The “Mentally Strong” initiative helps young athletes develop critical coping strategies through sports.
SEATTLE — As students head back to school and the fall sports season begins, there’s growing recognition that athletic programs can do more than just build physical fitness. A local initiative is using sports to teach young people crucial mental health and coping skills.
Preparing for life’s inevitable challenges starts at a young age. In a fast-paced world often propelled by social media, taking care of mental health is as important as ever.
“Really thinking about, how do you manage stress, how do you get through a stressful moment, how do you deal with big, emotional challenges?” said Dr. Sara Chrisman, a pediatrician and professor of adolescent medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Dr. Chrisman is part of an innovative program based at the UW’s Sports Institute that helps young students navigate stress—not only through physical fitness, but through mental stamina.
“It’s a perfect place to kind of practice some of these skills that help you for life,” Chrisman said.
Program origins
The idea came to her a few years ago while watching teenage Olympic ice skaters struggle emotionally after losing. As Dr. Chrisman puts it, they lacked coping skills for managing failure.
“We could use sport as a way of teaching these kinds of coping skills because when you play sports, there’s lots of amazing things that happen but they’re also stressful. You’re going to fail, you’re going to miss that goal, you’re going to drop the ball and you’re going to do it publicly in front of all of these people,” Chrisman said.
The Sports Institute points out that 40% of teens struggle with depression and anxiety, calling it a crisis. It’s also worsened by the pandemic, which Dr. Chrisman said provided an unexpected, natural experiment.
“During the pandemic, a lot of sports shut down, and I think parents saw their kids isolated, not physically active, not seeing their friends, and could see the impact of that,” Dr. Chrisman said.
The “Mentally Strong” program
Through a program called “Mentally Strong,” the Sports Institute designed an educational tool that trains coaches to teach athletes how to manage stress and reset after tough moments. Rather than using clinical terms like meditation or mindfulness, the program uses sports language, like controlling breathing to help focus and get through challenging moments.
“The truth is, it’s to be a better athlete, a better student, a better human, because these are really skills for life,” Chrisman said.
The initiative has been piloted at Ballard, Ingraham, and Garfield high schools in Seattle with the goal of launching an app to support more schools interested in the program.
For more information, visit https://thesportsinstitute.com/our-work/mentally-strong/
