Mental Health Effects on Black Athletes

Mental Health Support For Black Athletes

By Matt Hemmert

Intro-

    Hello, My name is Matt Hemmert. I am a sophomore student-athlete at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. Now you may be asking yourself, "What is the point of this?", but what I am here for today is to inform the leaders, coaches, and mentors of sports in this blog about the lack of mental health support given to African-American Athletes. This happens at all levels of athletics with both genders involved. there are problems for male and female African American athletes at the collegiate, professional, and olympic levels. My goal is to put an end to this by starting this campaign to give these athletes more support. Mental health support for these athletes is very important as it betters them as a person off the field, and a player/competitor on their respective pitch. All over the United States we see these athletes facing harsh criticism for sitting out of play for "personal reasons" or mental health issues. With the support given to these athletes, it will make the sports world a much greater place and give athletes a chance to better themselves in their everyday lives. 

          

Blog 1- 

    I wanted to highlight two athletes for this blog. Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles have both faced lots of criticism within the past year for their mental health issues. Recently the two olympic athletes have opted out of their competition due to their rising mental health issues involving the stress and competitiveness of their sports. Each play a sport where they rely on themselves, creating lots of stress. These athletes are not supported enough and are not given the mental health resources needed to keep them in competition. With counseling services or wellness services for these athletes, they will be able to compete without any distractions, creating less criticism upon them. Two mental health professors who commented on the situation involving Biles and Osaka mentioned how 70% of African Americans facing mental health stigmas have not received treatment. This is a major flaw in the system that needs to be dealt with for these athletes to receive the support needed to compete. 

Blog 2-

    In the United States of America, black culture is enjoyed by all races here whether it comes to art, music, athletics etc. Black excellence is celebrated here in America, but when African American's fail to meet these goals, there is often no excuse for error with these men and women. Raven Saunders, an olympic track athlete, has faced criticism for speaking out about her issues and stigmas. She mentions how this ultimately helped in her transition back into track & field. I agree with Raven Saunders because I know how difficult it can be to come out and be strong about personal situations like this, but this is the start of a revolution for black athletes. If more athletes speak out about their issues involving mental health, it will start a domino affect and make others more comfortable to get help. The stress and importance of "It's OK to not be OK" is crucial to young athletes. If these problems are caught now, it will give athletes an advantage by getting ahead of the curve. This needs to be taught and preached at a young age for teenagers to understand as they make their way through the ranks of competitive athletics. The criticism will die, as the cowardly people will be put in their place with the success of the speaking out movement. Join me and others like Raven Saunders, if you need help, go seek it my friend. And for coaches and mentors of young athletes all around the world, talk to your players and students. These kids lives have a lot going on in them, and not everybody handles those situations as well as others. By providing them with care and being a person they feel comfortable talking to, it will make these players and kids better people. 

Blog 3- 

    The Black Lives Matter movement moved this country into a new wave of social justice. This shows how powerful a speak out movement can be. In the NFL and NBA, their were many players and coaches during the 2019-2020 season who had taken a knee during the playing of our national anthem. Whether people agree with it or not, I am not here today to talk about politics; but what I can tell you is that this movement caught on quick. I like to set example of the peaceful marches and protests that went down across universities and big cities all over the United States. NFL and NBA players often participated in the protests to show gratitude for their people. This same movement can happen with mental health disorders. What I thought stood out to me most was the support that the coaches and mentors of these athletes had for their players, and I personally believe that that needs to be the same with mental health. For athletes to speak out and create this movement, coaches who do their job correctly will see that this is an important issue we are dealing with in today's world of sports. When it comes to African-American athletes, I believe they receive harsher criticism which can lead to stigmas surrounding mental health. These athletes need to be supported instead of being manipulated by fans and coaches. 

Blog 4- 

    After reading Ivan Tchatchouwo's story, it made me very inspired to write this blog. After seeing him relate his story to very known athletes like Dak Prescott and Demar DeRozan, it showed me how important mental health awareness was to the sport's world. Ivan Tchatchouwo described his childhood as violent and perished . This was due to the social scene he grew up in. He grew up in a rough neighborhood for his whole childhood, that was surrounded by drugs, guns, and alcohol all the time. Luckily Ivan was able to make it out of his tough social situation growing up as a kid. How he was able to make it out of the hood while receiving a degree is very impressive. Ivan mentioned how he had dealt with mental health conditions in college from his past in the hood, and was unable to receive any care or help for this. Recently, Dak Prescott and DeMar DeRozan have spoken out about their struggles with mental health. For them, being able speak out about their issues helps them in their everyday life on the field and off. With comfort and support from coaches, teams, and organizations for the athletes, these problems will decrease.

Blog 5- 

    Not to save this for last, but I think this is the most important message that needs to be told to coaches, mentors, and parents across the world. After looking at a study researched by 4 professors from the University of Arkansas, I have deeper knowledge of the perceived mental health barriers for athletes who speak out about their mental health problems. These Arkansas football players participated in the study and their data from the findings is very interesting to look at. What they found was the athletes do not feel comfortable speaking out about their problems. I think that this can be due to the lack of African American males and females that hold leadership positions at universities and professional programs. There are very few black coaches or athletic directors at major universities like Arkansas. If these people were given a better opportunity and held to these leadership positions, black athletes could be more comfortable to talk to a coach they relate to more when it comes to social justice that could be a cause of these problems. 

Conclusion- 

    I think if this campaign were to take off, I could personally sit down and meet with officials from a major university like the University of Arkansas, and discuss the movement along with solutions to better their athletes with training, further knowledge, and more support on the athletes as they power through their everyday lives as an athlete and as a student at a major state university. Thank you for your time today, and come join along in this great movement to give athletes better lives. 

   

References- 

Pictures- 

“WordPress.org.” Openverse, https://wordpress.org/openverse/?referrer=creativecommons.org.

Blog 1- 

Chang, Jonathan, and Meghna Chakrabarti. “How the Burden on Black Athletes Reflects the Experience of Black America.” How The Burden On Black Athletes Reflects The Experience Of Black America | On Point, WBUR, 4 Aug. 2021, https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2021/08/04/how-the-burden-on-black-athletes-reflects-the-experience-of-black-america. 

Blog 2/3- 

Adams, Char. “Young Black Athletes Are Launching a Mental Health Revolution.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 23 July 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/young-black-athletes-are-launching-mental-health-revolution-rcna1490. 

Blog 4-

Tchatchouwo, Ivan. “Black Athletes Speaking out Can Light a Path to Mental Health.” Sportico.com, Sportico.com, 19 Jan. 2022, https://www.sportico.com/business/tech/2022/black-athletes-mental-health-1234658649/. 

Blog 5- 

Stowkowski, Sarah, et al. Black Football Student-Athletes' Perceived Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Services, 2020, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah-Stokowski/publication/338983506_Black_Football_Student-Athletes'_Perceived_Barriers_to_Seeking_Mental_Health_Services/links/5e36428892851c7f7f14854b/Black-Football-Student-Athletes-Perceived-Barriers-to-Seeking-Mental-Health-Services.pdf.