Student Athletes are Facing Too Much Pressure

As an athlete, you are often told things such as, “If there is a will there is a way” or, “The best don’t rest.” Statistically, student athletes are more prone to early symptoms of depression and mental exhaustion due to the extreme amounts of pressure they face not only from their sport but maintaining their academic work as well. Realistically, it is near impossible for a high school student to balance school, a high intensity sport, and work all while getting a good nights sleep and not feeling one ounce of pressure. Often times, the pressure student athletes face leads to the student burning out, their grades sharply decreasing, or in the cases of Sarah Shulze, Katie Meyer, and Robert Martin it ends fatally. In order to completely eliminate the impossible standards many collegiate athletes hold themselves to, the stigma around mental health being a weakness needs to disappear completely, and students should feel comfortable in reaching out for help or speaking up about the insane amount of pressure they feel is put on them. Playing a sport while at school should be seen as an amazing opportunity, but must never drain students to where they feel the need to take their own life.