How far is too far? The Pressure on Collegiate Athletes to be "The Best"

Today, more than ever, children enter the sports world and grow up within it. Every township has various in-house leagues, travel/tournament level programs are more readily available, and athletes are being recruited at very young ages. The life path of becoming an athlete has always provided an important concept – a place to learn numerous life values. But more recently, this path greater resembles a golden trail, lined with friends, potential college scholarships, and a chance to ‘be the best’.

Being a member of a sports team provides an environment for athletes of all ages to learn countless life morals – dedication, sportsmanship, teamwork, sacrifice, and the list goes on. However recently, the teaching/learning atmosphere of sports has turned into one filled with much greater pressures and expectations. Athletes at each level are pushed to the next, never having a moment to feel or receive appreciation for all the work they have already put forward. Elementary and middle school athletes are thrown into development camps for high school programs to prove that they are ‘good enough to make the team’. High school athletes cannot solely wish to challenge themselves and make personal bests – the only acceptable goals are district championships, then state championships, then national qualifiers or NCAA Division 1 scholarship offers. With every achievement accomplished, a new one is immediately set. This gives the athlete no time to feel a sense of joy, but only the growing pressures of coaches or parents.

I am by no means stating that we should turn sports into a world of contentment and participation points. All in all, the sports world is a place for competition and winners. But regarding the pressure placed on athletes - from number of accomplishments and personal records, to practice performance and cross training ability, to body stature – where should we draw the line? How far is too far?

Throughout my early sports career and high school, sports, specifically competitive swimming, were a great learning environment and emotional outlet. It was a place where I was able to grow as a person, where I was accepted, and where I could express myself. My coaches and teammates constantly pushed me to work harder, to be better – but the pressure was a good thing. No person held ill intentions; each member of the team wanted me to succeed while also enjoying every moment. My coaches valued open communication with all their athletes, and worked hard to strike a balance between friend and coach. Essentially every record and achievement was celebrated in some way. While I was pushed to preform to my best ability and to never stop surpassing my goals, I was able to feel a great sense of happiness due to swimming.

However once I got to college, this all changed. My senior year of high school I committed to become a scholar-athlete in a Division 1 swim program. I had accomplished my biggest dream regarding sports and I couldn’t wait to continue my sports career at such a high level. But once I set foot on pool deck, my dream quickly came crashing down on me. I was flooded with unrealistic pressures and expectations from the coaching staff, and they didn’t all revolve around my ability to achieve personal best race times. While many of them related to efforts in the pool, I was also expected to be able to lift a certain amount of weight for every exercise, run several distances in times comparable to track athletes, and maintain an ‘ideal’ body weight (which was taken every day) for my height and swim specialty. Every single swim practice, which added up to nine a week, I left in tears after being told numerous times that I wasn’t good enough, that I was pathetic and lacked any work ethic, and that I was not worth the scholarship that had been given to me. The worst part was that despite all of this, I believed I was practicing at much higher level than ever before. This complete criticism followed me to the gym and the track circle, where I was told I was too weak and too slow to be an elite athlete. And sadly, the remarks occasionally made their way to my body structure and weight, where I would be told I needed to change this part or that aspect of myself in order to be good enough. It was an environment in which I couldn’t survive. My college career ended a few short months later, after a meeting with the head coach which left me heart broken, and tears, and completely questioning all components of my self worth. I left my freshman year of college in a haze – living with anorexia, depression, and anxiety.

And no, I am not at all blaming my college swimming career or head coach for any of those three things that crept their way into my life. However, the pressure-filled to almost abusive nature of his coaching did a number to my already painfully perfectionistic and somewhat self-degrading personality. And sadly, this type of situation impacts many other student athletes at any age level. As I said before, I do not support a sports world built on participation, but perhaps its time to take a step back and look at the way such intense pressures and placed expectations can harm athletes rather than help them. Sports shouldn’t be a place that tears participants apart. A line has to be drawn and recognized by coaches as to when pressure or criticisms go from constructive to destructive. Without this, the path of sports could turn from a place of personal growth and development but to a long road of unhappiness, lacking self-worth, and internal destruction.