As the captain of their sports team walks by, an outsider may admire them and their athletic appearance, without even knowing the hidden battles beneath the surface. Athletes may appear to be living a physically healthy life, yet that’s not considering the mental aspect. These athletes are constantly competing not just against their opponents but also against coaches' expectations, teammates, and even mental health disorders. Day in and day out, athletes give up their normal lives and become absorbed in excelling at their sport. Pressure to succeed for not just themselves, but everyone around them begins to weigh them down. At some point, all these athletes are no longer going to find joy in something they once loved. Through its competitive …show more content…
The results of these drugs can cause harm and can lead to worse problems. Substance use is not the only health problem sports are responsible for, New York Times best-selling author, Sarah Chrisman and associates, worked together to write the journal article, “Mental Health in the High School Sports Context: A Qualitative Interview Study of Athletes and Coaches.” They conducted interviews with sports coaches and concluded that “The most common athlete emotional crises discussed by coaches were suicidality and eating disorders, followed by anger/violence and panic attacks/ anxiety. Athletes described issues with performance pressure, juggling multiple commitments and managing negative emotions (frustration and stress) in a sport context” (Chrisman et al., 2024, p.69). Every athlete wants to succeed, however, at the end of the day, it’s just a sport. The majority of these athletes are just high school students who want to do something with their time. However, athletes begin to struggle with all the commitments they have to “juggle” along with the pressure to perform at their highest level and all the different emotions that come with
Taylor, Hopkins. Substance abuse issues to Offending Athletes. Miami: Beachwood Press, pages 35-37. 2009. Print.
Marcovitz, Hal. How Serious a Problem Is Drug Use in Sports? San Diego: Reference Point Press, 2013. Print.
Athletes in times of difficulty can be important role models.” This shows that sports are in fact helpful because they can grow children into being important role models for the rest of society. Studies have shown time and time again that playing sports can be beneficial to children and we also believe this to be true. Many people still think that sports cause “too many injuries”, or coaches “are not fair enough”, but adolescents will experience these things all throughout their lives because injury can happen anywhere and they will not always be the best at what they are doing. Sports are beneficial to the youth because they can teach children and teens important life skills, help them maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle, all while improving their mental health.
With television and computer so common in today’s society, more and more people spend much time at home watching sport shows. Young children grow up with their heroes being famous athletes they see on TV everyday. These young children grow up wanting to be just like the people they have watched for years on television. Becoming a great athlete is a dream of many young people and also their parents. Because steroids have seemed to make it a lot easier for people to attain the goals they have set out to accomplish, many people have turned to the drugs to gain that goal. Without thinking about the physical side effects or the mental side effects that steroids can have on them, they are willing to risk all that to become bigger, stronger, or faster just to succeed in sports whether it be in junior high, high school, college or at the professional level.
1 in 4 people will be affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives. Depression affects 20-25% of Americans ages 18+ in a given year (CDC.) Student athletes are students who go to school but participate in athletics at the same time. Student athletes are at a higher risk due to having different stress factors that normal students don't have to go through during their college or high school athletic careers. Major events would be the death of Madison Holleran.
Athletes put their lives in danger by using performance enhancement drugs. They use these drugs to gain physical advantages for their sporting events. These methods have been around for thousands of years. According to research, “In ancient Greece, Olympic athletes would ingest huge portions of meat that contained testosterone and creatine before they competed. They would also consume large quantities of alcoholic beverages and lamb testicles” (“Steroids”). Today, sportspersons have a drug policy due to health hazards, violence and incapability’s of normal performances. From lamb chops to steroids, many athletes are willing to destroy their bodies to become “popular” legends.
The age of overwhelming strength and stamina governing sports is over, and the age of the mentally tough athlete has arrived. Athletes are no longer the superficial jocks and robots programmed to accomplish one goal, victory. Modern athletes ranging from the high school to professional levels are faced with many pressures and temptations, normally outside the realm of their sport. These pressures can inhibit an athlete’s performance substantially; therefore, the pressures need to be dealt with by psychologists. The effectiveness of sports psychology is demonstrated through the fields many theories, applications, and variety of techniques and procedures.
Nelson, Elizabeth Ann. Coping with drugs and sports. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1992. Print.
The study by Tricker and Connolly (1997) examined the attitudes of athletes who were at risk for using steroids, amphetamines, cocaine, and marijuana. They found that seventeen percent of the athletes surveyed felt that marijuana use was an acceptable way to cope with the pressures of sport. Also the main reason for athletes abstaining from drug use was their fear of g...
We watch football players tackle and shove each other, risking brain or spine damage. We watch volleyball players diving head first to hit the ball back to the opponent. We watch baseball players running head first into fences, sliding into bases, just to make a catch or play. But what we don't understand is why-- why do they use drugs? Why do they feel the need to drug themselves up for one game? Well, it may be as simple as the fact that they don't want to risk injury or feel the pain as strongly if they do get injured. “Given the true problems in our society, should we be investing federal money and angst over professional athletes trying to make themselves better and their teams better, and in the process making their sports more interesting? Don’t we watch professional sports to see superhuman effort and talent? We ask players to run head first into fences to make catches, and to risk brain or spinal damage while making tackles, but we cringe at the idea of them sticking a thin needle into a vein.”(Souhan). We watch athletes almost die or get seriously injured during a game, but we cannot stand the thought of them even shooting up. We don't want drugs to be used at all in sports, but they are so common everywhere now that the fans don’t really care anymore, or at least they seem like they
In the world of sports, athletes face not only the physical challenges of their game, but also the complex dynamics of coaching styles and team interactions. Without a proper coach and positive team culture, it can become very difficult for athletes to maintain their well-being while also trying to succeed at the game they love. Although there is much debate, many people believe strict and toxic coaching is necessary for athletic success, a careful examination would show that toxic coaching and team cultures have a substantial effect on athletes and their mental health and well-being. Toxic coaching and team cultures are detrimental to athletes' mental health, impact their performance and enjoyment of the sport, and delay their overall development as athletes. Toxic coaching and toxic team cultures have been proven to be detrimental to an athlete's mental health and can lead to a domino of negative long-term consequences, including burnout, mental health issues, and the potential loss of talented athletes (Masters).
Confucius once said, "he who does not do well is less guilty than he who pushes too hard." People found that competitive sports are often physically straining and it is detrimental to proper emotional development. This blows away the misconception that competitive sports create a healthy and engaging atmosphere for kids. This and an overly strong obsession with winning create a toxic mix for the child’s wellbeing. People have begun to realize the world of competitive may be doing more harm than good for their children. Parents have also begun to notice that competitive sports often injure their children severely and also make the child feel left out, which in turn is detrimental to the child 's emotional health. Therefore, competitive sports
Sports psychology is the study of how psychology influences sports, athletic performance, exercise and physical activity. Some sports psychologists work with professional athletes and coaches to improve performance and increase motivation. Other professionals use exercise and sports to enhance people’s lives and well-being. While finding ways to help athletes is certainly an important part of sports psychology, the application of exercise and physical activity for improving the lives of non-athletes is also a major focus.
Today, drug use in sport has reached enormous proportions in society and is destroying athletics from the ground up. Nowhere is the problem more serious than in professional athletics, where athletes, coaches and trainers misuse drugs in search of ways of ways to improve performance. Many athletes fail to take their time when making the decision whether to use drugs to their advantage. Unfortunately athletes may use drugs for therapeutic indications, recreatio9nal or social reasons, as muscular aids or to mask the presence of other drugs during drug testing. But the safety of the athlete's health is being neglected. Drug use has led to an increased number of deaths and suspensions of athletes. Also, if this continues all athletes someday will have to choose whether to compete at a world-class level and take drugs, or compete at a club level and be clean. In sports, athletes, coaches and trainers will try their best to find a way to reach the top level. They not only search for a way to enhance performance...
Thus, he or she not only endangers himself but also others (Jost, 2004). The argument in this regard is based on ensuring safety and protection for fellow sportsmen and not to endanger their lives by negatively inspiring them (Walsh, 2007). A sportsman should be dedicated to showing the true and natural human potential and not the potential of some drugs. The essence of humanity lies in pursuing sports and competition in a constructive and not in a destructive manner (Walsh, 2007). The findings and studies in this area are numerous in number which shows that there is an agreement among the researchers and those who value ethics and morality that drugs should not be used in sports under any circumstances.