When you ask an athlete “who are you?”, most will tell you “I am a lacrosse player”, “a soccer player”, “a football player”. Usually you will not hear them say “I am caring”, or “I am a daughter”. Athletes today find it difficult to discover an identity that is not associated with their sport.
To them, everything is measured through how successful they are on the field, not off it.
So we asked the 6 college athletes, who have all overcame mental health obstacles with their sport, on our panel at the Take Back Control event this super important question:
𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣?
These are the answers they gave us and they're so so good... so athletes, take notes!
1️⃣ An athlete has to understand that they were a person before they were an athlete
2️⃣ Pray about it
3️⃣Leaning on people you trust such as close friends and family
- Go to someone who makes your feel safe
- Lean on people who will tell you the truth
- Lean on people who will listen to you
4️⃣ Don’t just stay on the surface of your thoughts- dig deep into your thought
5️⃣ Find other hobbies that bring you joy- set aside time in your day for the new hobbies in your life
6️⃣ Making goals for yourself outside of your sport (make your goals have nothing to do with how you are performing athletically)
7️⃣ Break down who you are (taking sports away…you are still you)
- Answer the question: who are you?
8️⃣ Get involved in other organizations and clubs & create relationships outside of sports
After your sport is over, what will hold value to you and what kind of person do you want to be?
Spend some time writing your reflections to that question! 👊
Dedicated to your success on and off the field,
Coach Andrew and the PFP Team
P.S. If you have not had a chance to watch the Take Back Control Athlete Mindset Empowerment Event that happened on June 1 at PFP, you can access that now. Watch the event for free
