Entry #6 Sports and the Effects on Mental Health
For those who have played sports we all know the mentality that comes along with them. However, I want to cover some of the toxic areas that most people don't see specifically wrestling. Wrestling is an individual combat sport where matches are determined by weight class and rank being JV or varsity. Which doesn't seem all that bad until we start talking about the coaches and others on the team.
Unfortunately, coaches will push you to your limits to make you a certain weight in order for your school or club to have the best rankings. Meaning they will suggest laxatives, throwing up, and not eating to make weight causing a toxic environment. This also had long term effects such as eating disorders for the wrestler.
While yes wrestling is a fun sport and at the end of the day it's up to the wrestler on what they do these things should not be getting pushed onto young impressionable athletes. Sadly, I personally know many athletes who also experienced this and are still dealing with it today. Because of this I think we should pick coaches more carefully to ensure things like this don't happen anymore especially for younger athletes.
Hey Jacob coaches can defiantly have a toll on an athletes mental health. Ive see kids stop playing a sport because of the coaches and I agree it can get toxic at times. Schools should defiantly be more careful in choosing coaches for the students as it can have a bad effect on their mental health.
ReplyDeleteHi Jacob! I consider myself a pretty athletic/sporty person, so I tend to think of only the positives that come from it. You're post really put things into perspective for me. Although something (a sport) may seem entirely positive it is good to reflect on the negatives so we can be aware of them and address them.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in high school always wanting to join wrestling but my grandfather that was a wrestler in high school always said to keep away from it. I had friends in wrestling that would talk about how toxic it was and how their health was not the best. This is a topic that needs to be talked more about!
ReplyDeleteHello Jacob, I enjoyed reading your post! I can agree that coaches can be the main causes for many athletes down fall. As someone who’s played basketball for 3 years during high-school I would say I had some pretty bad coaches who made me question staying in the sport.
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