Athletes are faced with many physical demands in order to excel in their sport, but what is often overlooked are the mental challenges that come along with athletics. Athletes, especially those who are student-athletes, experience performance anxiety, extreme self-doubt, stressors like lack of sleep and fatigue, and more.

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For college students in general, stress can lead to deteriorating mental health. The Spring 2019 National College Health Assessment conveyed that approximately 65% of college students felt overwhelming anxiety and nearly 45% of college students felt so depressed that it was hard to function (NCHA, 2019).

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So, athletes, especially those in college, face a large amount of stress that can lead to depression. According to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2016, 23.7% of collegiate student athletes reported having clinically elevated depressive symptoms (Wolanin, Hong, Marks, Panchoo & Gross, 2016).