By Erin Harrop
Youth athletics have become significantly more intense and competitive. The physical effects of training or injury can be grueling — but so are the mental health effects, particularly as performance pressure increases. As leaders and mentors, coaches play a vital role in building kids’ and teens’ confidence and shaping how athletes value and understand their mental health.
Alyssa’s Act, (Senate Bill 26-060) is a bill moving through the legislature to require annual mental health training for coaches of young athletes so they can recognize signs a young athlete may be struggling and know how to respond. It also requires coaches to notify parents of the mental health complications that can occur when a young athlete sustains a concussion. Though youth mental health conversations have rightly focused on anxiety and depression, mental health training can also help coaches recognize and respond to an often overlooked — but equally serious — challenge facing many young athletes: eating disorders.
As a researcher who studies adolescent mental health and a former pediatric mental health evaluator, I have witnessed the physical and emotional devastation wreaked by eating disorders that often go under-identified in young people. Previous studies have shown 20% to 45% of athletes struggle with eating disorders, but the true number is likely higher. Kids often struggle for years without it being noticed or knowing how to ask for help — too often, with habits that started with a drive to succeed in their sport.
Sports reward traits like competitiveness, drive, thinness and perfectionism. Players who work hard, pushing through pain or fatigue, often receive praise and success. Similarly, many sports idealize or require certain body aesthetics (e.g., thinness, weight classes), and weight loss or suppression (during critical growth periods) is often rewarded with playing time or privileged positions. But the impulse to “cut and bulk” or get on the field or court to practice a shot a few more times can slip into harmful habits that affect other parts of a child’s life. Ambition that’s left unchecked, or even encouraged in the wrong ways, can easily spiral into dangerous patterns and even become a life-threatening eating disorder. Though more common in certain sports like gymnastics, figure skating, dance, cross country, wrestling, and cheerleading, coaches often play a crucial role in setting eating, weight and nutrition expectations — despite typically not having formal training in dietetics or youth development. Consequently, well-meaning coaches can unwittingly contribute to disordered eating and compulsive exercise.
Coaches are especially well-positioned to support youth since they spend more time with their athletes than most other adults week-to-week, and might coach the same kids for years. Those deep relationships are incredibly valuable for teaching kids valuable life lessons like how to navigate pressure — and spotting when something is off.
It’s especially important for coaches to have this awareness since the signs and patterns of an eating disorder — changes in emotion, performance, weight, and energy, or new patterns of injury — can be subtle. Stereotypes about who gets eating disorders can also mean some athletes (like boys or larger players) are even less likely to be noticed. A coach who only knows to look for dramatic weight loss will miss many tell-tale signs (like skipping meals, under-fueling and increasing obsessions). That makes it even more important for coaches to have mental health training to support their athletes.
The training promoted by SB26-060 will help coaches make sure they can spot when something is off, and know how to set a positive tone for young athletes, including when it comes to body image, food and their long-term relationship with exercise.
We have the opportunity to involve thousands of Coloradan coaches in addressing our youth mental health crisis. It’s one we cannot miss.
Erin Harrop, LICSW, PhD is a licensed social worker and assistant professor at University of Denver.