For this first round of research, I will focus on the sources of pressure that young athletes experience, especially from parents, coaches, and competition, and how these pressures can begin to affect their mental health like having stress, anxiety, and burnout.
Coaches can create pressure when they constantly expect perfect performances, winning, and perfection in training and competition. Athletes may feel that mistakes are unacceptable, which can increase anxiety and make them overthink everything they do. This type of environment can reduce confidence and negatively impact mental well being. This happens even more when athletes always feel like they don’t ever reach expectations. Coaches can often create more pressure by having outburts and unnecessary punishments for the smallest of mistakes. For example, during a volleyball game, a team might win, but lose a lot of points to serving, so once they get to practice after that game, the coach might make them run laps until he says stop. This drill isn’t helping them improve their serves, but be scared of practice after a game or be angry at their teammates who make mistakes. (1)
Competition is a major source of pressure because athletes are usually compared to teammates and opponents. This comparison can create a fear of failure and a strong pressure to perform perfectly during games or events or better than others, losing their ability to be able do teamwork. Over time, this can increase stress levels and reduce the enjoyment and motivation to do their sport. Everyone says there is a healthy amount of competition for everyone which can help them improve while this is true for some people, for others it might make them no longer enjoy their sport and just constantly compare themselves to other players. (2)
Parents can be a huge source of pressure in youth sports when they put a lot of pressure on their kid about winning, results, or high achievement. This can lead young athletes to feel that they are valued or liked by their parents when they perform well, rather than being appreciated for effort or improvement. Over time, this pressure can increase stress, reduce enjoyment, and make sports feel more like an obligation than something fun. This can also cause tension between the child and their parents because they feel like they can’t talk to them without feeling judged. Another thing it can do is placing this pressure on other things when the parent has never mentioned that other activity. For example, the child might bring home a bad mark on a test and this makes them anxious and scared to tell their parents because they have made them feel like they need to be perfect in everything they do. (3)
Citations:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1469029221002181
- https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/773681
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398203304_Between_Support_and_Strain_How_Perceived_Parental_Involvement_Relates_to_Competitive_Young_Athletes’_Well-Being_and_Basic_Psychological_Needs
Thank you for reading!
