There is a very big misunderstanding when it comes to playing sports. Most people do not understand the mental challenge sports create in the person’s mind, creating not just doubt but hate in general. Many people say it’s an easy thing to overcome but if you’re the one with the problems, you would understand that it’s a physically and mentally challenging thing to face.
Sports are games that people only ever focus on winning but don’t realize all the actual stress that happens while learning and playing with both your skills and mind. Since sports are meant to be fun, most people don’t realize how nerve racking it is. With people wanting to become professionals in sports, with its tough conditions, it tends to have people later on hate it
Many people that you didn’t know had or have this problem. Harper Murray, a hitter on the Nebraskan volleyball team, has that same problem of her mentality being broken because of her sport. She became drained, having thoughts of quitting, and she started having a very negative outlook on the world. As she stated in an interview, “I think I was just at a point where I was just hurt so much by what other people thought that I was self-sabotaging myself,” Murray said. “And self-sabotaging my team and everybody around me because I didn’t realize how hurt I was on the inside. My mom and my coaches knew I was struggling for a while, and they were all trying to help me…My coaches have been supportive, but I don’t feel like I deserve it.” This shows that even with support she struggled because of her self doubt and experiences she had to go through from the fans and the people around her. This problem does not only happen to top elite players but also to beginners. These are real problems that many people struggle with and I think that it isn’t okay to just say that sports are easy and that people are overreacting because that isn’t the truth.
This problem has been shown to me from my own life experiences too. I started playing volleyball in 6th grade, training two times a week for more than three hours a day. My coach was not the nicest person, having favorites and screaming at me for the smallest mistakes. Instead of actually helping me they screamed at me demanding me to do tactics that I knew I wasn’t capable of doing. This hurt me very much mentally and resulted in me thinking that I wasn’t good enough and wouldn’t get any better. I started getting in my head, getting mad at myself after the smallest mistakes, training on the court even when I had a bad injury, and never telling anybody if I was feeling light headed or sick. My coach put me in that headspace where I thought I was weak if I told someone I felt sick. This wasn’t healthy. By the end of 8th grade I hated the sport, trying every excuse in the book to just get out of it. My mom started noticing it but I didn’t have the guts to tell her the real reason why I didn’t want to go. My mindset stayed the same until I got a new coach that actually appreciated everyone and tried to help everyone with the things they were struggling with. I started slowly recognizing that I was in a very toxic environment before and that it wasn’t my fault that things didn’t work out, that it was okay to make mistakes because it’s the effort that counts. This brings me to understanding and talking about the problem that sports are not just a game about a ball, but a game with a physical and mental challenge that has the power to impact someone deeply.
This problem will keep on holding you down until you actually do something about it. Some helpful solutions to this is taking a break from your sport, letting your mind and self rest. Another solution is reflecting on your mistakes, going through what you can improve from, and not drowning yourself in doubt. Another solution you could do is setting clear goals, making short and long-term goals for yourself. The last solution you could do is seek support. I understand that this is a challenging solution and a big thing that most people are blocking themselves from doing but it is very necessary when you’re hurting from something you can fix. I didn’t seek help and now I have a big problem because of that, but you can and should.
I’ve said this once and I am saying this again, sports are not just playing with a ball but playing with the mind. You don’t know what’s going on in a person’s head and they don’t know what’s going on in yours. You need to understand that there is a deeper meaning to something when you’re the one going through it. You can not say that it’s not that deep when you never went through it. Many people struggle without others knowing. Don’t state things without the knowledge of what it can do to people.
Veronika Burak – Fenwick High School – DMSF Class of 2029
Photo Credit: Siarhei – Adobe Stock