Coaches Can Only Benefit From Mental Health Knowledge

 Coaching of any sort can be more effective with the aid of a counselor or counseling skills. The minds of the kids have changed drastically with the spread of the internet and social media. No more secrets. Parents pray, even with all the protective software, that their child doesn’t go down the wrong internet hole. They pray for no bullying. And now, prayers are that AI will not convince their child to commit suicide. 

Written by James Love

When coaches forget the mindset of the kids we coach, we do them a disservice. As coaches, we can take a couple CE courses not in coaching but in counseling. A course on conflict management could work wonders for a player who has an issue with another player. A course on Existential counseling could spark the realization that we are all uniquely motivated by something in light of our ever present end. What is the thing that motivates us?

In my experience as a counseling grad student who is giving back through coaching high school basketball, these kids need more hybrids. Even if counseling is too expensive for the program, a chaplain could also step in. I am asking a lot of mental health professionals, but we can also volunteer our time to these sports organizations, not just providing drinks and rides, but offering our expertise for the love of health. And I am sure many are already doing that in some way. I am one who thinks we need more of it and need to make coaches and ADs aware of the importance of it. School boards need to know as well. 

When a student athlete is questioning themselves, good coaching will help, but coaching with counseling skills will benefit much more. Coaches already go through a lot. Many have families. Many work multiple jobs. Some coaches are at bigger programs with different pressures and expectations. I am asking a lot for us to become hybrids, but I think our respective games need it. Understanding human development will serve us well as we communicate with student athletes, and couple that with research on the effectiveness of mindfulness and how it can assist in the overall mental health of our players–we would only be serving our players better in the long run of their lives. 

Perhaps in the future, because of our skills and transparency about mental health, our student athletes won’t think twice about seeking out a counselor, a coach, or a chaplain when they need help with something troubling them mentally or a social media bully. We can’t be perfect, but we can be better than we were yesterday, and yesterday, coaches didn’t have a staff member who had mental health knowledge. Coaches didn’t have the knowledge themselves. Today, we can change that.