By OkayGoal 
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and while the conversation is growing, many adults still overlook how often youth athletes face pressure, tie their self-worth to their performances, and feel the need to prove their strength. As a student-athlete myself, I know what it feels like to be under immense pressure to perform and of the load of expectations as well as the silence surrounding any mental struggles. We need to change that. Mental health isn’t something we should spotlight once a year. It’s a year-round necessity.
The Invisible Injury
When athletes get hurt physically, there’s a clear plan: rest, rehab, and recover. But when the mind takes a hit, we’re often told to “tough it out.” Two years ago, I broke a finger and sprained my wrist. I was out for six weeks. What I didn’t expect was how that injury would break more than just my bones. It broke my routine, my confidence, and my sense of self. Soccer is my outlet. Without it, I lost my balance. That’s when I realized how quickly a physical injury can turn into a mental one.
Mental recovery has to matter just as much as physical healing. Behind every ACL tear, broken wrist, or missed game is an athlete fighting a battle we often can’t see. It’s not about being tough. It’s about being honest.
The Pressure We Don’t Talk About Enough
That honesty is hard to come by in youth sports. Being a student-athlete is marketed as a dream: play the game you love, build your future. But no one prepares you for how overwhelming it can be. Between GPA stress, college recruitment, ID camps, training, matches, and building a personal brand, some days feel like a nonstop race with no finish line in sight.
It’s hard watching teammates get offers while you’re still waiting for a coach to respond. It’s hard celebrating others’ successes while wondering if your moment will ever come. And it’s even harder when you feel like saying any of that out loud will make you “weak.” So, we stay silent. We keep pushing. And sometimes, we break.
Loss, Silence, and the Cost of Stigma
I know what that silence can cost. Two years ago, I lost a friend and former teammate to suicide. Two weeks later, a soccer mentor and fellow goalkeeper I looked up to also died by suicide. One minute, we were texting about games and podcasts. Next, I was sitting in grief counseling, asking myself what signs I missed.
Both were talented, kind, and deeply loved. And both were silently hurting.
This is why the “tough it out” mindset needs to go. It isolates people. It tells them their pain isn’t valid unless it’s visible. We have to tear that idea down.
Mental health matters as much as physical health. And while it shouldn’t take personal loss to make people care, too often, it does. But the truth is, mental health affects all of us. There’s no real health without it.
Be the Change. Speak Up. Ask for More.
Change starts when we stop hiding how we’re really doing. When we vocalize our concerns or problems to a teammate, coach, or parent, we give ourselves permission to be supported. It’s not weak to express that you are having trouble.
We need to start asking for what we actually need: real mental health resources, not just inspirational talks. We need workshops on emotional resilience, tools for stress management, and trusted adults who know how to listen without judgment. We need clubs and schools to take mental health seriously, and that starts when enough of us ask, out loud.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. It all begins with honesty.
We Deserve More Than Silence
If we intend to protect athletes, we have to support the whole person, not just the athlete. This means developing systems that are concerned with confidence, identity, and emotional well-being. We need transparency in recruiting, mental skills training alongside physical drills, and spaces where athletes can speak up without fear.
So this May, I’m using my voice. For my teammates. For my siblings. For those we’ve lost, for every athlete who’s been told to be strong instead of being supported.
You don’t have to be an expert to make a difference. You just have to care enough to act.
As Kevin Love said, “Everyone is going through something.”
Let’s treat mental health like it matters, because it does.
_
GIRLS SOCCER NETWORK: YOUR SOURCE FOR GIRLS SOCCER NEWS