The social isolation and lack of opportunities to compete is taking a mental toll on student-athletes across the country, with one in four teenagers telling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they had thought about suicide in the past 30 days.
“We’re living in unprecedented times. I never thought this would happen to my daughter. We fought so hard to give her a good life. We tried to do everything right,” Heather Wendling, whose 13-year-old daughter took her own life in September, told the Washington Post. “Their world has come to a screeching halt, a lot of them. They’re not in sports. They’re not going to school. They’re not hanging out with the friends. … We found out too late, and I don’t want other parents to find out too late.”
Wendling’s daughter, London, is not alone. Researchers fear the mental toll lockdowns are placing on the country’s youth, with one-quarter telling CDC surveyors saying they have considered suicide in the last month.
“We already knew going into this that we had increasing levels of depression and anxiety among young people. … but now we have kids that don’t have school, they don’t have sports,” Dr. Michael Koester, who leads the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Medicine Advisory Committee, told the Washington Post. “Many of us are concerned with that. Obviously, there’s concerns about the virus, contracting it, and passing it on to others. But this isn’t a zero-sum game.”
Across the country, coaches, mental health professionals, and parents have dealt with the rise in depression and anxiety among high school athletes. A survey in Wisconsin found that about 68% of teenagers polled reported feelings of anxiety or depression over the summer, which is almost 40% higher than normal.
North Dakota-based sports psychologist Erin Haugen told the Washington Post she has seen a “flood” of student-athletes struggling with the same issues.
“It’s certainly complicated in both directions because not playing can have mental health implications,” Haugen said. “But then also playing with that uncertainty, or having one of their teammates get ill, or they’re getting ill, certainly has mental health implications as well. … It might be hard to find the best option from a mental health perspective.”
Another sports psychologist, Adela Roxas, said she would “characterize” the situation as “a crisis,” while Tennessee high school coach and suicide prevention advocate David Martin lamented the lack of connection teenagers are getting with their peers.
“This pandemic has created an isolation. It decreased connection with those athletes, which obviously … is creating more mental health issues,” Martin said. “That decreased connection has placed an emphasis with coaches [and] administrators to more closely monitor the mental health of these young people. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Athletes in Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has imposed some of the most severe restrictions in the country, have gone through a whirlwind of emotions over the last year. After spring sports were canceled, fall sports were canceled too. A few weeks later, fall sports were given the go-ahead to proceed, only to be postponed again in November due to the governor’s most recent pandemic order.
Michigan High School Athletic Association Director Mark Uyl has expressed frustration with the governor’s lack of transparency after what was supposed to be a three-week pause was once again extended. Whitmer did not consider the MHSAA’s proposal to restart their fall sports seasons, despite the fact that the governor allowed an exception for college and professional sports.
“We had put together an incredibly well-thought-out plan, citing all of our evidence and data that we have collected from the first day of fall practice in August,” Uyl said.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 “poses low risks to school-aged children” and notes that “children with COVID-19 are less likely to have severe symptoms than adults.”
But some young athletes, such as those in Michigan, are left on the sidelines, wondering if they will ever get another chance to compete again, something University of Wisconsin sports medicine researcher Tim McGuine said could be more dangerous for youth than COVID-19.
“I take the opposite view that we are putting kids at risk by giving them sports opportunities,” McGuine told USA Today in August. “We need to give them sports opportunities to keep them safe and healthy.”
McGuine pointed to suicide and drug use among isolated student-athletes as being a reason the threat of not playing could be larger.
“The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) talked about increased risk of suicide and (need for) prevention,” McGuine said. “The greatest risk (to student-athletes) is not COVID-19. It’s suicide and drug use.”
