More Than An Athlete
Lessons in Balance, Resilience, and Connection
While athletes are often celebrated for their physical strength and ability to perform under pressure, they also face mental health challenges much like anyone else. For student-athletes, the pressures are multifaceted: balancing academics with demanding practice schedules, meeting expectations from coaches, teammates, and parents, and coping with the physical toll of intense training that can outpace recovery. Injuries often compound these stressors, isolating athletes from teammates who serve as vital sources of support. For some, identity also becomes a struggle—having spent most of their lives defined by sports, they may find little space to explore who they are beyond their athletic role. Every journey is different, but the pressures are real, and they extend far beyond the scoreboard.
As an All-American cross country runner at the University of Michigan, I learned firsthand how burnout and mental health challenges can ripple into injury, identity loss, and struggles with mental health. While I wore my work ethic like a badge of honor, underneath, I was battling exhaustion and the early signs of burnout, signals I ignored because of the stigmatized belief that if you’re hurting, you just aren’t mentally tough enough.
Looking back, I’m grateful for the challenges I faced as an athlete because they gave me perspective and ultimately guided me toward the field of counseling. I believe we each have a responsibility to share what we’ve learned, so others don’t always have to struggle through the same lessons on their own. With that in mind, here are a few key insights I wish I could have offered my younger self—wisdom I now share with athletes and their families to help safeguard mental health, support physical well-being, and preserve a true love for the sport.
Lighten Up - You Can Still Have Fun While Pursuing Your Goals
Don’t get me wrong, successful people make sacrifices to reach their goals. If you want to be a starter as a freshman, talent can take you a long way, but ultimately it is dedication, perseverance, and hard work that lead to long-term success. An all-or-nothing mindset is common in athletes who become so focused on achievement that they neglect other parts of life. Yet when we cut out the things that bring us joy, like hobbies, rest, or time with family and friends, we risk disengaging from the very relationships and activities that make life enriching and worthwhile.
Neuroscience shows that by engaging in pleasurable activities we can trigger the brain’s reward system, releasing feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine, which reinforces motivation, uplifts mood, and helps guard against depressive symptoms. All work and no play might get you short-term results, but it also drains the recovery and joy needed for longevity in your sport.
Practice:
Schedule time 1–2 times a week to connect with the people you love or to engage in a hobby that speaks to you!
Prioritize recovery the same way you prioritize training. Rest isn’t the opposite of hard work, it’s what makes hard work effective.
When exploring different therapists, reading their bios can give some insight into their experience or expertise in working with your child’s age group or your child’s condition. Therapists should be licensed and credentialed, and this information should be included in their introduction. These include Licensed Associate/Professional Counselors (LACs or LPCs), Licensed Psychologists, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFTs), and Licensed Master/Clinical Social Workers (LMSWs or LCSWs).
Progress Over Perfection - Adopting a Growth Mindset
As a recovering perfectionist, I know first-hand how hard it is to hold yourself to a standard that rarely lets you celebrate small wins. Many of my former teammates and the students I coach would beat themselves up after an “off day,” disappointed they didn’t hit their fastest time. It’s normal to feel disappointed, especially if we put hours of practice into our sport. The reality is there will always be off days, days when we don’t feel at our best, when our performance doesn’t match expectations. We are human - perfectly imperfect.
Here’s where a growth mindset can change the narrative. Rather than seeing mistakes as proof you’re failing, a growth mindset frames them as opportunities to learn, evolve, and get better. In sport, athletes who endorse growth-minded beliefs are more likely to reflect on what went wrong, adjust their process, and bounce back with resilience. Research shows that in athletic populations, those with a high growth mindset tend to perform at higher levels, partly because they cope better with setbacks.
Practice:
After your next game or training session, take a few minutes to reflect on the following:
Two wins: List two things you did well and feel proud of. Be specific: What exactly did you do? How did it feel in the moment?
One growth area: Write down one area you’d like to improve next time. For each one, outline a simple step you can take to work on it.
Plan & review: Keep this list somewhere you’ll see it. Look back at it during the week and before your next practice to remind yourself of both your strengths and your growth area.
Your Win Is My Win - The Power of ‘We’ Versus ‘Me’
Competitiveness is part of the game. It’s what pushes athletes to train harder, aim higher, and give their best on and off the field. But when that drive turns into constant comparison, it can start working against us. I’ve seen players stress about whether they’ll make the lineup or if someone else will take “their” spot. Suddenly, teammates become rivals, and that’s not exactly a recipe for a positive team culture.
I’m not saying we all need to hold hands and sing kumbaya, but shifting from a me-centered mindset to a we-centered one changes everything. Teammates can become motivators instead of threats, reminders that their success reflects what’s possible for us too. When we learn to celebrate others’ wins as if they were our own, we create a culture of trust, encouragement, and healthy competitiveness—the kind that pushes everyone to grow rather than tear each other down. In fact, research shows that athletes that feel closer to their teammates report feeling more supported, more confident in their abilities, and more excited, not anxious, before competition. In other words, when we invest in the people around us, we don’t just feel better, we all perform better.
Practice:
Spend time together off the field. Grab lunch after a game, plan a team outing, or hang out just to laugh about something other than practice.
Build your teammates up. Notice what they’re doing well and say it out loud. Genuine encouragement goes a long way, especially after mistakes or tough practices.
Turn comparison into curiosity. If you feel jealous or triggered by a teammate’s success, pause and ask yourself what it is you admire about them. Let that reflection inspire you to grow in your own way, and remind yourself of the strengths you bring to the team.
Reaching Out For Support - You Don’t Have To Do It All On Your Own
One of the biggest lessons I learned over the years is that asking for help isn’t a weakness, it's a strength. Most athletes struggle at some point, whether it’s balancing expectations, dealing with injury, or trying to rediscover their love for the game. Still, research shows that many athletes hesitate to seek help. Studies have found that athletes often feel they should be able to handle things on their own or worry about being seen as weak or burdensome. Others fear that talking about struggles might hurt their performance or reputation. However, even the best athletes in the world seek out help. They have coaches, trainers, therapists, mentors, and teammates, a community of people who help them navigate the mental, emotional, and physical sides of performance. They understand that being at their best isn’t about doing it all alone.
Strength isn’t just about pushing through, it’s about knowing when to lean on others and let someone walk beside you. Whether you’re working toward a new level of focus, trying to rediscover your confidence, or just need someone who gets it, reaching out can be the first step towards growth.
Camille Davre, LAC
References:
Cosh, S. M., McNeil, D. G., Jeffreys, A., Clark, L., & Tully, P. J. (2024). Athlete mental health help-seeking: A systematic review and meta-analysis of rates, barriers and facilitators. Psychology of sport and exercise, 71, 102586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102586
McNeil, D. G., Phillips, W. J., & Scoggin, S. A. (2023). Examining the importance of athletic mindset profiles for level of sport performance and coping. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 22(4), 995–1011. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2023.2180073
Oh, Y. (2023). Communication and Team Cohesion Moderate the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Athletic Performance. SAGE Open, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231195196
Wolf, S. A., Eys, M., Allen, M. S., von Oertzen, T., & Stoll, O. (2025). Gathering strength in numbers: Higher team cohesion leads to greater precompetitive excitement through enhanced social support, self-efficacy, and coping. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2025.2524561