WEST JORDAN, Utah — As FOX13 News continues its series on the pressures facing Utah teens, today’s focus is on the unique challenges student-athletes endure.
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With academic demands, extracurricular responsibilities, and the expectations tied to their sport, the pressure on high school athletes is intense and growing. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 60% of high school athletes report moderate to extreme levels of stress related to their sport, and one-quarter say that stress negatively impacts their performance.
At Copper Hills High School, student-athletes compete on the field while fighting to maintain their mental health. Gretta Clayton, who plays tennis and lacrosse, Maverick Bowles, the school’s quarterback, and Noah Haroldsen, a football and lacrosse player, all excel physically but they still admit the mental demands are just as taxing.
“It’s pretty rough sometimes,” said Clayton. “I had to go off the field and just take a mental break to refocus.” Bowles echoed that sentiment saying "You go to football practice, you go to school, and that can take up most of your day," he said.
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Copper Hills Athletic Director Ben Morley sees this pressure firsthand. With a background in coaching he says “There’s definitely a pressure that comes with being a student-athlete,” Morley said. “In a way, we’ve kind of lost the soul of high school athletics, and we’re in a fight to get that back.”
Morley and his staff are working to return to the roots of education-based athletics, where the emphasis is on growing and developing rather than just winning. While high school-level athletes are not Olympic-level medalists, we wanted to ask an Olympian her perspective.
Two-time Olympic medalist Shannon Bahrke-Happe, a key figure in the 2002 Winter Games, has turned her focus to helping young athletes navigate the intense demands placed on them. “What these athletes are going through in high school is what we were going through as professionals,” Bahrke-Happe said.
Bahrke-Happe dedicates her time to speaking with student-athletes, offering advice on how to manage stress from multiple sources, including parents. She encourages parents to use her “three H’s” strategy to help their children cope: “Do you want me to hug you, hear you, or help you?
Learn more about her missions on her website: https://www.shannonbahrke.com/
The Jordan School District is also addressing the mental health of student-athletes by partnering with the Positive Coaching Alliance, an organization that promotes leadership development and stress management in athletics. “They want to put that stress, pressure, and expectations on themselves,” said Brian Veazie, the district’s athletic director said adding “The partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance provides us the opportunity to focus on training leadership and creating lifelong memories.”
For athletes like Bowles, Haroldsen, and Clayton despite experiencing the pressures of competition, they’ve learned to refocus and manage stress, both physically and mentally through the Positive Coaching Alliance classes. “There have been times where I’ve been overwhelming myself and just been very stressed,” Bowles admitted. But through mental training, he’s learned to manage those feelings and help others perform their best.
So as game day approaches once again, these athletes are ready to face the challenge but for those student-athletes who are struggling, peer-to-peer these athletes had this advice: “Just try your best. Focus on what you’re doing,” Clayton advised. “Staying on your toes can help for the next point, game, set, match.”
Bowles added, “You have to be confident in yourself, not only on the field but in every aspect of life. You have to believe.”
Haroldsen shared his approach to handling stress: “Refocus and take deep breaths.”
For parents and athletes looking for guidance, the Positive Coaching Alliance has free resources to help you: https://positivecoach.org/resource-zone/
The pressures on Utah teens don’t stop at sports, and throughout this week FOX13 New is exploring the various pressures teens face. On Thursday night we will cover the topic of appearance, focusing on how teens are constantly subjected to pressures about their looks and how teens are even turning to plastic surgery.
