'This is what you do. It's not who you are'

But behind every moment is an athlete: Someone who works countless hours to get to the level where they can inspire others. 

Oftentimes, what is forgotten is the human behind the performance who faces the same daily struggles that any other person goes through. The pressure to perform for not only themselves but their community can weigh on them. 

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Conversations surrounding mental health in sports are increasing, with iconic athletes like Simone Biles coming forward to candidly discuss the issue. However, there is still stigma and a fear among athletes that they will seem less tough if they are open about it.

“I think in some ways we're getting there,” Central Michigan University student athlete designated counselor Brooke Bechtel said. “But the sports environment has been a little behind in picking up on what that could look like, to create a mentally healthy environment for our student-athletes to thrive.”

Mental health in CMU Athletics 

On CMU’s campus, Bechtel works with student athletes to help them through the unique struggles they go through. She has been in that role for seven years. 

According to Bechtel, 25% of the total student athlete population reaches out for individual counseling throughout the year. 

She said a major theme that she sees with athletes is identity in sport — how students see themselves in their performance. That can include athletes who are transitioning into and out of college sports, along with athletes who deal with injury. 

While she said male and female athletes deal with similar issues, she said that there are some different themes she sees among women, compared to men.

The lack of professional opportunities for female athletes can lead to mental health issues because they will no longer play their sport after graduation, Bechtel said.

In the Women’s National Basketball Association, women’s biggest professional athletic league, only 36 players were picked in the 2024 WNBA Draft. According to the NCAA, there are 351 women basketball programs in Division I, which gives women athletes limited opportunity to make it at the professional level. 

In a well being survey completed by the NCAA in 2023, researchers found that women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ athletes dealt with higher rates of mental health issues. The survey said that 29% of women athletes “felt overwhelmingly anxiety,” compared to 9% of male athletes.

Bechtel said women engage with mental health services more, perhaps because there is less stigma for women than for male athletes. 

“I would confidently say the stigma remains higher among male student athletes than female student athletes,” she said. “Female student athletes, in my experience, are more likely to engage in help-seeking for mental health than our males. 

"So this data could potentially be skewed, saying that they access it more, but I wouldn't say that the concerns are greater.”

Even though they are athletes, Bechtel said students don’t just talk about being an athlete because of the unique experiences that make them who they are. 

“At the end of the day, you still are supporting the mental health of the human across from you,” Bechtel said. “You still have to approach them like you would any other. What has that been like for them?… It can be harmful to assume that the individual across would fit within those themes.

"Everyone can experience the exact same environment, but have a very different reaction to it.”

“Student athletes are often criticized (for) their wins and losses … performance on and off the field, and remember, this is a human. They are so much more than their number (and) their stat book.”

Brooke Bechtel
Central Michigan University student athlete designated counselor 

Human first 

Bechtel said one of the most important aspects when looking at student athlete mental health is to recognize that all athletes are humans first, reminding people that these athletes are 18 to 22 years old.

“I think student athletes are often criticized (for) their wins and losses of performance on and off the field, and remember, this is a human,” Bechtel said. “They are so much more than their number (and) their stat book.” 

CMU softball assistant coach Sara Driesenga recognized the importance of pushing her players to perform well, but she said that starts with making sure they are at their best mentally.

“As a coach, I care about them first as a person and then, obviously, as an athlete,” Driesenga said. “That's always our job is to have them perform well, so if we want them to do that, we really have to start with their mental health and make sure that they're doing OK in their everyday life, so that they can show up and be present and perform.”

When athletes are at their best mentally and programs prioritize a human-first mindset, it can lead to better performance on the field, Bechtel said.

“Systems that appreciate the human first, rather than the performance, could be really beneficial for anyone's mental health, which in turn will improve performance,” Bechtel said. “We perform better when we're feeling better."

Along with spending countless hours perfecting their craft in their sport, student athletes also have to focus on excelling in the classroom, relationships and unpredictable moments, like any other collegian.

Former CMU softball player and current assistant coach Abbey Tolmie was a part of the 2022 softball team that experienced a bus crash while traveling in South Carolina. According to a Central Michigan Life article about the accident, the bus driver fell unconscious, which caused the bus to go to the side of the road for 250 yards.

A day later, the Chippewas had to play.

Tolmie had lost family members in a different car crash prior to the team’s February 2022 incident. 

“That impacted me really at a deeper level, and then (we had to) continue to play right after that,” Tolmie said. 

Tolmie said the team wasn’t given any time to process the traumatic event, and wasn’t provided much help from the university in terms of classwork and extensions. That made it harder for her to work through all the emotions that came with the crash.  

"It kind of felt like they made it seem like it was a fender bender, and that wasn't the case," Tolmie said. "So it was just kind of like a difficult time for all of us, but we really became stronger together and leaned on each other.” 

She said the team was able to get through it because of each other and their coaches. 

“We maybe had, like, nine hours before we had to do it again (ride a bus),” Tolmie said. “So, it was just really important to lean on each other.”

The accident also led to more conversations within the team about being more open about the struggles they were going through.

“That was the first-and-only time I ever received counseling or help at all, which I shared with my teammates,” Tolmie said. “And multiple of us had to reach out for help because it was just too much.”

Finding that support within her team is a major reason that Tolmie was able to get through the accident. She said the relationships she built with her teammates throughout her college career were irreplaceable. 

“They don't even have to express that they're struggling for you to see it,” Tolmie said. “And I think that's just so important. It's kind of like basically girlhood to the max, so we absolutely take advantage of that.”

Identity in sport

A majority of athletes struggle with the fact that their performance defines how they see themselves. 

Athletes work their entire life to make it to the collegiate level, and they can oftentimes define their identity by the sport they play. 

“I'm often having conversations with student athletes about ‘This is what you do, it's not who you are,’” Bechtel said. “And sometimes that feels confusing for them too.”

The pressure  put on athletes to perform — whether through social media, family, coaches or themselves — is common for Division I athletes. This is because there is so much care and work put into the highest levels of college sport.

“It is a sport or something that we have been focusing on, typically, from a very young age; and working to perfect to be able to get to this level,” Bechtel said. “Clearly (it takes) a high level of talent to be able to make it to the Division One level.

“And so, that does not come without internal and external expectations (and) performance pressures.”

As a college athlete, Tolmie said it is not so much the pressure from outside sources, but that which athletes put on themselves to perform at their best.

“I think anybody who cares so much about their sport kind of deals with (identity in sport), and it's almost like it's a good and a bad thing,” Tolmie said. “I've given so much of my life to it and I've cared so much about it and it's a big part of me. It has a lot of my friendships and relationships and role models tied to the sport … you want to make yourself proud, make them proud, make Central proud. 

“So I think it's a good thing that you have that added pressure, but a lot of it is like self-internalizing it,” she continued. “It's you thinking that and really you're putting it on yourself.”

Tolmie created a mindset that was more about the process rather than the results. 

“I'm going to put in the extra work … so that when it's my turn to win the game or to get it going for the Chippewas, I've given myself the best chance to put the team first and to succeed in that moment,” she said. “And if it doesn't work out, like, it's the nature of the game. ... So just accepting it and moving forward and doing the next best thing.”

She said her support system was critical to developing that mindset.

“I know that they're going to love me, whether I hit a home run or was 0-for-3,” Tolmie said. “Just giving my best every single day and trying to be prepared to the best of my ability.” 

Now as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Tolmie wants to heplay players focus on the positive in each moment.

“I think there's so much self-reflection and self-negativity when it comes to our game, because it's a game of failure,” Tolmie said. “Everybody who is considered a perfectionist wants to be 10-for-10. But if you are 3-for-10, you're considered pretty good."

Assistant coach Driesenga said when she was an athlete, she also experienced the struggles that come with identity in sport.

“I think a lot of my worth was placed on my performance,” Driesenga said. “And I think that's something very common that we see in our student-athletes; especially because they care so much and they want to do well and they put a lot of hard work in, and sometimes to not see the results is hard.” 

It wasn’t until she met a sports social worker in college that she really started to understand the impact mental health could have on how she sees herself.

“I didn't always really know what mental health was, but then when I was in college, I ended up meeting with one of our sports social workers in the athletic department, and he was life-changing,” Driesenga said. “Meeting with him really made me learn about how I see myself and how I see my sport, and knowing that it's something that I do and not who I am.”

The importance of conversation

It is conversations and education like Driesenga had in her college experience that helps normalize mental healthcare in sport.

“If we're creating a culture within our team where we normalize it and we have conversations surrounding it, our athletes are going to talk about it more,” Bechtel said. 

That, in turn, will give other athletes permission to consider their own experience and  motivate them to also seek help on their own, she said. 

“Versus if it's something we don't talk about, it's kind of this unsaid expectation of like ‘yeah, we don't go there, we don't talk about that on our team, figure it out, do that on your own,’” she said. “Without that normalization, there's shame.” 

Mental health is often seen as a weakness in sports.Some of the best ways to get rid of the shame are education and hard conversations, Bechtel and Driesenga said.

“I really think the conversations help with the (ongoing) mindset of athletics … that a mental health condition is a weakness,” Bechtel said. 

Throughout her career here, she has seen a greater number of students referring other student athletes to her services. 

“If there's less conversations, there's less help seeking, or at least less public awareness of it,” Bechtel said. “I think really that is the biggest thing, when we think about the … common referral source, is other students.” 

When student athletes are exposed to important conversations, it can educate them on how mental health can impact them. That, in turn, can lead to them reaching out.

“In our minds, that's what the anxiety or the depression or whatever it might be, that's what it's telling us, is that, like: ‘You're alone. There’s nobody that can help you. It's going to be like this forever,’” Driesenga said. “All of those things are false. 

“And I think being able to differentiate that voice, versus the voice of who you actually are, … knowing that and having the awareness and just the education to know what that is, is really important.”

The softball team has something called Mental Health Monday, when they discuss important topics concerning mental health education so the players can work on how they can be their best mentally.

Driesenga also said it is important for young athletes to hear about their peers’ experiences.

“Hearing athletes' stories … is how we're going to continue to reduce the stigma and continue along that spectrum of making it much more accepted to be able to share how you're actually doing,” Driesenga said.

*** Related content: It’s time to talk about college athletes’ mental health ***

What needs to be done?

The sports world has continued to grow how it handles mental health, with more athletes stepping forward about their own experiences. However, Bechtel said there are still strides that need to be made. 

“The world of collegiate athletics is a little behind in terms of the normalizing of the athlete, rather than the performance expectations,” Bechtel said. 

Tolmie said she believes that the university has done a good job of prioritizing student athletes’ mental health. 

“I think they've done a great job,” Tolmie said. “Obviously, there's always room for improvement, and we never want to stay where we're at. But I'm very proud of the university in that aspect.”

CMU was one of the first institutions in the Mid-American Conference to have a designated student athlete counselor. 

“(I) definitely … have noticed a lot of positive motion and changes in efforts from an administrative standpoint in terms of understanding and acknowledging like, ‘OK, this is a resource that we need to sustain and build upon,’” Bechtel said of the university’s care of athletes’ mental wellness. 

Going forward, she said it is important to not only realize that mental health issues exist, but for institutions to create positive environments to combat those problems.

“I think we're aware that it exists,” Bechtel said. “But more about the idea (that) not every feeling requires a mental health intervention. 

“So, how can we create environments that have positive factors for mental health, like relationships, connection, having conversations beyond our performance expectations?”

As conversations continue to grow, Bechtel said mental health resources for student athletes need to likewise develop. 

“Mental health is health,” Bechtel said. “And it can't be all reliant on one person.

“Certainly if we need mental health treatment, that needs to rely on the clinician, but really looking at what can our systems do to make sure we integrate,” she continued. “Our sports medicine staff now does mental health screening for every student athlete, every single year … not only if they're having some experience but just from the minute they step on our campus.”

Other areas where universities can continue to grow their resources are in hiring more mental health clinicians, having speakers come to campus and providing safe spaces for athletes, Driesenga said.

As Tolmie reflected on her college experience, she said sports showed her that she can do hard things and gave her confidence in herself. She  young athletes to know it to be hard, but it’s important to embrace (the challenges) because that’s how they can grow. 

“I think it's a super special experience to play a college sport,” she said. “And I wouldn't have the amazing friendships and life lessons, and the transferable skills (without athletics). I think it was really special and something that I would never give up for anything. 

“No one walks away from college athletics and (is) like ‘that was super easy.’ It shouldn't be that way or else you're not getting the full potential you could out of yourself. So just having the mindset that you expect it to be hard and that you know you can handle it.”