the chance to uplift people does not mean they will. The downward spiral is always there, and that’s where Falor comes in — whether it’s struggling to focus in school because you’re thinking about the big game,’ or unable to clear your mind when the game does arrive.

Falor has an arsenal of mental exercises to help mitigate the stresses youth athletes might be facing. When you’re becoming worked up about a game that’s not until 7:00 pm, your body turns on its natural flight or flight mode and starts making adrenaline even when you don’t need it. This wastes energy that you going to need later and practicing to better control your mind can help.

“One thing that’s really important is to help people be mindful of the moment like where am I right now what’s needed of me right now, and then do the best that you can with that thing in front of you.”

“I think being really mindful of the moment and staying present is super important. Giving an athlete the ability to reflect and recognize where their brain is and what do they need to be paying attention to the moment so that would be how to not project too far in the future.”

“As an athlete to understand be where your feet are and then do the best that you can in that moment so that you don’t carry negative into the future or that you’re not bringing something from the past that’s negative into your current moment I think with high school athletes that was probably one of the biggest things that we talked about.”

According to Falor, one of the best ways to help prepare students for the rigors of high school athletics is to set reasonable expectations. Knowing what most likely to happen can help better ready yourself for you experience playing high school.

As a freshman, even making varsity is an accomplishment, and JV is likely. But even making varsity has its drawbacks. Varsity has no guaranteed playing time and can go most of the game making only a few subs. JV on the other hand everyone is able to play, and it is less of a competitive atmosphere. Therefore, it’s vital to make sure you can properly assess your ability as a player to know what high school sports is going to look like for you. It’s great to dream big, but be wary of setting the bar too high.

“Having expectations align with the sport are really really important because you can see people go ‘Well I want this’ but then not understanding that to get on that team or to be a part of that team they might have to do more than they were willing to do.”

One of the biggest things that can affect a student’s mental health is injuries. Being put on the sidelines is something that hinders mostly anyone and can lead to feeling of loneliness, depression, and hopelessness. These feelings are more present in long term injuries that can last for months and can even put you out for the whole season.

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Ethan Wilhelm broke his foot and hip during the high school lacrosse season this year for Eastside Catholic.

As a freshman, playing varsity comes with a lot of pressure to perform and to be able to compete against guys up to three years older than you and succeed. His injuries put him on the sidelines for the majority of the season and he was able to tell me what its like to be unable to take the field.

Being on the sidelines is hard. More than anything, most athletes just want to be on the field, helping their team win. This can cause young athletes who are ambitious and just want to play to rush their recovery and play before their injury is completely healed. This can lead to reinjuring something or worsening one.

“I shouldn’t have tried to play so quickly [after getting hurt]. When I got back [from injury], I played for a couple weeks. I had a lot of games and was in the middle of a eight-games-in-two-week stretch, and then I broke another bone, and then I fractured my hip.”

“I was trying to play through it, but I was running, I hit a kid, and [my hip] kind of just popped. That’s when I was like ‘Yeah ok, I’m actually hurting’.”

Wilhelm’s experience on the sidelines and sitting out for most of the season was hard, but it greatly motivated him to come back stronger than when he was hurt. He worked hard in rehab and went to PT almost every day. As of now, he is still recovering from his hip injury, but he’s on the mend.

Falor, Wilhelm, and many others believe that high school sports can be a huge benefit for striving student athletes looking to grow in body, mind, and character. They can mold players into competent leaders on and off the field. Having a jam-packed season filled with practices and games everyday is stressful, but they teach athletes time management — a valuable life skill. Not only that, but sports allow young people to come together in pursuit of a common goal: growth.

Playing high school sports demands a lot of time and energy, but once you learn how to manage the mental challenges, the payoff is well worth it.