#athlete mental health

[haveacupofjohanny]

Sunday Hot Topic: The Courage to Prioritize Mental Health – Lessons from Simone Biles

Simone Biles shows us that prioritizing mental health isn't weakness, but strength. Let's break the stigma and embrace mental wellness. #mentalhealth #couragetotakeabreak #strengthofmind #mentalwellness

In the high-stakes world of competitive sports, athletes are often idolized for their physical prowess, resilience, and mental toughness. Yet, when Simone Biles made the unprecedented decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics to prioritize her mental health, she faced a barrage of criticism that illuminated a deeper societal issue: the pervasive stigma surrounding mental health. Simone Biles,…

[joyfinder]

Today, I found my fix of childlike joy in one of my favorite places: the climbing gym! I've noticed lately that I've had trouble progressing in my climbing. I had a big burst of improvement for a few months, which quickly plateaued. I lost that crazy serotonin rush that I would get from sending a new limit or flashing a really hard route. I'm now trying to rediscover fun in my favorite sport. I did that today by trying a dyno on one of the routes set at my gym. One of my favorite feelings is being able to throw and catch myself on really powerful moves. So instead of spending all my playing energy on hard routes that my ego wants to reach the top of, I went to a route that I knew had a fun move in it (that I had not successfully stuck yet). This was a 12+, so if I'm not putting all my energy and focus into it, it is very unlikely that I will send it. This allowed me to not worrying about how far I'm going to get on the route. The end goal wasn't to send it. I just wanted to try that super fun move. This was a good call on my part because I had a BLAST and even ended up successfully doing the move. Sometimes I just need to tie a rope to me and throw myself up a wall with no intentions of actually reaching the top. These ten minutes of what felt like playing (rather than competing with myself and others) has already brought me more excitement towards the sport than I've had in the past few months.

Stop doing what you think you're SUPPOSED to be doing. Follow what your mind is trying so hard to draw you towards. For me, it was that silly dyno that caused me to swing 15 feet into my belayer's arms every time I missed (it is super overhung and one of the first moves on the route; he is not a bad belayer).

[suchananewsblog]

Finding a Path Forward: Runner Molly Seidel Takes Control of her ADHD

[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: Molly Seidel is one of only three American women to medal in the Olympics in one of the most brutal of events– the marathon. Perhaps what’s even more remarkable about Molly is her success in overcoming a series of mental health challenges. [MUSIC PLAYING] MOLLY SEIDEL: Having lived with various forms of neurodiversity and mental illness since basically…

[codewithcode]

High school star among 4 killed in Alabama party shooting

DADEVILLE, Ala. — A high school senior who planned to play college football was celebrating at his sister’s 16th birthday party Saturday night in Alabama when gunfire killed him and three other people and wounded several others. Police were gathering evidence Sunday at a dance studio where the party was held in downtown Dadeville. They did not immediately say if a suspect was in custody, or if…

[reportwire]

West Virginia Senate passes modified transgender care ban

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Republican supermajority Senate passed a bill Friday that would ban certain health care for transgender youth after approving a significant change to add exceptions for young people at risk for self harm or suicide. “These kids struggle, they have incredible difficulties,” said Majority Leader Tom Takubo, a pulmonologist, who urged support for mental health…

[drowningswimmer]

Thursday Night Thoughts

Nobody prepares you for your life to fall apart. One minute you’re moving into college, making all these friends, and the next you’re sitting in a doctor’s office being told you might never be able to swim again. Your family asks you how you’re doing, and you say “It’s great! I love everything about it!” but you don’t tell them that you had to withdraw from your English class because you were failing. You think that maybe being a student-athlete might work until the surgery that will end your pain will end your career.

         You go to physical therapy twice a week. You do your exercises and get frustrated with your physical therapists every time they make you stop because you’re in pain. You want to cry and say that you can do more, that this is nothing, anything to speed up the recovery process. Losing your friends, your teammates, and your family seems like the end of the world. One minute you’re making goals, everything seems to be looking up, and the next you’re crying in the athletic trainer’s office relaying the orthopedist’s bad news. You don’t even care if you’ll be good again or not, you just want to swim. You just want to not have to modify lifts again. You just want to be okay again, in manageable conditions without paying money to feel that way.

         Feeling like you’re letting a coach down is one of the worst feelings. They didn’t sign on for this. Bringing in a recruit, a new commit, and an ecstatic freshman should be great. There shouldn’t be problems. They shouldn’t be getting day-to-day updates from the athletic trainer on the plan for practice that day.

         But hey, at least you’re doing good in your classes, right? Wrong. Having so much on my plate with classes, homework, practices, physical therapy, and doctor’s appointments, I could go on and on and on. It’s not easy. Do you have the grades to show for it? B’s, yeah. The withdrawal from English is certainly screwing you up. But you’re the oldest child—the one that always seems fine, so how are you supposed to reach out about these issues? You’re one of the only non-bio majors in your class, how can you compare to their workload?

         But it’s worth it. It’s worth it to have your nightly roommate movie and tv show nights. It’s worth it to be friends with everyone in the athletic trainer's office. It’s worth it to finally see your work pay off in the classroom and the gym. It’s worth it to have your teammates care for and check in on you when you’re not doing okay. It’s worth it to say you made it through hell and got out on the other side a little scraped but otherwise fine. You made it. You’ll make it. It’ll be hard, but you’ll make it.

         Your world might crumble in a matter of minutes. Mine did. It might have been minutes at a time, spread over weeks and weeks and weeks. The straw that broke the camel’s back was an orthopedist’s appointment. Getting told that I might never swim again and that he felt the surgery that could potentially change my life wouldn’t be worth it was horrendous. It felt like I was being lied to—or on a prank show. That the surgery that could fix my shoulder might make it worse. I cried on the way down in the elevator because I was so tired. So tired of more and more shit being thrown at me over the years, and this could be the worst of it all. So, I break down in the trainer’s office. I let them tell me everything’s going to be okay, that we need to make some decisions, and that they’ve got me to take all the time I need. I cry again in my coach’s office, telling them again what just happened.

I still go to physical therapy twice a week. I still break down in the locker room after kicking with my silly little kickboard for an hour. I still feel isolated. I’m still benched indefinitely while we work on my shoulder strength. I can’t tell you everything’s going to be okay yet, because I’m still fighting.

[aithxsa]

Female athletes face unique mental health battles: pressure & media scrutiny often lead to stress, anxiety & even eating disorders. Join us in breaking the stigma & empowering women athletes to prioritize their mental well-being

https://www.athletesforhope.org/

[cassmartin]

Cass Martin

[getting-bett3r]

[joan-of-arse2]

physique update 5/4/24

110lbs

may the fourth be with you young padawans

idk how much longer i can keep going before i fully lose my mind. idk anymore. not doing well this week.

[luxuriascloset]

Sofia Wylie, Marsai Martin and Simone Biles look gorgeous while attending the kate spade new york Global Summit on Women's Mental Health.

[codewithcode]

WV Senate joins GOP effort to limit trans youth health care

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Republican supermajority Senate followed a growing national trend of GOP opposition to health care for transgender youth by passing a bill that would ban certain treatments and therapies, while approving a significant change to add exceptions for mental health. The Senate version of the bill passed by a count of 30-2 on Friday was noteworthy in the addition of…

[silentreigns]

Not even being dramatic when I say this is the 2nd worst gymnastics scandal after Sydney 2000. The FIG should be ASHAMED of themselves for their handling of this Olympics

[breakthebeam]

.

[nickysfacts]

Little Mac was greatly based off a famous boxer who suffered from toxic masculinity🥊

[healthy-teenage-weightloss]

You need to learn to love yourself before you change yourself, it’s hard to change anything in the image of hatred. I know it’s hard, but you can do it!